A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to the film studio or other financing entity, while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed. Many film producers also have competency in other fields (directors, screenwriters, actors) but that is not always the case.

The producer is often actively involved throughout all major phases of the filmmaking process, from inception and development to completion and delivery of a film project.^[1] However, an idea or concept for a film can originate with any individual, including a screenwriter, a director or a producer.

Role[link]

A producer begins by obtaining the rights to create or co-create a feature-length screenplay. The producer oversees the process, which includes coordinating, supervising and controlling major aspects of the project. This includes fundraising and hiring key roles such as the casting director or film director. They'll also influence the hiring of other personnel such as the UPM or line producer and accountant.^[2]

Comparison to other producer roles[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

An executive producer is usually a person representing a financial investor in a film project, such as a movie studio or a distributor, but who is not directly involved in the day-to-day production. It can also be someone with other special interests in the project, such as the author of the book that the film is based on, or one of the movie's key actors who has been instrumental in persuading the studio to do the movie. In such cases, the executive producer credit is mainly honorary.

Associate producers and co-producers are also separate from the role of producer. They also support the producer to some degree, although not to the extent of an executive producer.

A line producer is a hands-on role which controls the day-to-day financial and production concerns and is there to support the vision of the director during production.

References[link]

Notes

Further reading

Fred Williamson
Williamson in June 2010
Born	(1938-03-05) March 5, 1938 (age 74) Gary, Indiana
Occupation	Actor, Director, Producer

Fred "The Hammer" Williamson (born March 5, 1938) is an American actor, architect, and former professional American football defensive back who played mainly in the American Football League during the 1960s.

Football career[link]

After playing college football for Northwestern in the late 1950s, he was drafted by the San Francisco 49ers #2 overall. When during training camp he was switched to their defense, his attitude over the switch prompted him to hit his assignment too hard, the 49ers coach asked him to quit "hammering" his players. The nickname "The Hammer" stuck with him ever since. He played a year for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League in 1960. He then switched to the new American Football League. Williamson played four seasons for the AFL’s Oakland Raiders, making the AFL All-Star team in 1961, 1962, and 1963. He also played three seasons for the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.

During his time with the Chiefs, Williamson became one of football’s first self-promoters, coining the nickname “The Hammer”—because he used his forearm to deliver karate-style blows to the heads of opposing receivers. Prior to Super Bowl I, he garnered national headlines by boasting that he would knock Green Bay Packers starting receivers Carroll Dale and Boyd Dowler out of the game, stating “Two hammers to (Boyd) Dowler, one to (Carroll) Dale should be enough”.^[1] His prediction turned out to be ironic, because Williamson himself was knocked out of the game in the fourth quarter, his head meeting the knee of Packer running back Donny Anderson. Williamson finished his eight-season NFL/AFL career in 1967 with 36 interceptions, which he returned for 479 yards and 2 touchdowns, in 104 games. After a brief stint with the CFL's Montreal Alouettes in the 1968 season, he retired permanently from pro football.

Acting career[link]

Williamson at the Festival de Cine de Sitges in October 2008

Following his retirement from football, Williamson decided that a career in architecture wasn't his calling and tried his hand as an actor, much in the mold of star running back Jim Brown. He also acted alongside Mr. Brown in films such as 1974's Three the Hard Way, 1975's Take a Hard Ride, 1982's One Down, Two to Go, 1996's Original Gangstas and 2002's On the Edge, along with guest starring with him in a handful of episodes of various television programs. Before Jim Brown did it in 1974, Fred posed nude for Playgirl magazine in the October 1973 issue. One of Williamson’s early television roles was a part in The Cloud Minders, a 1968 episode of Star Trek, playing "Anka". Williamson also played Diahann Carroll’s love interest in the sitcom Julia. In an interview for the DVD of Bronx Warriors, Williamson stated that the role in Julia was created for him when he convinced the producers that the Black community was upset that Julia had a different boyfriend every week.

