El oficio de productor

CINE DE AUTOR VERSUS CINE DE ENCARGO 01

In Spain, devotion to auteur films, inherited from the French "Nouvelle Vague" and badly understood in general, has prevented the development of genuine, all-round producers. In most cases the figure of the executive producer has been favored, a person whose task is limited to obtaining and managing the funds and who in the short and mid-term is merely a simple intermediary between the author and the entities that supply the film's finance. To persevere in this auteur policy is catastrophic. An entire generation of producers are now suffering the consequences of this tendency. During the 1960s and 1970s, the new Spanish cinema idolized the authors (directors) of some extraordinary films, as if they were myths (film directors like Erice, Saura, Berlanga); genuine thinkers and analysts of the social and human reality who created a body of work that today represent a compulsory reference point for our authors. But the reemergence of the director-author figure had an undesirable and perverse effect: it encouraged many directors of dubious merit and mediocre vision to consider themselves authors too, given the benefits - especially in terms of egocentrism - obtained from showing off their mediocre talent. The vision & reputation of cinema as a wide-ranging means of communication was damaged and discredited by this phenomenon. A serious crisis in film ensued and lasted until the end of the 1980s, when viewers literally fled Spanish movies. It took a new generation of directors and producers, who reached their creative maturity at the beginning of the 1990s, to establish the building blocks of a new esthetics and creative revolution whereby films were understood as a means of entertainment at the service of the public. 

Thanks to them and other veteran directors, albeit with a wider vision of the industry, little by little the negative and pejorative label to the expression: all-round production film is disappearing. An unfortunate and inadequate label in all regards since with the exception of the directors that produce their own films, every director is under orders from a producer who entrusts him with making a film, even if the director has come up with the idea and taken it to the producer's office. 

Despite what some fervent defenders of the old director-author arrangement might say, this new trend in no way implies a decrease in the artistic quality of the films. Quite the contrary, if we analyze some of the most successful films in terms of box office hits over the last ten years, we will see that there is always a message in them. There is however a difference with respect to the preceding period: Instead of trying to get the public to swallow the message automatically, the message is revealed in a more subtle way by introducing it in the wrapping of a commercial film.

In summary, we can say that the figure of the producer as a creator or maker of films is today more necessary than ever. The producer has the global vision and necessary perspective to guide the creative effort and talent of the authors, a task that should always be approached from a perspective of respect and dialogue.

A.V.G. [The audiovisual arts]