ramblings

What I do

Posted on

I have been working in the Interactive space since I graduated from college, which is longer ago than I’d like to admit, and my job title has always been either producer or project manager, which means that most people in my life do not understand how I actually earn an income. Usually, when trying to explain my role to friends and family, I use a general contractor or a movie producer as examples.
For the general contractor example, I say, “If you are redoing a kitchen, you don’t care about the types of pipes being used, or the type of wires that are going into the wall. All you care about is what exactly is being done, how long is it going to take and how much is going to cost.” That resonates, especially with homeowners.
For the movie producer example, I say, “Think of the Oscars. Who gets the award for best picture, the most prestigious award of the evening? The producers. What did they do? Direct? No, that went to best director. Make the sets? No, that went to Best Set Design. So what did they do? Everything else, from securing and managing the budget and timeline to making the director and actor get along, when they really dislike each other.” That really resonates, because how doesn’t like movies?
Still, that doesn’t necessarily nail it and now, I can also refer these fine folks to the image below:
What does a producer actually do?
Via Kay