The Exact Definition and Job of a Film Producer... pls?

It's simple

Every film is a new product... if you think of film production in a strictly business sense, the producer is the CEO of the company who makes all of the major decisions about how the product will be developed, marketed and ultimately sold.

Other than the screenwriter the producer is usually the first in on the project and the last out... they make all of the business arrangements for the film.

In terms of who the producer works with... well, in most cases the producer will want to work with the screenwriter to get the script into shape, they will be the one to attach a director and key talent in the development phase will then either find production partners to bring in finance... or package the film for investors.

That part of the process may or may not include pre-sales, applications for soft-funding or any other manner of funding set-ups... which means that the initial budget is also the producer's job.

Once into production the role of the producer has been described as "to sit there and eat shit" ... which basically means dealing with crisis that the production team can't handle. A good producer delegates a lot of this to the line producer... but as the producer is the real boss they pretty much always end up on set sorting shit out.

The same in post production... fire fighting, managing the budget, pushing the team to hit key deadlines... basically managing the project.

And then the producer moves into sales and festival mode... promoting the film organising press packs, making sure the director is sober enough to do interviews at festival screenings...

I think I've covered about 1% of the answer... however, what I do know is that if you have to ask what the job is, you aren't ready to take the role on... that's for sure.