Mailbag: Producer/Executive Producer Differences, Review Writing Process, Film Adaptations, Halloween Plans, Translated Interviews & More

On the October 19 2018 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor-in-chief Peter Sciretta is joined by /Film managing editor Jacob Hall, senior writer Ben Pearson and writers Hoai-Tran Bui and Chris Evangelista to answer reader e-mail in the Mail Bag.

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Opening Banter: HT talks about doing an interview with a translator.

In The Mailbag:

• Chris from Ohio writes in: What are your plans for Halloween?”
• Britton from Louisville KY writes in: “What is the difference between a producer and an executive producer? Do they both get best picture oscars if their movie wins?”
  • An Executive Producer is the top executive of the operations, whereas the producer is the manager of the operations.
  • The executive producer prepares the budget and acquires the investors, while the producer makes sure how the budget is properly utilized.
  • The producer hires the people with the right talents and skills for the movie where the producer himself is hired by the Executive Producer.  For the most part, the executive producer has very little to do with the hiring process, aside from hiring the producer.
  • The producer is on set for the entire production (although some films have multiple producers, technical producers and a creative producers), the executive producer is not on set all the time but is used in more of an advisory capacity, overseeing the scripts and marketing.
  • A producer is always eligible for awards in the industry, on the other hand, the Executive producer is not eligible for awards.
  • Sometimes an executive producer is more of a credit than a job.
  • Peter explains:
• Damon P. from St. Louis, MO writes in “I was wondering, since many of the team reads books that are movies or will eventually be movies, if they believe that breaking up a film into two parts (think Deathly Hallows, or Mockingjay) to make a book more complete in film format is a good thing.  So many times we hear “The book is better” why is that? Is that because the movies are limited by time, to incorporate additional plots points or anything like that. Would it be better to break a movie into two (or three) parts in order to give the source material it’s due?”
• Leanne R. from LA writes in “Here’s a quick mailbag question that occurred to me as I was listening to the 12/21 episode: what are the best films directed by & starring the same person? (or to widen the field, including the director as a minor role? e.g., Tarantino or Mel Gibson films)”
  • Peter: Well first of all I think we should discount cameos (M Night, Tarantino...etc). Ben Affleck (Town, Argo) although I feel when hes not in the movie his films are better (Gone Baby Gone)
  • HT: Citizen Kane, Life is Beautiful
  • Chris: Unforgiven, A Star Is Born, Dick Tracy, Do The Right Thing
  • Jacob: Citizen Kane, Unforgiven, lots of Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin movies
  • Ben: The Outlaw Josey Wales, High Plains Drifter, A Quiet Place, Rocky sequels
• Drew from Houston, TX writes in “Hey /Film Daily team,  I really enjoyed the conversation about becoming a film writer. I had another question taking that one step further for those on the site who write reviews: what is your process? Obviously it's hard to take notes when watching a film in theaters. Do you create an outline before diving into a review? Does Chris take notes when reviewing tv shows or blu-rays before writing his review? Just curious to hear a little more about the process.  Thanks!”

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• You can find more about all the stories we mentioned on today’s show at slashfilm.com, and linked inside the show notes.
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