The Curious Case of Disappearing Producer Credits

How Many Producers Does a Movie Need?

From The LA Times



"Using a combination of smarts, charm, doggedness — and access to loads of cash — Ryan Kavanaugh over the last six years has become a bona-fide power player in Hollywood. Once a failed venture capitalist, Kavanaugh, 36, now co-produces movies with Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures and through his own company, Relativity Media.

The red-headed, freckle-faced would-be mogul, who prefers sneakers and jeans to loafers and suits, usually sees his name attached to lower-brow fare such as this month's Nicolas Cage-starrer "Season of the Witch." But it's clear he aspires to something greater, also financing films from previous Oscar nominees such as Ridley Scott ( "Robin Hood"). Awards glory has eluded him, but that seemed destined to change this year with the critically lauded boxing drama "The Fighter," which he co-financed at a cost of $23 million and has been actively championing for Oscar consideration.

On the morning of the Golden Globe nominations, Kavanaugh beamed like a proud papa when the movie, which stars Mark Wahlberg, reaped six nominations. "I've produced hundreds of movies, but this one, I saw every piece. I think these people are the best, and when others recognize how incredible they are it's validating, it's humbling," he said.

Alas, the brass ring that Kavanaugh so desperately covets remains outside his grasp. While "The Fighter" is getting plenty of love in the run-up to the Academy Awards, should the film's name be called on Oscar night for best picture, it will not be Kavanaugh jumping onto the stage to accept his statue. Audiences who see the movie will see his name listed as one of six producers on the credits, but in the eyes of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, three people — David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and star Wahlberg — are the producers of "The Fighter."

Kavanaugh lost his final appeal with the academy this week, after already having been denied a credit by the Producers Guild of America. Kavanaugh has said that he was involved in all aspects of the filmmaking process, but two sources close to the movie disputed that. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of hurting its Oscar chances, said Kavanaugh was barely involved in the process and never was seen on the set.

At least 16 people sent letters on Kavanaugh's behalf, including director David O. Russell, producers Wahlberg, Lieberman and Hoberman and others involved in the physical production of the film. "Ryan and Tucker [Tooley, Kavanaugh's production partner] were definitely involved in the process, there is no question," said Ari Emanuel, Wahlberg's agent. "Does it reach the level of the criteria that is needed to be credited, I have no idea. But Ryan and Mark have a great relationship."

Fights such as Kavanaugh's have become something of an annual occurrence at Oscar time as producers' credits have multiplied — contender "The Kids Are All Right" has 20 people with some sort of producer credit. And it illuminates one of the more murky questions in Hollywood: What exactly does a producer do?

In truth, being a producer can be a time-consuming, exhausting job. Producers often serve as a starting point for a film, acquiring a script or working with screenwriters to develop a movie idea. They are instrumental in hiring directors and actors. Some also find the cash to make the movie, particularly crucial in an era when studios are reluctant to fully finance a film themselves. Once a movie enters pre-production, producers usually work on hiring various department heads, such as the production designer, the set designer and the head of wardrobe. They often spend time on the set, consulting with the director and solving time-sensitive problems. But the job doesn't end there — a producer often offers suggestions to the editor in post-production and works on the marketing campaign to sell the movie.

But because the job is so vaguely defined, producing credits can be given to those not even remotely related to the film, such as in April when financier Danny Dimbort attempted to give his teenage granddaughter producing credit on the Michael Douglas-starrer "Solitary Man," according to Vance Van Petten, executive director of the Producers Guild.

The Producers Guild and its counterparts at the academy take the issue seriously and vet credit claims for award contenders using investigative techniques worthy of the Justice Department. The process can be traced to 1999, when five producers — the most ever — bounded onto the stage of the Oscars to collect their golden statuettes when "Shakespeare in Love" won best picture. Harvey Weinstein, then Miramax studio chief, elbowed fellow producer Edward Zwick out of the way to give his acceptance speech. Though Weinstein remarked that "this was an ensemble film, and it took an ensemble to make it," his grandstanding left a bad taste with many industry insiders.

"The feeling in general was, did all these people really produce this movie?" said Mark Gordon, president of the Producers Guild. "Plus, the jostling of who was going to talk first, who was going to talk at all — it was not a particularly attractive display of artists thanking the academy."

In response to that episode, the academy put a rule in place limiting the number of producers on any film to three. And the Producers Guild hired Van Petten, a business-affairs executive from Universal and a lawyer by training, to develop a comprehensive arbitration process to vet those seeking credit.

"It's a tragic thing when a person devotes his life to a career and is either not able to get the credit they have earned, or worse, people are given the same kind of credit and public exposure to their career and have done nothing similar," said Van Petten, the guild's executive director. "It's a basic identity issue of what your life is and how you define your career. It's not just a question of numbers, it's misattribution."

Van Petten and an in-house lawyer at the guild go through an exhaustive process on every film submitted for awards consideration, calling crew members to double-check who actually did what on a movie. Department heads submit confidential affidavits. Then a committee of three experienced producers is called in to consider the evidence (weighing the early development efforts more heavily than their work once the movie enters production), look at the comments and make a decision. Kavanaugh appealed his denial but was rejected. He then took his case to the academy, where he was again denied.

This awards season, "The Fighter" was one of three Oscar-contending flicks that had to fight for producer credit. Kavanaugh was the only one who lost.

Michael De Luca, who worked on "The Social Network," was left off the Producers Guild's original list, with the guild opting for Dana Brunetti, Scott Rudin and director David Fincher's long-term producing partner Ceán Chaffin. But after appeal letters were sent by studio Sony Pictures, Rudin, Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, the guild reversed its decision and allowed four producers to be formally credited.

"I fully understand why the rules are there," said Rudin. "But it's a mensch-y thing that they make exceptions to it. Sometimes a form doesn't tell the whole story."

Veteran producer Mike Medavoy and producer-financier Brian Oliver also won credit on "Black Swan" after appealing to the guild, which initially listed only Scott Franklin as the producer of record. Medavoy, 70, first developed the film 12 years ago and stuck with the project through its various incarnations, yet was left off the submitted list of producers.

"Brian Oliver was on the set all the time, and he put up the money to get the movie made, so he deserves the credit," says Medavoy. "But this movie wouldn't have existed had I not bought the script 12 years ago."

It's unclear why the guild reversed its decision on both "The Social Network" and "Black Swan" and didn't do so with "The Fighter." The guild declines to comment on any specific film, but Gordon, its president, said: "Our goal is not to exclude but to include. We err on the side of inclusion whenever we possibly can."

Kavanaugh, who usually is willing to talk to the press, declined comment for this story. But if history says anything about this process, he's got to be feeling pretty low. Albert Berger, who was in Kavanaugh's position in 2007 when he was denied credit for "Little Miss Sunshine," said: 'Sometimes it takes more than three people to produce a movie, and when they should be the most celebrated, they are turned against each other. It's hard enough to get a movie made. It would be great if the time when a movie is being thought of for its highest achievement that the people who made it can actually be feeling good.'"

nicole.sperling@latimes.com
Copyright © 2011, The Los Angeles Times