From the course: Running a Video Production Business

Key roles for project management

From the course: Running a Video Production Business

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Key roles for project management

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- Depending upon your background, you'll often hear two different job titles thrown about. Either the word producer or the word project manager. And this really is often the same job, but project manager is a word that's used a lot in the world of normal business operations. And then the term producer can be applied to things like executive producer, producer, associate producer, or a line producer. And each thing may mean something a little bit different. In the case of a project manager, this is generally assigned to the person who's overseeing the business aspects of the project. This is a very traditional title used throughout the world of business, and you might need to refer to your producers as project managers if you're working with in-house clients. This will give them confidence that they're talking to the person who is in charge in managing the resources and the outcomes. Additionally, it's important that this person understands that they need to balance out scope, schedule, and quality. That they are responsible for delivering on all of these fronts to give the best results. You're going to use this title a lot when working in a corporate environment or if you have a lot of corporate people. Now when working with crews and people that come from a film or video background, they're more used to the word producer. And it's the producer who coordinates key aspects of the crew. They might deal with crew selection, scheduling, identifying budgets and other options. They're going to take care of logistics such as the locations and making sure that the project stays financially where it needs to. They're also going to generally be in charge of the management of the set putting together the schedule, and in many cases the producer has to keep the director and the rest of the crew on target and on schedule. Now if you're on a larger production, you may hear the term executive producer. This person tends to be more in charge of the financial aspects of the project. In a film the executive producer is usually more about the money, but if it's a larger production the executive producer can also oversee multiple producers, particularly if it's something like a news program or something that has multiple episodes. On larger productions, you may also encounter an associate producer or a line producer. This person generally reports back to the producer, and they're going to provide organizational support. They often will get used if there are multiple locations involved so they can go on to the next location or start to do pre-work. And they can also be tasked for things like research or location scouting. What's important to realize is that the project management is essential. So having good project management is going to lead to better quality videos. And if you want to learn more about project management, I'd encourage you to explore the Project Management Institute. They also offer a certification for a project management professional as well as some associate level certifications. This will help you better understand the business aspects of managing teams' scope, quality, and budget to really generate the outcomes that you desire.

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