Laura Hastings-Smith, producer of the award winning Hunger talks about the highs and lows of her job with film editor Rees Arnott-Davies
RAD: What is it that a Producer does?
LHS: It’s quite a difficult question to answer, because there are many different kinds of producers. There are producers who specialise in the finance side of the job, and so are great deal makers, there are other producers who are very good at the development end, are particularly good with creatives, writers, caste and so on, then there are some producers who are more expert at working at the coal face, taking the production through from beginning to end – they’re often what’s called the lead producer – they’re there every day and it’s their job to make films happen. I think people get very confused between the role of the director and the producer, because obviously the director is the visionary creative lead, but what people don’t understand is that the producer actually has ultimate responsibility for the delivery of the film as it was written, and as it was understood to be made by the director. They have an overview and also a responsibility to keep everyone not only cast, crew and budget, but also the director on board with the vision that everyone has bought into.
RAD: So would you say it’s about organising the final product, and keeping it under control?
LHS: Producers need to be leaders; they always say the production is led from the top. You set a tone for the production, for how deals are made, for the straightforward flow of information. You need to take care of everyone, to show that you care, to make sure people are fed well, that people are treated with respect and are appreciated for what they’re doing.
‘Walking up the carpet at Cannes is obviously great, but that’s the icing on the cake, not the core job.’
RAD: Is there a typical day for a producer?
LHS: I’m not sure there is. There are so many different aspects to a production, from when you’re in development, to where you’re financing a film, to when you’re casting and crewing, to when you’re in full scale pre-production, to production, to the edit, to the post-edit and the delivery. And it doesn’t stop there, particularly if you’ve got a successful film, because you then have to think through the festivals, your PR campaign, the distributors, the international campaign, awards ceremonies, opening nights, premieres. It’s so multi-faceted; it’s really quite a job.
RAD: What’s the best thing about being a producer?
LHS: I think for me (and every producer would answer differently) it’s the creative side. I love that honeymoon phase in development and pre-production, when you’re still getting inside the head of the director. For me that’s absolutely key – to work at the coalface, to understand the director as a person, but also to understand their vision for the film, so that when things get tough, I can protect that vision. Walking up the carpet at Cannes is obviously great, but that’s the icing on the cake, not the core job.
RAD: What’s the worst thing about being a producer?
LHS: Personally, I hate doing contracts. Of course that’s a hugely important part of my job, but thankfully it doesn’t take up all my time. Obviously you will have days when you get a curveball, but once everything is up and running, you have more time, because you have all these heads of department who are doing their jobs, and if you’ve crewed and casted properly and you’ve budgeted and scheduled properly, it should all work without you being there. But of course, film is so complicated and there’s so much potential for things to go wrong, they will, and sometimes you get complete surprises, things you could never have foreseen, so my job is always looking ahead, scanning the horizon looking for where the next problem is going to come.
‘Producers need to be leaders; they always say the production is led from the top’
RAD: How did you first get into producing?
LHS: My root in is not typical in any way. I studied fine art painting at university but then switched to fine art filmmaking, and for a while after I graduated I taught. Then I did an M.A. in Film and Television studies while I was writing and developing my own projects, because I was a director. I made little films with regional arts money, and then bigger films, but my crossover into the mainstream was in documentary. So I was directing flagship TV documentaries for quite a few years, and became a producer-director, then series producer, then head of development at a company. But when I had my daughter, I finally thought I’d like to produce more than direct, and around that time I began working with Jefferson Hack and Rankin, who were the founders of Dazed and Confused magazine, and my first feature film was for Rankin – and Hunger is my second.
