What is a 'production company'?

What is a 'production company'?

Ben Lyons (Producer) gives expert video advice on: Who is hired during pre-production? and more...

A production company is the one that's really going to be able to go out there and help you make the movie. They're going to help you develop the script if you sell your script to a production company or are working closely with a production company. They're going to use their resources to cast the film and to shoot the film and they're going to help you really develop and make the movie. Every major actor in Hollywood right now has their own production company. It's basically a fancy way of saying you have people that will read material for you and help you sell and distribute material. Whether you're Brad Pitt or just a kid out there who's trying to make his first film, you can have a production company and that's the entity or business you use so that if something happens in making your movie, whether it's a licensing issue with the rights - who holds the rights to your material - or something happens on set where you're being sued, the company gets sued, not you the individual. That's why people set up production companies. It's just the business behind what they do in the movie. If something happens, they're not personally liable. The production company is liable instead.