Williamson's early film work included roles in 1970, M*A*S*H and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon. He also got to play, in 1973, an African-American mafioso in Black Caesar and its subsequent sequel, Hell Up in Harlem. He is also noted for portraying "Boss Nigger" in the 1975 blockbuster hit, Boss Nigger. After this he appeared as an actor in several films, most of which are considered to be of the "blaxploitation" genre. In 1974 he starred alongside Peter Boyle and Eli Wallach in the movie Crazy Joe.

In 1974, he was selected by the ABC television network as a commentator on Monday Night Football to replace Don Meredith, who had left (temporarily, as it turned out) to pursue an acting and broadcasting career at rival network NBC. Williamson was used on a few pre-season broadcasts, but he was judged to be unsuitable by ABC. He was relieved of his duties at the beginning of the regular season, becoming the first MNF personality not to endure for an entire season. He was replaced by the fellow former player (and fellow Gary, Indiana, native) Alex Karras.

Since that time, Williamson has continued his career as an actor and director, recently appearing in the feature film version of the 1970s television series Starsky and Hutch.

During the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, Williamson frequently appeared on television as a spokesman for King Cobra (“Don’t let the smooth taste fool you.”)...as did fellow actor/martial artist Martin Kove. In 1994, Williamson, along with many other black actors from the 'Blaxploitation' movie era (namely Antonio Fargas, Pam Grier, Rudy Ray Moore, and Ron O'Neal) made a cameo appearance on Snoop Doggy Dogg's music video "Doggy Dogg World", where he appears as himself using his pro-football nickname "The Hammer".

Williamson co-starred with George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino in 1996's From Dusk Till Dawn, directed by Robert Rodriguez. He was in the cast of 1978's original The Inglorious Bastards, which inspired Tarantino's 2009 film of a similar name.

Williamson made a cameo appearance in the independent comedy feature Spaced Out which was released by Ariztical Entertainment in 2009. When asked about his role in the film at the premiere screening in 2006, Williamson said,

Career as a director and producer[link]

Alongside acting, Williamson has since the middle 1970s appeared as a director and producer as well. His first film as a producer was Boss Nigger (1975), a Western directed by Jack Arnold. With the second film he produced he also debuted as a director, Mean Johnny Barrows (1976), was a significant predecessor of the Rambo films with its violent Vietnam vet story, however the novel First Blood (Rambo I) was written in 1972. He has since directed over 20 features.

In the middle of the 1970s, Williamson relocated to Rome, Italy and formed his own company Po' Boy Productions, which started to produce actioners like Adios Amigo (1976) and Death Journey (1976), both of which starred and were directed by Williamson. Although his most recent efforts as director and producer have mainly gone straight to DVD, Williamson has continued working actively with films.

Filmography[link]

• M*A*S*H (1970)
• Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970)
• Hammer (1972)
• The Legend of Nigger Charley (1972)
• The Soul of Nigger Charley (1973)
• Black Caesar (1973)
• Hell Up in Harlem (1973)
• That Man Bolt (1973)
• Three the Hard Way (1974)
• Black Eye (1974)
• Mean Johnny Barrows (1974)
• Crazy Joe (1974)
• Bucktown (1975)
• Take a Hard Ride (1975)
• Boss Nigger (1975)
• Adiós Amigo (1976)
• Death Journey (1976)
• Joshua (spaghetti western) (1976)
• No Way Back (1976)
• Mr. Mean (1977)
• The Inglorious Bastards (1977)
• Blind Rage (1978)
• Fist of Fear, Touch of Death (1980)
• i nuovi barbari (1982)
• 1990: I guerrieri del Bronx (1982)
• One Down,Two To Go (1982)
• Vigilante (1983)
• Warrior of the Lost World (1983)
• Deadly Impact (1984)
• White Fire (1985)
• Fox Trap (1986)
• Black Cobra (1987)
• The Messenger (1987)
• Black Cobra 2 (1988)
• Black Cobra 3 (1990)
• South Beach (1993)
• From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
• Original Gangstas (1996)
• Ride (1998)
• Carmen: A Hip Hopera (made for TV) (2001)
• Starsky & Hutch (2004)
• Interpolated! (2006)
• Resist Evil Part Two: God is Missing! Let us Quest for God! (2008)
• Resist Evil Part Three: Don't Stop or We'll Die (2008)
• Blending some Green Part 1 (2008)
• Spaced Out (2009)
• Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption (2010)

