The script arrives on Monday afternoon with a note from the agency. Bids are due Thursday. The commercials producer reads it with the director, works out that the car scene needs a closed road and a tracking vehicle, calls two locations and an equipment house, and builds a bid of a few hundred lines. If the production company wins the job, they will have to make the film for exactly that price. The commercials producer is the person at the production company who prices and makes the advert.
What a commercials producer does
In advertising, a brand hires an agency for the idea, and the agency hires a production company to film it. The commercials producer works at that production company. Their first task is the bid, a detailed, fixed-price quote. It covers every cost of the job, such as crew, cast, locations, equipment, studio, travel, post-production and the company's fee. The agency usually asks two or three companies to bid, each with a different director.
Once the job is awarded, the commercials producer runs it. They hire the crew with the production manager, lead the pre-production meeting where the agency and client approve every detail, manage the shoot, and oversee the edit and finishing until the last version is delivered.
Responsibilities
- Read the script with the director and plan how to shoot it
- Write the bid and the production schedule
- Present and adjust the bid with the agency producer
- Hire crew, book locations, equipment and studios
- Run the pre-production meeting with agency and client
- Manage the shoot and post-production within the bid
- Agree any changes and extra costs with the agency in writing
- Deliver all versions and close the job's costs
How the role touches the budget
Completely. The commercials producer writes the bid, and the bid becomes the budget. Because the price is fixed, any saving is extra margin for the company and any overspend comes out of it. They track actual costs against each bid line during the job. If the agency or client changes something after the award, the producer prices it as an extra, called an overage, and gets it approved before spending.
How people become commercials producers
Most start as runners or production assistants on commercials, then work as coordinator and production manager. Some move over from agency production. Learning to read a script and see the cost behind every shot is the core skill.
In commercials and film
In film and TV the line producer does similar work over months, with a budget that can be adjusted. A commercial is short and fixed-price, so the commercials producer works faster and negotiates harder. In some companies an executive producer checks every bid before it goes out. See how a film is made.