The Executive and Co-Producers

Mallory

I have always wondered what the role of the Executive and Co-Producers are in Bond films, specifically the Non Broccolli/Wilson Exec's, such as Callum McDougall, Andrew Noakes, David Pope etc (they were the Skyfall Executive and Co-Producers, but have been for other Bonds as well).

Are they purely there on the financial side of things, or do they have more of a say in the creative side of the films?

And how much input, creatively, do the studios, MGM and Sony, have, given MGM are partners with EoN?

Dragonpol

Good question - there also was Bill Cartlidge from the earlier Bond films. Sorry I can't provide any solid answers, but I will bump this as it's a question of general interest to this community. I sounded a bit like a judge just then.

RC7

Exec producers tend to be money men. Someone like Bill Cartlidge, for example, will work on the logistics/finance side of the production. Executive producers don't tend to exercise any creative control, although with Bond pictures it does seem to work slightly differently. As for the co-producers they will usually be employed for a particular technical skill. Producers are basically there to get a film made. Their roles are generally quite administrative and facilitate the work of the more creative employees, ie. Director, Production Designer etc.

Dragonpol

RC7 wrote:

Exec producers tend to be money men. Someone like Bill Cartlidge, for example, will work on the logistics/finance side of the production. Executive producers don't tend to exercise any creative control, although with Bond pictures it does seem to work slightly differently. As for the co-producers they will usually be employed for a particular technical skill. Producers are basically there to get a film made. Their roles are generally quite administrative and facilitate the work of the more creative employees, ie. Director, Production Designer etc.

See, I knew somebody would know the answer - thank you @RC7. I think you are right - someone commented on my blog that the Bond films were first and foremost producers films - right down to creative decisions and I think this is certainly something that sets them apart.

AlexanderWaverly

Callum McDougall, in addition to his executive producer credit, also was credited as unit production manager. Production mangers help break down the script and come up with the shooting schedule.

Cartlidge was assistant director on You Only Live Twice and a decade later he returned as associate producer. Based on the interviews on the DVD extras, he seemed to be involved in things such as logistics and budgets.