See also[link]

• List of American Football League players

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Fred Williamson

• Fred Williamson: "I Like the Life.", an interview by Roger Ebert, from The Chicago Sun-Times May 17, 1983
• [http://media7.podbean.com/pb/5011db7df8c09407615201d6c71ed0ff/4c241248/blogs7/145336/uploads/Episode123.mp3 Fred Williamson Interview about working with Quinton Tarantino." An interview with the Slacker And The Man Podcast.
• Fred Williamson: Original Gangsta, an interview by Michael Mercadante 2006
• Williamson's 1965 Topps football card
• Fred Williamson at the Internet Movie Database
• Fred Williamson at AllRovi
• Fred Williamson at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Fred Williamson statistics
• http://www.remembertheafl.com/1965ToppsRaiders.htm#FredWilliamson

Peter Samuelson is an American and British TV and film producer and executive producer and Founding Managing Director of the Media Institute for Social Change at the University of Southern California.

Career[link]

Peter Samuelson is the Founding Managing Director of the Media Institute for Social Change at the University of Southern California.http://cinema.usc.edu He is also President of Film Associates, Inc. http://www.samuelson.la a media consultancy and production company. Samuelson is mainly a film and television producer, but has also been a production manager, senior corporate executive and starred in The Return of the Pink Panther as the Clothing Thief. He was previously President of Splashlife, Inc. and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Panavision, Inc. After serving as production manager on films such as The Return of the Pink Panther, he emigrated from London to Los Angeles and produced Revenge of the Nerds, Tom & Viv, Wilde, Arlington Road and many other films. Peter also served on the initial three person Advisory Board of Jeff Skoll's Participant Productions. http://web.archive.org/web/20071009223659/www.participantproductions.com/company/Advisory+Board/

Social entrepreneurship[link]

Samuelson is a social entrepreneur. In 1982, inspired by a little boy battling an inoperable brain tumor, Peter and his cousin actress Emma Samms conceived of the Starlight Children’s Foundation http://www.starlight.org, building it into an international charity dedicated to granting wishes for seriously ill children. In 1990 Peter brought together leaders including Steven Spielberg and General Norman Schwarzkopf to create the STARBRIGHT Foundation http://www.starbright.org —a charity dedicated to developing media and technology-based programs to educate and empower children to cope with the medical, emotional and social challenges of their illness. On June 5. 1995, Peter Samuelson, General Norman Schwarzkopf and Steven Spielberg launched the world’s first, and longest continuously running, fully interactive social network, Starbright World, delivering video, sound, text and avatar - based communication to hospitalized children. http://web.archive.org/web/19980530092329/www.starbright.org/press/virtualplayground.htmlIn 2004, Starlight and STARBRIGHT completed a formal merger and became the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. Samuelson currently serves as the international chairman of the organization.^[1]

In 1999, he founded First Star Inc. http://www.firststar.org , a charity headquartered in Washington, D.C. that works to improve the public health, safety, and family life of America’s abused and neglected children. In 2005 Samuelson founded EDAR (Everyone Deserves A Roof) Inc. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-edar10-2008dec10,0,4500137,full.story to develop and widely distribute a mobile single-user structure which in the daytime serves as a purpose-built recycling vehicle while at night time transforming into a comfortable tented bed enclosure. The sponsorship price point is $500 per EDAR. http://www.EDAR.org

Background[link]

He was born on October 16, 1951 in London, England, and has a Masters Degree in English Literature from the University of Cambridge.^[2] The son of Sir Sydney Samuelson, he has two brothers and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. He is fourth of five family generations employed in the film industry.

