Producer or Director

Producers and directors make business and creative decisions about, film, television, stage, and other productions. They interpret a writer’s script to entertain, inform, or instruct an audience.

Producers and directors typically do the following:

• Select scripts or topics for a film, television, video, stage, or radio production
• Audition and select cast members and the film or stage crew
• Approve the design and financial aspects of a production
• Oversee the production process, including sound, lighting, and performances
• Oversee the postproduction process, including editing, music selection, special effects, and a performance’s overall tone
• Ensure that a project stays on schedule and within budget
• Promote finished productions or works through advertisements, film festivals, and interviews

Producers and directors held about 166,200 jobs in 2021. The largest employers of producers and directors were as follows:

Producers and directors are often under pressure to finish their work on time. Work assignments may be short, ranging from 1 day to a few months. They sometimes must work in unpleasant conditions, such as bad weather.

Theater directors and producers may travel with a touring show across the country, while those in film and television may work on location (a site away from the studio and where all or part of the filming occurs).

Work Schedules

Workdays for producers and directors may be long and irregular. Many do not have a standard workweek, because their schedules may change with each assignment or project. Evening, weekend, and holiday work is common. Most producers and directors work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week.

Producers and directors typically have a bachelor’s degree. They also typically need several years of experience working on set in film, TV, stage, or other productions in positions such as actors, cinematographers, or film and video editors or in related occupations, such as theater managers.

Education

Producers and directors typically need a bachelor's degree in film or cinema studies or a related field, such as arts management, business, communications technology, or theater. In film or cinema studies programs, students learn about film history, editing, screenwriting, cinematography, and the filmmaking process.

Stage directors may complete a degree in theater, and some go on to earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. Courses may include directing, playwriting, set design, and acting.

Work Experience in a Related Occupation

Producers and directors might start out working in theatrical management offices as business or company managers. In television or film, they may begin as assistants or in other low-profile studio jobs. They may also participate in internships that provide opportunities to work alongside producers and directors. For more information, see the profile on film and video editors and camera operators.

Advancement

As a producer’s or director’s reputation grows, he or she may work on increasingly large, challenging, and expensive projects that attract publicity.

Producers and directors typically have an interest in the Creating and Persuading interest areas, according to the Holland Code framework. The Creating interest area indicates a focus on being original and imaginative, and working with artistic media. The Persuading interest area indicates a focus on influencing, motivating, and selling to other people.

If you are not sure whether you have a Creating or Persuading interest which might fit with a career as a producer and director, you can take a career test to measure your interests.

Producers and directors should also possess the following specific qualities:

Communication skills. Producers and directors must coordinate the work of many different people to finish a production on time and within budget.

Creativity. Because a script can be interpreted in different ways, directors must decide how they want to interpret it and then how to represent the script’s ideas on the screen or stage.

Leadership skills. A director instructs actors and helps them portray their characters in a believable manner. They also supervise the crew, who are responsible for the behind the scenes work.

Management skills. Producers must find and hire the best director and crew for the production and make sure that all involved do their jobs effectively and efficiently.

The median annual wage for producers and directors was $79,000 in May 2021. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $38,210, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $206,860.

In May 2021, the median annual wages for producers and directors in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:

Some producers and directors earn a percentage of ticket sales. A few of the most successful producers and directors have extraordinarily high earnings, but most do not.

Workdays for producers and directors may be long and irregular. Many do not have a standard workweek, because their schedules may change with each assignment or project. Evening, weekend, and holiday work is common. Most producers and directors work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week.

Employment of producers and directors is projected to grow 8 percent from 2021 to 2031, faster than the average for all occupations.

About 17,500 openings for producers and directors are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire. 

Employment

The volume of TV shows is expected to grow as the number of online-only platforms, such as streaming services, increases along with the number of shows produced for these platforms. This growth should lead to more opportunities for producers and directors.

Demand for theater producers and directors will depend on funding availability. If there is a steady revenue stream, these workers may be in high demand. However, opportunities for theater producers and directors may be limited in theaters with funding challenges.

For more information about producers and directors, visit

Directors Guild of America

Producers Guild of America

National Association of Schools of Theatre

National Endowment for the Arts

Where does this information come from?

The career information above is taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. This excellent resource for occupational data is published by the U.S. Department of Labor every two years. Truity periodically updates our site with information from the BLS database.

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This information is taken directly from the Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Truity does not editorialize the information, including changing information that our readers believe is inaccurate, because we consider the BLS to be the authority on occupational information. However, if you would like to correct a typo or other technical error, you can reach us at help@truity.com.

I am not sure if this career is right for me. How can I decide?

There are many excellent tools available that will allow you to measure your interests, profile your personality, and match these traits with appropriate careers. On this site, you can take the Career Personality Profiler assessment, the Holland Code assessment, or the Photo Career Quiz.