Of Minor Prophets – Behind the Scenes with Producer Andrew Reinartz

Some people see the title of “Producer” in the opening credits of a film and have no idea what it means. What does a producer… produce? What does the producer actually contribute to the film? It’s not quite as clearly defined as titles like Director or Composer.

As we continue our series of behind-the-scenes interviews with the Of Minor Prophets cast and crew, we thought we’d go into more detail of the roles and responsibilities of a producer. We turned to Passenger’s own Andrew Reinartz, who served as a producer on OMP from the beginning stages all the way through the finish line (and beyond).

Here’s what Andrew had to say about the filmmaking process from a producer’s perspective.

So what exactly do you DO as a producer? And how did your skills contribute to the making of Of Minor Prophets?
Andrew: I can start by saying I came into this with the least amount of knowledge of filmmaking and the necessary elements out of anyone involved in the project. Probably including the interns.

That being said, I think what I did bring was an efficiency and organizational skill set to try to figure out all of the details that needed to be taken care of beforehand. So the things I was heavily involved with were all taken care of before the film. Basically during filming, I was mostly holding down the office while they were shooting.

Along with Jordan Born, who was sort of a line producer, we secured everything from location approval to getting setup for all of the necessary releases for actors and extras, working out the contracts with actors, working out travel, helping plan out all scheduling needs—what needed to be where on what day and communicating that to everybody. I’d say I was about 50/50 on that sort of nitty-gritty stuff with Jordan.

What were some of the unexpected challenges you faced as you got more deeply involved in the project?
Andrew: For me, one of the really big or complicated chunks was working with SAG, the Screen Actors Guild. We were on a small enough budget that we didn’t need to have all SAG actors, but if you hire any SAG actors, you have to hire them through the Screen Actors Guild.

So to give you a sample of what that entailed, we wrote a check to the actor directly, but we had to photocopy that check and prove to the Screen Actors Guild that we gave it to them. And we had to contribute to the SAG health and pension fund for that person.

Along with that, there’s a lengthy contract for maximum hours they can work, how their lunch breaks are timed, how many costume changes they can have in a day… I mean, it’s a pretty long-winded contract with protections built in for the actors.

I also worked with Ali, who was part of our crew, to get a signature from the actor when they arrive on set, when they leave for lunch, when they arrive back from lunch, when they leave for the day… basically tracking every minute of the actor’s day. Then I have to report that to SAG weekly to ensure we’re not abusing the talent. For me, the frustrating thing about SAG, in a way, is that it would’ve taken as much time and energy to have 30 SAG actors as it did to have one.

Having said that, they were very helpful with any questions and issues we had. They were very understanding that this was our first feature film and they tried to work with us well as they could. It was just a little convoluted at times.

Sounds like you had plenty to keep you busy. What were some of your other production responsibilities?
Andrew: My other really main duty was on the business and financial structure side of the project. For example, I helped Joe set up a completely separate limited partnership for the film, which is the entity that solicited investment for the project. That sort of ring fencing is what investors want, because instead of investing in Passenger as a company forever, they invest in a single project. So their risk and reward comes from the one project—in this case, Of Minor Prophets. Ultimately, Passenger’s future work is protected from the investors, and the investors are protected from Passenger’s future decisions.

So I was dealing with legal representation figuring out how the SEC laws would apply, how the Blue Sky Laws in South Dakota might allow us to not have to file with the national SEC, what all of those qualifications are like with weird laws on how many people you’re allowed to ask to invest in the film… just some things that can get fairly complicated.

I’ll mention one part I would recommend other filmmakers not do: We were rolling on the project before we had full investment on the project. And we got the checks from our two key investors 36 hours before shooting began. That was a little nerve-wracking, but it all worked out.

So basically a producer is doing the not-so-sexy (but still very important) behind-the-scenes stuff?
Andrew: Yes. The bottom line is that there’s just lots of stuff to do. A lot of it is management and coordination. I’m not necessarily calling every single person for a prop, but I’m making sure the five people setting up props are getting that done. Things as basic as that, all the way up to setting up the business and legal infrastructure necessary to get the film done. Basically it’s all of the least sexy stuff about making a film.

You said this was your first time taking on the role of producer for a feature film. What did you learn from the experience?
Andrew: I think throughout the process of this, I really learned—in a different way than if I’d been, for example, a PA on set—the full scope of a large-scale film project. It’s just very different from commercial work, which I did have experience with. A feature film is on such a grander scale—there are different things you have to do, you’re doing things out of order because of how you have to shoot scenes, everything is just amplified exponentially as far as needs and demands. It’s not the kind of thing where you have a three-day commercial shoot and you just take that amount of work times 10 to get to a 30-day film shoot. It’s a totally different kind of shoot.

At the same time, I’ve been involved with Passenger since Joe was working on early drafts of the script. So I was able to get an interesting perspective on what it takes to go from initial scripting to full completion of a film.

Beyond that, all of the production work that had to be done from beginning to end. You know, I talked about how much of my work was done before and during shooting, but even after shooting I was working on stuff. Helping to coordinate Joe’s travel out to Skywalker Sound in California and Harbor Pictures in New York for post-production. Continuing to solicit investment throughout the post-production process. Working on our film festival submissions. Planning for film premiere events.

Really seeing a film through, from start to finish, was a huge learning experience.

Being somewhat inexperienced had other advantages too. Because I had no expectation of how a film set was supposed to work or function, it gave me a chance to say, “It doesn’t matter what it should look like… this is a way we can make it work.” It gave a different perspective, which was helpful sometimes.

Some producers are essentially money people. I wasn’t one of those people. Then there are producers who are, in essence, the outside check and balance. Because when you’re knee-deep in the middle of things, you can’t always see the forest for the trees. That was sort of my job.

[Cinematographer Dalton Coffey chiming in]: Well, we were all kind of building bridges as we were crossing them. Which was kind of fun.

Andrew: Yeah, and honestly, that was part of it. It was an exciting challenge. Even though filmmaking isn’t personally my ultimate passion as much as it is for everyone else on the crew, I’m a sucker for good story, however that happens, and I love doing things to help support other people’s creative endeavors.

Passenger will host the Sioux Falls premiere of Of Minor Prophets at 7:00 PM on Saturday, June 13th at the Orpheum Theatre. For more information on the event, visit ofminorprophets.com or join the event on Facebook.