This book iS an update of the 1 985 editionwkch attempted tO<br > ailswer the somewhat elusive question of the role of the producer<br > in todayS motion picture industryThe business continues tO<br > move forward very quicklyThe need for a work defining who and<br > what a producer is today is as acute now as it was seven years ago<br > The movie business iS fond ofadopting the fashion ofthe timesbut<br > films still 1ist producers in their credits and there iS still as much<br > misunderstanding about what they do as there ever was<br > I have looked at the producer from many perspectivesIn my<br > professional careerI have been an attorneya motion picture<br > agenta studio executivea film producera film commissioner(of<br > New Mexico)and I am presently the director of the University of<br > MiamiS School of CommunicationS Film ProgramI have pro<br > duced six theatrical motion pictures(Extreme CloseupWestworld<br > FutureworldCapricorn OneHanover Streetand Barbarosa)I have<br > served as head of production for three minimajorsIn all of these<br > rolesI have had ample opportunity tO look at what the producer<br > does at all stages of the filmmaking process<br > It iS very clear that difierent people prefer tO do diflent tasks<br > all under the producerS bannerSome work on development<br > others act as fund raisersothers as numbercrunching line produ<br > cersand still others as unique amalgams of all of these categories<br > Each in his way performs some facet ofa producerS overall respon<br > sibilitythat of getting a motion picture developedmountedand<br > soldTo understand the role of the producer one must understand<br > the process by which films get made and marketed<br > This bookthenconcentrates on the role of the producer in the<br >