Project Management in the Film Industry

INTRODUCTION:

Project Management is a very useful tool that can assist with various businesses in all industries. The film industry is one example, which completely revolves around projects. These projects are film productions and to make these films in profitable and successful ways, project management is required.

OVERVIEW:

Project management is a process which can be applied whenever something is being produced. As defined in Wikipedia, it is “the discipline of planning, organizing and managing resources to bring about the successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.” Therefore, since all types of businesses produce something or the other, whether products or services, they can all make use of project management. One such example is the film business, which has greater chances of succeeding when applying project management in the film-making process. Making a film is a project because the production has a beginning and an end, which occurs when the film, the resulting product, is completely made. Thus, project management has always existed in the film industry. However, many filmmakers in the past have not taken full advantage of using proper project management and it is only until recently that the importance of managing film projects in a more professional and systematic way has been realized.

As with all projects, there has to be a project manager to lead the team in building a successful product. In the case of producing films, the line producer, or production manager, is the project manager. This project manager then has to work in coordination with the film’s director and producer, while leading the production staff as well.

PROJECT MANAGENT PROCESSES

Making a film is a form of project that needs to meet stated deadlines and should not exceed expected costs, while not compromising any of its content. But as each film is not the exact same, the steps in production are performed differently every time a film is made. The basic processes of any project are initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing. So, they can be used to manage the production of a film as well, as demonstrated below. There are many available software programs that assist in these processes of managing a project, such as Dekker PMIS and Film Fabric, which is specially designed for managing filmmaking projects. The Project Management Institute also provides lots of information about project management, as well as associated events and standards.

INITIATING:

In the first process of film production, also referred to as the “development” stage, there is a thought or concept that is created onto which the film will be based. Then, this tiny thought is expanded into a much larger screenplay, which is the deliverable of this process.

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