continues to do with a much different set of studios.
The package-unit system, controlled by a producer
unaffiliated with a studio (independents such as
Samuel Goldwyn, David O. Selznick, Walt Disney,
and others), is a personalized concept of film pro-
duction that differs significantly from the indus-
trial model of the studio system. Based outside the
studios but heavily dependent on them for human
and technical resources, the package-unit system
governs the creation, distribution, and exhibition of
a movie (known as the package). The independent
producer does what a movie producer has always
done: chooses the right stories, directors, and actors
to produce quality films.
Depending on many factors, the producer may
also choose to be involved in creative responsibili-
ties, ranging from developing the property, revising
the screenplay, assembling the key members of the
production team, supervising the actual produc-
tion (including the editing), and marketing and dis-
tributing the finished product. Consider the career
of Sam Spiegel, one of the most successful inde-
pendent producers; his movies included John Hus-
ton’s The African Queen(1951), Elia Kazan’s On the
Waterfront(1954), David Lean’s The Bridge on the
River Kwai(1957) and Lawrence of Arabia(1962),
Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Suddenly, Last Summer
(1959), and Elia Kazan’s The Last Tycoon(1976),
inspired by the life of his fellow producer Irving
Thalberg. Spiegel would have agreed with the suc-
cessful Hollywood producer who said, “Since I con-
trol the money, I control the process.”^16 Although
that attitude may seem arrogant, it makes excellent
business sense to a producer responsible for films
like Spiegel’s—which were characterized by high
costs, high artistic caliber, and high profits.
The producer’s team may include an executive
producer, line producer, and associateor assis-
tant producers. These variations on the overall
title of producer reflect the changes that have
occurred since the studio system collapsed and, in
different ways, reinvented itself. By the nature of
film production, titles must be flexible enough to
indicate greater or fewer responsibilities than those
listed here. Unlike the members of the craft unions—
cinematographers or editors, for example—whose
obligations are clearly defined by collective-
bargaining agreements, producers tend to create
responsibilities for themselves that match their
individual strengths and experiences.
At the same time, the comparative freedom of
independent filmmaking brings new benefits. Cre-
ative innovation is both encouraged and rewarded;
actors, writers, and directors determine for them-
selves not only the amounts of compensation but
also the ways in which they receive it; and though
the overall number of movies produced each year
has decreased, the quality of independently pro-
duced films has increased considerably from year
to year. Whereas the producer helps transform an
idea into a finished motion picture, the director
visualizes the script and guides all members of the
production team, as well as the actors, in bringing
that vision to the screen.
The director sets and maintains the defining
visual quality of the film, including the settings, cos-
tumes, action, and lighting—those elements that pro-
duce the total visual impact of the movie’s image, its
look and feel. When a film earns a profit or wins the
Oscar for Best Picture, the producer takes a large
share of the credit and accepts the award (true under
the studio system also), but the director usually bears
artistic responsibility for the success or failure of a
movie. When a film loses money, the director often is
saddled with the major share of the blame.
Because creativity at this high level resists rigid
categorization, we cannot always neatly separate the
responsibilities of the producer and the director.
Sometimes one person bears both titles; other times
the director or the screenwriter may have initiated
the project and later joined forces with the producer
to bring it to the screen. But whatever the arrange-
ment, both the producer and the director are
involved completely in all three stages of production.
A quick snapshot of a few differences between the
studio and independent systems will give you an idea
of how moviemaking has changed. At first, each stu-
dio’s facilities and personnel were permanent and
capable of producing any kind of picture, and the
studio owned its own theaters, guaranteeing a mar-502 CHAPTER 11FILMMAKING TECHNOLOGIES AND PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
(^16) Robert Simonds, qtd. in Bernard Weinraub, “What Makes
Boys Laugh?: A Philosophy Major Finds the Golden Touch,”
New York Times(July 23, 1998), sec. E, p. 5.