Are producers overrated?

[rasta-spouse]

There was also the wife of the dude who invented Technicolor 'overseeing' every frame of all the early Technicolor movies.

Not aware of this. Who was she, and did she abuse the process?

[Sin Agog]

Not aware of this. Who was she, and did she abuse the process?

There's an extra on The Adventures of Robin Hood DVD about the various ways they had to tip-toe around her.

Let me find her name...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_Kalmus

Director Vincente Minnelli recalled of making Meet Me in St. Louis, "My juxtaposition of color had been highly praised on the stage, but I couldn't do anything right in Mrs. Kalmus's eyes."[5] Director Allan Dwan was more blunt: "Natalie Kalmus was a bitch."[6]

[Bazooka]

"From the producer of Transformers" Hmm might give it a watch then, "From the director of Transformers" nah mate.

[Keebleman]

Thought of another: Arthur Freed.

And of course there is Samuel Goldwyn.  He's generally thought of as being a studio man but he wasn't: he was an independent producer, and one with colossal business acumen but not an ounce of artistic instinct.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I thought Executive Producer was a way of squirrelling money out of a film rather than people who paid money in.

[mjwilson]

Kevin Feige is doing some pretty solid producing.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Ash Vs Evil Dead failed due to poor ratings, not because Robert Tapert demanded a change of course and a new showrunner.  The third season was greenlit by Starz before the second season had aired.  Season 3 and by extension the show as a whole was dead on arrival.  It wasn't a case of a bunch of loyal fans tuning in to season 3 and saying"nope, I don't like the direction this is taking.  I'm out".  The poor ratings for season 2 effectively ensured the show's eventual cancellation.

Bloody awful show but personally, I thought that season 3 was the best of a bad bunch.

I think it was a bit of both personally, the long gap between series affected it badly and the decline in quality led to a lot of fans of the show giving up on it, hence the poor ratings. And I'm the opposite to you, season 1 took a while to get going but season 2 was fantastic stuff, whereas the third had one great set piece each week but way too much filler elsewhere.

[famethrowa]

[Keebleman]

Several reviews of the recent movie Gotti mentioned that there were forty-seven producers credited.  Well, I've just been to IMDb and the number is actually fifty-nine.

2001: A Space Odyssey has one.

Psycho has none.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Several reviews of the recent movie Gotti mentioned that there were forty-seven producers credited.  Well, I've just been to IMDb and the number is actually fifty-nine.

2001: A Space Odyssey has one.

Psycho has none.

I've seen some films have pledgers in the credits these days.

[MattD]

Harvey Weinstein films are all largely flimsy saccharine bullshit aren't they? There seems to be a recipe for it - his company Miramax bastardised the Cormac McCarthy novel All The Pretty Horses. The original film was supposed to follow a minimalist evocative score by Eno, U2 and Dylan collaborator Daniel Lanois but was replaced by generic sentimental crap.

David Putnam is an example of a producer who had excellent creative decision making. Although Local Hero is the embodiment of everything great about Bill Forsyth and his writing/direction, it would never have been made if Putnam hadn't suggested a very general idea to Forsyth of what it could be about. He also convinced Forsyth to hire Mark Knopfler for the score, while the cinematographer and the beautiful shots was due to Putnam hiring the guy who'd worked on Chariots of Fire. Plus he provided the finance, which helped Burt Lancaster get onboard. That's probably the finest example of what a producer should do - gaining the expertise of exceptional creative people to complement the directors ultimate vision while maintaining utmost faith in the creative control of the director.