Who's the modern day Don Simpson? (filming, Hollywood, director, Gerard Butler)

[curiousgeorge5]

I was just listening to a podcast about the late Hollywood producer Don Simpson. That link is below. Is there an equivalent producer/Hollywood guy these days? Who would that be?


https://www.city-data.com/forum/movi...n-simpson.html

[cmptrwlt]

00s/10s: The director Bryan Singer?

[AFtrEFkt]

Originally Posted by cmptrwlt

Bryan Singer?

Not a chance.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by curiousgeorge5

Is there an equivalent producer/Hollywood guy these days? Who would that be?

Are you talking about his personality or the kinds of movies he produced?

To be honest, I don't pay much attention to the producers of movies anymore. All too often it is a meaningless credit. It means the person got a paycheck and probably did a lot to secure financing, but very often producers have very little creative input on movies anymore. These days, studios seem to hand out producer credits like balloons at a birthday party.

There are still exceptions, to be sure, but being a movie producer today doesn't mean what it did 60, 50, or even 20 years ago.

But if you're talking about: Who is putting out movies today in the tradition of Don Simpson movies, you'd have to look at someone like Zack Snyder (hit and miss) or Brett Ratner (mostly miss).

[Mark S.]

From: https://stephenfollows.com/how-many-...cers-per-film/

Generally speaking, I’d say that producing credits break down as follows…

Producer – The main person running the whole production (like a CEO)

Executive Producer – A powerful person, normally related to the financing and/or the studio behind the project.

Co-producer – Someone significantly involved in the making of the film. Also encompasses a local producer when a film is a co-production between multiple companies and/or countries.

Line Producer – The person planning the actual filming process.

Associate Producer – What you give your secretary instead of a raise.


Ok, ok, the last one is only half true. The ‘associate producer’ credit has been devalued over time and in many quarters it’s seen as a worthless credit given to those who you need to placate in order to make the movie. That ‘secretary’ joke comes from David Mamet’s glorious film ‘State and Main’ which follows a huge Hollywood production shooting in a small town. Interestingly, the data shows that the average number of associate producers per film has barely changed in 20 years (1994 = 0.9 per film, 2013 = 0.8 per film).

Check out how many Producers Olympus Has Fallen had:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2302755...?ref_=tt_cl_sm

Produced by
Guy Avshalom ... co-executive producer
Gerard Butler ... producer (produced by)
Ed Cathell III ... producer (produced by)
Boaz Davidson ... executive producer
Danny Dimbort ... executive producer
Will French ... co-executive producer
Antoine Fuqua ... producer (produced by)
Mark Gill ... producer
Zygi Kamasa ... co-executive producer / co-producer
Avi Lerner ... executive producer
Danny Lerner ... producer (produced by)
Heidi Jo Markel ... executive producer
Christine Otal ... co-executive producer (as Christine Crow)
Lonnie Ramati ... co-executive producer
Stephen Roberts ... co-executive producer
Danielle Robinson ... associate producer
Trevor Short ... executive producer
Alan Siegel ... producer (produced by)
John Thompson ... executive producer
Robert Van Norden ... unit producer: additional photography

[curiousgeorge5]

Originally Posted by cmptrwlt

00s/10s: The director Bryan Singer?

I dislike that guy.

[curiousgeorge5]

Originally Posted by Mark S.

Are you talking about his personality or the kinds of movies he produced?

To be honest, I don't pay much attention to the producers of movies anymore. All too often it is a meaningless credit. It means the person got a paycheck and probably did a lot to secure financing, but very often producers have very little creative input on movies anymore. These days, studios seem to hand out producer credits like balloons at a birthday party.

There are still exceptions, to be sure, but being a movie producer today doesn't mean what it did 60, 50, or even 20 years ago.

But if you're talking about: Who is putting out movies today in the tradition of Don Simpson movies, you'd have to look at someone like Zack Snyder (hit and miss) or Brett Ratner (mostly miss).

Thanks for your post.

I was thinking the kinds of movies Don Simpson produced. Also, the part of his personality only as it applies to movies, not drugs or other misbehavior.

I didn't know that about producers not having much creative input anymore. If a person came along with Simpson's ability, would that person have a lot of creative input?