Producers and directors held about 152,400 jobs in 2018. The largest employers of producers and directors were as follows:
Motion picture and video industries | 27% |
Radio and television broadcasting | 21 |
Self-employed workers | 19 |
Performing arts, spectator sports, and related industries | 8 |
Advertising, public relations, and related services | 5 |
Producers and directors work under a lot of pressure, and many are under constant stress 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
Work hours for producers and directors can be long and irregular. Evening, weekend, and holiday work is common. Some work more than 40 hours per week. Many producers and directors do not work a standard workweek, because their schedules may change with each assignment or project.
Most producers and directors have a bachelor’s degree and several years of work experience in an occupation related to motion picture, TV, or theater production, such as experience as an actor, a film and video editor, or a cinematographer.
Education
Producers and directors usually have a bachelor’s degree. Many students study film or cinema in programs at colleges and universities. In these programs, students learn about film history, editing, screenwriting, cinematography, and the filmmaking process. As of 2017, the National Association of Schools of Theatre provided accreditation to more than 180 postsecondary institutions for their programs in theater arts.
Others producers and directors have degrees in writing, acting, journalism, or communications. Some producers earn a degree in business, arts management, or nonprofit management.
Many stage directors complete a degree in theater, and some go on to earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. Classes 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 might start out as assistants or in other low-profile studio jobs. For more information, see the profiles on film and video editors and camera operators.
Advancement
As a producer’s or director’s reputation grows, he or she may work on larger, more expensive projects that attract more attention or 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 $74,420 in May 2019. 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 $35,480, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $173,680.
In May 2019, the median annual wages for producers and directors in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:
Advertising, public relations, and related services | $93,100 |
Motion picture and video industries | 87,790 |
Radio and television broadcasting | 64,030 |
Performing arts, spectator sports, and related industries | 61,340 |
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.
Work hours for producers and directors can be long and irregular. Evening, weekend, and holiday work is common. Some work more than 40 hours per week. Many producers and directors do not work a standard workweek, because their schedules may change with each assignment or project.
Employment of producers and directors is projected to grow 5 percent from 2018 to 2028, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Some job growth in the motion picture and video industry is expected to stem from strong demand from the public for movies and television shows, as well as an increased demand from foreign audiences for U.S.-produced films.
Consumer demand for reality shows on television is likely to increase, so more producers and directors will be needed to create and oversee editing of these programs. In addition, the volume of TV shows is expected to grow as the number of Internet-only platforms, such as streaming services, increases along with the number of shows produced for these platforms. This growth should lead to more work opportunities for producers and directors.
Theater producers and directors who work in small- and medium-sized theaters may see slower job growth because many of those theaters have difficulty finding funding as fewer tickets are sold. Large theaters in big cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, which usually have more stable sources of funding, should provide more opportunities.
Job Prospects
Producers and directors face intense competition for jobs because there are more people who want to work in this field than there are jobs available. In film, directors who have experience on film sets should have the best job prospects. Producers who have good business skills will likely have the best prospects.
For more information about producers and directors, visit
National Association of Schools of Theatre
National Endowment for the Arts