It is October and the company has three productions in the air. One is shooting, one is waiting for a broadcaster to sign, and one has just lost a co-financier. The managing director has to decide whether to keep the development team on full time through the winter or wait for the signature. Nobody else in the building can make that call. The managing director runs the production company as a business, not as a single film.

What a managing director does

A production company lives from project to project. Each production has its own budget, but the company itself has costs that never stop. Think of rent, salaries for permanent staff, and the development work that may never become a paid production. The managing director keeps the company alive between those projects. They decide which ideas the company backs, which broadcasters, financiers or brands it works with, and how much risk it takes on at once.

In smaller companies the managing director is often also a producer or executive producer on the company's biggest titles. In larger groups the role is closer to that of a chief executive in any other company. Either way, the MD signs the major deals and answers to the owners or shareholders.

Responsibilities

  • Set the company's direction, such as the genres, markets and clients it goes after
  • Decide which projects get development money and which are dropped
  • Approve production deals with broadcasters, streamers, financiers and brands
  • Watch the company's cash flow and overheads with the financial controller
  • Hire and keep the senior team, including the head of production and creative director
  • Represent the company at markets, festivals and industry events
  • Manage risk across all productions at once, so one problem show does not sink the company

How the role touches the budget

The managing director rarely writes a production budget line by line, but they care a great deal about one line in it. That is the production fee or overhead, the share of each budget that pays for the company itself. They also watch cash flow, because a broadcaster or financier often pays in instalments while crew and suppliers want paying now. Across several productions, the MD needs to know which shows are on track and which are eating into the margin. Monthly cost reports from each production feed that picture.

How people become managing directors

Most come up through producing. They ran productions, built relationships with broadcasters or clients, and at some point started or took over a company. Others come from the business side, such as business affairs, finance or a senior role at a broadcaster. What they share is knowing both how productions work and how a company pays its bills.

In TV and commercials

In a TV company the MD spends much of their time on relationships with commissioning editors and on the rights the company keeps after a show is made, because those rights are what makes the company worth more over time. In a commercials production company the MD often focuses on the roster of directors and on winning bids from advertising agencies. There the work comes in faster and in smaller pieces, and margins depend on keeping each job close to its quote.