Projects[link]

Samuelson has a career in the film industry that started in the early 1970s.^[3]

Producer and Executive Producer[link]

• Man in the Chair (2006) (Executive Producer)
• The Last Time (2006) (Producer)
• Stormbreaker (2006) (Producer)
  • aka Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker (USA)
• Things To Do Before You're 30 (2006) (Producer)
• Chromophobia (2005) (Executive Producer)
• Need (2005) (Producer)
• The Libertine (2004) (Executive Producer)
• The Pact (2002) (TV) (Executive Producer)
• The Gathering (2002) (Producer)
• Gabriel & Me (2001) (Producer)
• Guest House Paradiso (1999) (Executive Producer)
• Arlington Road (1999) (Producer)
• The Commissioner (1998) (Co-Producer)
  • aka Der Commissioner - Im Zentrum der Macht (Germany)
• This Is The Sea (1997) (Executive Producer)
• Wilde (1997) (Producer)
  • aka Oscar Wilde (Germany)
• Dog's Best Friend (1997) (TV) (Executive Producer)
• Tom & Viv (1994) (Producer)
• Playmaker (1994) (Producer)
  • aka Private Teacher (Philippines)
• Turk 182! (1985) (Executive Producer)
• Revenge of the Nerds (1984) (Producer)
• A Man, a Woman and a Bank (1979) (Producer)

Production Manager[link]

• Shoot the Sun Down (1981) (Associate Producer & Production Manager)
• High Velocity (1976) (Production Manager)
• The Return of the Pink Panther (1975) (Production Manager & uncredited acting part of the Clothing thief)
• One by One (1975) (Production Manager)
  • aka Quick and the Dead (USA)
• Le Mans (1971) (Assistant Production Manager)

References[link]

• Peter Samuelson at the Internet Movie Database

External links[link]

• Peter Samuelson - MIPtalk.com Interview

Ray Liotta
Liotta at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
Born	Raymond Allen Liotta (1954-12-18) December 18, 1954 (age 57) Newark, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1978–present

Raymond Allen "Ray" Liotta (born December 18, 1954) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Henry Hill in the crime-drama Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese and his role as Shoeless Joe Jackson in Field of Dreams. He has won an Emmy Award and been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He is also known for starring as the protagonist, Tommy Vercetti in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

Early life[link]

He was born in Newark, New Jersey, and was adopted at the age of six months by Mary Liotta, an appointed township clerk, and Alfred Liotta, an auto parts store owner, personnel director, and the president of a local Democratic club.^[1] Both of his parents unsuccessfully ran for local office.^[2] Liotta had believed his biological parents were of Scottish and Italian descent,^[3] but eventually reunited with his biological mother and discovered that she is not of Italian descent.^[4][5] In 1973, Liotta graduated from Union High School in Union, New Jersey, and was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame in 1992. Liotta studied acting at the University of Miami, where he performed at the university's Jerry Herman Ring Theatre.

Career[link]

One of Liotta's earliest roles was as Joey Perrini on the soap opera Another World. He appeared on the show from 1978 to 1981. He infamously made his film debut sexually assaulting Pia Zadora with a garden hose in the cult classic The Lonely Lady. In 1987, he earned his first Golden Globe nomination"HFPA – Awards Search". 1.hfpa.org. http://www1.hfpa.org/browse/member/29970. Retrieved July 7, 2009.  for his portrayal of volatile ex-con Ray Sinclair in Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild (1986). In 1989, he costarred, along with Kevin Costner, in the fantasy/drama film, Field of Dreams. Liotta portrayed Shoeless Joe Jackson, the ghost of the famed baseball player. In 1990, Liotta portrayed real-life mobster Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas. In 1992, he costarred, along with Kurt Russell and Madeleine Stowe, in the thriller Unlawful Entry as an psychopatic cop. He also a leading role in No Escape. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Liotta would earn more critical praise for his turn in James Mangold's film Cop Land, starring alongside Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. In 1998, he received critical praise for his performance as the compulsive gambling but decent policeman Harry Collins, in the crime film, Phoenix.

