Why are there so many producers on Six Feet Under?

August 27, 2004 9:18 PM

Why so many producers? [the more, she is inside]

Six Feet Under on HBO is one of my favorite shows, ever. I don't watch much TV, and kept HBO just for SFU. Hey, any show that premieres with singing mortuary products can't be all bad.

But (to me, ignorant in these matters) they seem to have a plethora of producers. I counted 11 the other night. Producers, Supervising Producers, Executive Producers, Co-Executive Producers.

Anybody have any light to shed on this? They seem to have a lot more producers than any other show on TV I've seen.

posted by ebarker to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

Producers & Supervising Producers (also sometimes Line Producers) are the people who hire & fire crew, handle payroll, insurance, union stuff, etc. They're the heads of the company. Execs & Co-Execs are generally people who fund the project. Sometimes people will get producer credit contractually as a favor of some sort in return for bringing something important to the production (an actor or key location or an introduction to a financing source, etc.). Six Feet Under is produced more like a film than like a network tv show.
posted by judith at 1:52 AM on August 28, 2004

Here's an article on writers for TV that goes over just this idea.

eye - Where writers are gods - 08.12.04
posted by filmgeek at 3:45 AM on August 28, 2004

My friend's just getting into the film business, and he tells me these incredible tales of utter pointless waste on set, with many utterly useless senior people doing nothing (especially on short pieces like ads) while the runners and youngsters with odd titles make it all happen. But they all get paid, and the projects still make money, so why upset the applecart?
posted by bonaldi at 9:02 AM on August 28, 2004

bondali: that type of thing isn't exclusive to the movie biz. ;)

ebarker: this was also discussed here and here -- both worth reading.
posted by jca at 10:28 AM on August 28, 2004

short non-linked answer: most of the producers are writers, or have a hand in the writing process. execs in TV are not always the money people... sometimes they're the creators, and often they have a big hand in the writing. supervising producers usually are involved in the story process, while line producers are in charge of the nuts and bolts of production.

most TV shows have similar number of producers, six feet just credits more of them because they can.

also, calling giving someone a producer credit is a way to avoid union entanglement (i.e. on smaller, non-union shows, a writer will be called a producer).
posted by thebigpoop at 10:29 AM on August 28, 2004