Confusion around the term is a likely cause for negativity. What is a "producer"? We all produce something; that's a meaningless term. A programmer is a code producer, an artist is an art producer, a musician is an audio producer, so what the hell is a "just a producer"? They produce...exactly what? Literally nothing. The only one who doesn't actually produce anything is the producer. Which makes it seem to me that the only way to justify the term is if the "producer" gets credit for the entire product (they supposed produced the whole game). They tend to be listed at the top of credits, which makes the shoe fit, so it's natural that people who actually produce something should be a bit offended that the one person who produces nothing gets top credit for making the game.
These are 2 issues packed into one paragraph so let me clearly separate them.
The term "producer" is already confusing to people since it describes absolutely nothing about the job. I was a producer on a few projects when working with @mr_tawan, and I sucked at it because I literally wasn't even sure what my duties were.
Many years later I finally figured out what they do, and I still have a bitter taste.
- Executive producers throw money at the project and perhaps own it, so I don't have a beef with these guys taking credit for the whole game as much. It's at least a product of their money and they usually decide the general direction of the game.
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But regular producers get listed right under them and haven't actually worked on the game. They work on the people who work on the game.
- Their name is misleading. Call them "Managers" or "Schedule Enforcers" or "People Pushers".
- As long as they are being called producers, many people will still think of them as some fat slob in a smoke-filled room upstairs doing nothing and taking all the credit. This was mentioned before. I agree, because the term doesn't describe anything about what they do, so we are indeed free to let our imaginations run wild when people use such nebulous ambiguous terms.
At one of my previous companies they are informally called "gerbils" or "hamsters" or some kind of pet that the executive producer sends to do his or her bidding.
Simply changing the term would go a long way towards getting rid of resentment and confusion. Generally people and companies value the role (not always as mentioned by others) but it's very difficult for many to get past the branding.
L. Spiro
