Among the most enigmatic titles in film is that of Producer. You won’t find a clear and concise textbook definition anywhere. Ask any producer what they do and you’ll get no two definitions that are alike. In live action film, the producer is responsible for hiring the talent and controlling the budget of a film as well as coordinating the ever increasing number of larger puzzle pieces that must be assembled to bring a project from idea to screen; this includes the director, the stars, the composer and the design team. Without the producer – that is without a good producer – most films suffer the interference of studio executives; executives who for all their bottom-line concerns seldom if ever have any real experience in the development and production of an artistic product but are more than willing to take credit for its success (witness the mile long line of previously unheard of Brentwood residents who will cue up to claim their Oscar for Best Picture each year.) If defining producing is difficult, there are several dozen creative executives with offices and titles who will treat you to a sophistic side show if you ask them to define their job; a practice not limited to live action executives, mind you, as justifying one’s existence by way of underscoring the invaluable nature of having an opinion is particularly rampant in animation. Then again, it could be argued that everybody on this planet is working to justify their existence, so maybe these folks are the only ones among us smart enough to know how to earn a living simply by breathing.

How producing differs in animation has mostly to do with time and temperament. Don Hahn, in his book Disney Animation Magic (which, elementary as it may be, remains the most clearly laid out road map for how animated film making works) describes the producer’s role as “the team builder, coach and cheerleader all wrapped into one.�? He should add parenting to that list, because the producer is there when the idea is born, and they are there when it goes out into the world, and they never stop loving it. While some would argue that there is a near-cancerous proliferation of over-paid and under-useful executives in animation, the fact remains that a great animation producer is a rare and precious thing. Producing for animation, to my way of thinking, is also more complicated than it is in live action mostly because the size of the average animated feature’s production staff and the duration of actual production (the time when the below the line staff and the talent are clocking hours making the film) averages three to four times that of live action. When many live action producers long to get as many films under their belt as possible, the potential for an animation producer to do so is diminished by more than thirty percent simply because of the time commitment required to see most animated films though to completion.

So what exactly makes a great or even a good animation producer? For starters, it helps if you love the medium. It also helps if you want to stick with it, and don’t go looking to use animation as a stepping stone toward your “real film career�? – i.e. live action. Since 1985, Walt Disney Feature Animation has produced 19 traditionally animated features. Of those, only four were under the helm of women producers. Bonnie Arnold came to TARZAN from live action and has since left to go to DreamWorks. Pam Coats went from producing MULAN to a senior level VP post overseeing the creative development of all new properties for Disney Feature Animation. Only Alice Dewey Goldstone was born into and has remained an animation producer starting with HERCULES and continuing with HOME ON THE RANGE.