In addition to his film roles, Liotta portrayed singer Frank Sinatra in the 1998 TV movie The Rat Pack (for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination) and provided the voice of Tommy Vercetti for the 2002 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. That same year he appeared as Det. Lt. Henry Oak in the Joe Carnahan-directed film Narc, receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination and a Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards nomination for Best Supporting Male, a praised performance that many critics considered to be Liotta's career best. He then reunited with director James Mangold in 2003 alongside John Cusack and Alfred Molina in the dark horror-thriller Identity, remembered for its very unique and clever twist. He also narrated Inside the Mafia for the National Geographic Channel in 2005. Liotta had a memorable guest appearance that year on the television drama ER playing Charlie Metcalf in the episode "Time of Death". The role earned him an Emmy for "Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series". Liotta would later spoof himself and his Emmy win in Bee Movie. He starred in the 2006 CBS television series Smith, which was pulled from the schedule after only three episodes had aired. He later appeared in Smokin' Aces (reuniting with Narc director Joe Carnahan), portraying an FBI agent named Donald Carruthers in one of the lead roles. He appeared with John Travolta in the movie Wild Hogs and with Johnny Depp in the 2001 film Blow, portraying the father of drug dealer George Jung.

Liotta has appeared in Battle in Seattle as the city's mayor, and in Hero Wanted playing a detective alongside Cuba Gooding Jr.. He was also in Crossing Over, co-starring Harrison Ford. Liotta played Detective Harrison in the 2009 Jody Hill comedy Observe and Report as Seth Rogen's nemesis from the local police. In 2011, he starred in The Son of No One, opposite Channing Tatum and for the first time in his career, Al Pacino.^[6] He told ABC's Good Morning America in 2001 that he was offered the role of Tony Soprano by series creator David Chase but turned it down to focus on movies.

Liotta's recent movies include Date Night with Steve Carell, Charlie St. Cloud with Zac Efron, the independent drama Snowmen, and The River Sorrow, which stars Liotta as a detective alongside Christian Slater and Ving Rhames.

Personal life[link]

Liotta married actress Michelle Grace in February 1997. They met at her ex-husband's (Mark Grace) baseball game; they also co-starred in The Rat Pack, in which Liotta played Frank Sinatra and Grace played Judith Campbell Exner. Their daughter, Karsen, was born in December 1998. The couple divorced in 2004. Liotta currently resides in Pacific Palisades, California.

A baseball pitcher bearing his name is currently in the Kansas City Royals system.^[7]

As part of his contract for starring in In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale as Gallian, Liotta had permission to keep all wizard robes donned for the film.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ray Liotta at the Internet Movie Database

Ryan Woods (born May 16, 1988 in Preston) is an English footballer currently playing for Carshalton Athletic.

Career[link]

College and amateur[link]

Woods attended Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School in Preston, and was part of the youth setup of English Premier League team Blackburn Rovers, for whom he started playing when he was just seven years old.

Woods came to the United States in 2007 after accepting a scholarship to attend and play college soccer at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was a two-time all American at Embry Riddle, was his team's captain for three seasons, and as a Junior in 2009 he was a first team All-American, a first team Sun Conference All-Conference selection, and an Academic Sun Conference All-Conference honoree. He finished his college career with 23 goals and 19 assists in 55 career games.

During his college years Woods also played with Forest City London in the USL Premier Development League, scoring 2 goals in 16 games in the 2010 season.^[1]

Professional[link]

Woods began his professional career in 2011 when he was signed by the NSC Minnesota Stars of the North American Soccer League after attending the team’s preseason training camp.^[2] He made his professional debut on April 30, 2011, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 draw with the Carolina RailHawks.

He returned to England to work as a recruitment consultant in London and in January 2012 signed for Carshalton Athletic.

References[link]