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