The Producer-Director Dyad: Managing the Faultline between Art and Commerce

Film production often takes place in project-based organizations (PBOs). Although each of these PBOs ceases to exist as soon as the film is finished, the professionals involved in a project are likely to collaborate with the same people in series of such projects and together form what is described as a latent organization. The two core roles in each project are those of the director and producer, who function as dual leaders, the former being responsible for the business side and the latter for the artistic side. Precisely because the individuals fulfilling these two roles are at different sides of the faultline, the link between them bridges it and the strength of this link is a prime determinant of the success of the PBO and the latent organization. This chapter studies the relations between producers and directors, the division of labor between them and, especially, the extent to which each of them is involved in the selection of other members of the organization.