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Chief
They are nothing alike. š
Project managers handle the workflow of a project before it is approved. They manage internal resources, staffing and timelines but not client budgets. Iāve found that they can be anything from purely administrative and almost like account people, to more experienced talent managers with great intuition.
Producers are in charge of approved work. They manage budgets and execute the actual finished product with the creative department and external production partners. They are highly specialized and have many skills.
You canāt make commercials or content without a producer. You can definitely do without a project manager.
If I was a producer, I would certainly be offended to be called a PM.
Agreed, which is why I noted that I was aware that the jobs were different. I was talking about the finances.
Yes! I was in Project Management for 8 years before becoming a Producer.
I fought like hell to break into a Producer role - and I will never look back. Both are important but there is without a doubt a difference.
I should note that I have a ton of respect for the Project Manager position. They matter and are important. Also, they can be an asset for a producer if theyāre good and know their place when itās my time to lead the production.
They are of course two very different jobs. Most production folks will know the difference. Any job listing that doesnāt is misguided at best.
How about when PMs are called Integrated peoducers.
Truth
Chief
Iāve worked at agencies where they expect you to do both. Or where account managers do the project management. Or where no one does so itās the creativeās job.
To be honest, there are overlaps in the way they interact with creative/strat teams, the first three letters are the same, and thereās no equivalent in portfolio school...itās stupid but I think that accounts for a lot of it.
Yes, Iāve heard of film school, thanks. Juniors arenāt going on those shoots. Strategists rarely ever are. Itās that lack of exposure that causes the confusion imo, and those are the groups I usually hear the confusion from. Obviously someone who actually works closely with producers probably isnāt the person mixing them up with a PM.
100% yes
IMO, in a perfect world they are different roles. However, from a job seeking perspective š itās hard to deny there is a lot of transferable knowledge between the two diciplines. Especially when you consider non broadcast production! If someone isnāt from the agency structure (say, client side in a more traditional āmarketingā dept.) the line of delineation is less clear and the general skill set is what youād be hired for anyways. As someone who is a trying to break into non broadcast production amid a pandemic - I keep myself open to both.
Definitely hear you on that! As someone above mentioned, I think seniority plays a major role here in the discussion. At your level of expertise, I would agree that comparing the two is like assuming apples and oranges are the same! However for a coordinator or jr, Iāve found that to be generally less so (for better or for worse)