About Production Companies
A production company is generally understood to "make" a form of entertainment, whether it be a feature film, a stage play or a music concert. It is easiest to think of a production company (or "prodco," to use Hollywood insider lingo) as the facilitator between skilled professionals and a finished project.
What Makes Up a Production Company?
The production company is made up of usually only a few individuals who know many people in various fields crucial to their end-product: actors, musicians, dancers, directors, choreographers, conductors, screenwriters, playwrights and various technical crew. Generally speaking, a prodco will also be relied upon for funding and overall vision of a project. There are exceptions to this rule, such as in the major motion picture industry where the big studios call most of the shots (and provide most of the funding), but overall the production company is the place where professionals from separate businesses find themselves working together to create a particular work of art.
Film and TV
There are hundreds of prodcos in Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and the surrounding areas of greater Los Angeles. Major feature films, often referred to as "studio" films, and TV productions generate billions of dollars in revenue and cost millions of dollars to create. The production company, while vital to the process of creating a studio film, often has less to do with the finished product. The prodco is what puts a project together in its earliest stages, from buying or "optioning" the rights to a screenplay, "attaching" actors and/or a director (ideally "name" people who are well-known with impressive track records), and the like. However, the prodco will then take its collective group of interested parties to one or more of the major film studios (Paramount, Universal, Fox, Sony, Warner, Disney and RKO) or independent-major studios (Lionsgate, DreamWorks or Weinstein) in order to have their project "green-lit," or funded and fully staffed, from location scouts to intellectual property lawyers to distribution after the film or TV pilot episode has been completed.
Indie Films
When a film's budget is relatively small (hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, rather than upwards of $50 or $100 million), the prodco can be expected to have much more direct involvement with the finished product. These are known as independent, or "indie" films, in that they do not rely on a major studio to fund and hire the majority of the professionals needed to complete the project.
Prodcos for indie films often turn to the studios or other production companies once their project has been completed in order to distribute their film, meaning advertise and find cinemas to show it. Whereas big studios include distribution and marketing on a wide scale as part of their services provided to the film, indies often struggle to find distribution. Many rely on film festivals (Cannes, Sundance, TriBeCa, to name only a few) to attract distributors for their finished works.
Other Live Performance
For other live performances, the production company generally will operate in a particular city or region, where ongoing relationships with concert venues, security and sound crews, are maintained in order to attract popular talent. Some touring musicians will employ their own production companies for specific travel and stage set-up needs.
Other Producers
Other types of producers--for commercial recordings, for instance--can usually be relied on to provide similar services that prodcos do, such as matching musical talents together in a particular recording studio setting. These are often single individuals, however, thereby not officially under the heading of a production company.
What Makes a Prodco a Success?
Much more than merely providing funds for a commercially viable art project, a successful production company must have a wide network of connections within an industry and across related industries. A production company must also have a keen sense of vision and enduring focus to keep unforeseen developments from derailing the initial good ideas, so that the prodco may facilitate a strong and worthwhile, multi-faceted artistic statement.
