system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What does a movie/TV producer do?

I used to think that a producer merely financed a movie or TV series but I've noticed recently that the main stars of movies or TV shows often appear in the credits as co-producers. Both David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel co-produce "Bones" and Tom Cruise co-produced the last "Mission Impossible" movie.

So what's the deal? What do they do?
gpt
They run the project, arranging stuff. On a movie project, they're the guys kicking everything off, sourcing scripts, arranging finance to buy a script, getting some talent attached to the project so that further funding can be secured. They know what's needed to take a project from inception to completion, and make it happen. That includes

* raising finance
* getting a script
* running finances
* arranging locations
* putting together the creative team, including finding a director
* arranging distribution
* arranging promotion
* getting the cast together to actually shoot stuff

A lot of this might actually get done by someone else, but at the behest of the producer. The director is usually thought of as "making the movie" but that's overstating their part somewhat. They're a creative resource. The producer enables them to do their thing, and is responsible for turning it into something that makes money.