How Do I Become a Television Producer?

The producer system originated in the United States in the 1920s, and its emergence is needed for the development of western film and television industry. In 1985, the China TV Drama Production Center appointed 4 producers, setting a precedent for producers in the mainland television industry. The producer system means that the producer manages the column and is fully responsible for the program production, financial management, personnel use, and remuneration distribution of the column.

Producer system

Right!

The producer system originated in the United States in the 1920s, and its emergence is needed for the development of western film and television industry. In 1985, the China TV Drama Production Center appointed 4 producers, setting a precedent for producers in the mainland television industry. The producer system means that the producer manages the column and is fully responsible for the program production, financial management, personnel use, and remuneration distribution of the column.

Chinese name

Producer system

Time

1985

Originated from

Development of western film and television industry

begins at

1920s

The producer system originated in the United States in the 1920s, and its emergence is needed for the development of western film and television industry. In 1985, the China TV Drama Production Center appointed 4 producers, setting a precedent for producers in the mainland television industry. In May 1993, CCTV implemented the producer system in "Oriental Time and Space", and the first one adopted this mechanism in the column. Subsequently, this new show

1. Producer did not introduce competition mechanism

The industrial function of television has different requirements for producers from other professions, and producers must have "four consciousnesses" and "four abilities". "Four consciousness" refers to market awareness, competition awareness, legal awareness, and risk awareness. "Four capabilities" refers to the ability to study the audience and understand the needs of the audience; the ability to attract outstanding talents; the ability to develop the program market and occupy the program market; the ability to maintain and increase the value of assets. Therefore, producers are not a job, but a quality. The selection criteria of producers should be different from the selection criteria of administrative officials to allow the market to optimize the configuration of producers. However, at present, most television stations still use the past administrative management system to select producers. They are accustomed to administrative appointments and assignments without introducing a competition mechanism or a market mechanism. Traces of the old system went into operation. Although many of the directors of the producers are publicly recruited and selected by the society, producers can only be produced from regular workers in the stage, and the selection scope is limited to their own departments. Outstanding talents in the society are difficult to join the producer team due to industry, ownership, and identity constraints. The flow of existing producers is also limited to this department and within the station, and cannot enter the market. This makes it impossible for the market to allocate talents, which fundamentally restricts the improvement of the overall quality of producers.

2. The producer system lacks a scientific training assessment management mechanism

Many of the existing producers were transferred from directors, drama directors, technicians, and administrators. They lacked the necessary understanding of the producer's work requirements and did not receive the necessary training before entering the producer position. Column management is mostly based on experience and feeling. The TV stations also failed to formulate corresponding training plans and training outlines for the producers based on the needs of career development (or commissioned colleges and universities), so that the producers could not get regular training and knowledge. Update, the quality of business can not be improved, and thus lack the ability to adapt to the development of the television cause. At the same time, the producer's assessment lacks scientific, institutionalized and standardized. First of all, the producer system does not refer to the announcer's management method, implements a qualification certificate system, and does not issue a grade certificate from the competent department of the industry according to the quality of the producer itself to regulate the producer's management. . In addition, the producer's assessment did not take the performance during his tenure as the main assessment basis, and it was based on the impression of the leadership and lacked scientificity. In addition, there is no specific regulation on how often the assessment is conducted and by which department, and it lacks institutionality.

3. The producer system does not introduce a risk mechanism

As far as the industrial function of television is concerned, producers are actually operators of state-owned assets. How to win in the fierce market competition and how to achieve a virtuous circle of state-owned assets are the issues they face. Therefore, producers must Be risk conscious. What is risk? Simply put, if the price of the show is lower than the cost, or it can't be sold at all, the loss becomes inevitable, and the producer must bear responsibility for it-this is the risk. In our current producer system, most of the columns operate in a funded manner, that is, the producer makes a budget, allocates funds on the stage, and then uses the funds for the production of the program. If the funds are not enough, either increase the budget or be compensated by column advertisements. Since the TV station is a unified system of production and broadcasting, the programs produced by the column are arranged for broadcasting in the station. They do not participate in market competition. The programs are only products, not commodities. The requirements of the TV station for the producer are the quantity of the product, not the profit, so the producer does not need to consider the input-output ratio, does not need to win the market, does not need to consider economic benefits, and does not need to worry about losses, so there is no risk. When the profit and loss have nothing to do with the producer's interests, the producer must lack a sense of crisis and responsibility.

4. Producer system does not introduce cost management

From the perspective of value form, the occurrence of TV program cost is represented by a certain amount of capital consumption; from the perspective of physical form, it is represented by the consumption of various resources such as people, property, and materials. The cost management of value form is as follows: through scientific cost forecasting, compiling cost plans, determining target costs, calculating costs strictly and accurately, analyzing and evaluating costs objectively and impartially, in order to find various ways to reduce costs; and costs in physical form Management performance is: reasonable allocation of human resources, full and effective use of various property materials, scientific design of program processes, large-scale production of programs, and so on. However, since most TV stations have no real cost accounting for the columns, it is difficult to scientifically evaluate the management level of the columns. In actual work, the evaluation of the columns often uses the following three methods: first, subjective evaluation of leaders; second, the combination of leadership evaluation and expert evaluation; third, the combination of leadership evaluation, expert evaluation and column ratings and satisfaction- Use this as a column for rating or scoring. Each of these three methods has a fatal weakness, which is that it is unfair due to one-sidedness. Because both the leadership evaluation and expert evaluation are only at the artistic level, and do not involve business effects, that is, inputs and outputs are not calculated. For example, the costs of the two columns may be very different, the labor costs are different, and the use of machinery and equipment is not the same. If the rating evaluation system is adopted, it is bound to make producers in order to pursue good evaluation results, regardless of the cost of the column operation, It requires the highest funding, the most personnel, the best directors, and the best equipment, resulting in rising program costs.

5. The producer system did not introduce a dynamic mechanism

Corresponding to the lack of risk mechanism of the producer system, there is no motivation mechanism. First of all, the producer does not have the right to adjust the column according to the needs of the audience and the market. The current program management system is to determine the columns in the station, and the producers complete the columns according to the broadcast plan. During the running of the column, no matter what the audience s viewing needs have changed, no matter whether the column is popular or not, the producer has no right to "transform"; at the same time, due to the restrictions of the division of the department, no matter how good the creative It is impossible to approve programs belonging to the department, making the producer's function invalid. When the producer's intelligence cannot be exerted and the value is difficult to realize, the enthusiasm is bound to be damaged. Second, the producer has no management rights. The current program management methods of TV stations make the redevelopment of program resources impossible. After the program is broadcast, the market value of outstanding programs still exists, but producers have no right to sell program rights to other television stations or film and television institutions, making the program a sleepy film library. After completing the program rules and tasks, existing personnel, equipment such as It is not allowed to undertake program production tasks outside. In addition, peripheral business activities such as training, consulting, intermediaries, product sales, and sales of souvenirs are not approved. In the long run, it will inevitably lead to a situation where the producers lack management awareness and market concepts, and are unwilling to meet the status quo. Third, for the columns with good operating results, the producers are not allowed to use part of the profits to expand reproduction to take advantage of the market advantages of the excellent columns. For the columns with long-term operations that are not good and are not welcomed by the audience for a long time, They are rarely shut down and transferred in time, limiting competition and protecting backwardness. As a result, good programs cannot be developed, and poor programs still survive; programs that are not conducive to the adjustment of the program structure and that do not meet the audience's viewing needs cannot be improved.