UPDATE: Hasbro files lawsuit - Warner Bros. to make a D&D Movie. AICN

[Nytmare]

I predict that this will be a generic fantasy movie with a few D&D-isms thrown in, satisfying no one.

And just what are you basing that historically accurate cinematic prediction on? ;P

 

[Dragoslav]

I predict that this will be a generic fantasy movie with a few D&D-isms thrown in, satisfying no one.

I think this is likely the most accurate prediction.

 

[Umbran]

If the license is for Chainmail, then many of the common "D&Disms" we all think of won't be present. They can do generic fantasy, and any game elements that were present in Chainmail, but things that arose in D&D itself will be off-limits.

Of course, there's worse they could do than make a decent generic fantasy flick...

 

[Nytmare]

I just don't understand how anyone involved is allowing Solomon within spitting distance of the project.

[EDIT] Maybe he just lucked out and was the one who secured the rights to Chainmail, and just refuses to let go of them.

 

[delericho]

If the license is for Chainmail...

It was for Chainmail, but they've now acquired the rights to D&D and are therefore retooling to the bigger property.

I just don't understand how anyone involved is allowing Solomon within spitting distance of the project.

For the same reason he directed the first movie and was producer on the second and third - he still holds the rights. WB almost certainly got the rights only by allowing him involvement in the project.

 

[Nytmare]

For the same reason he directed the first movie and was producer on the second and third - he still holds the rights. WB almost certainly got the rights only by allowing him involvement in the project.

Heh. Yeah, I figured it out as soon as I hit the submit button.

Hopefully they'll be able to just keep him as a name on the project, and as far away from the creative process as possible.

 

[Gorgoroth]

In my experience in videogames, a good producer is one that lets his employees do good work without unduly getting in the way, and a bad one means death to the project, or at least a poor result. I'm not optimistic, but we'll see. Can WB replace a producer once the project starts? Or ideally, before? Perhaps the guy learned lessons from past mistakes (nah, probably not)

 

[tuxgeo]

Heh. Yeah, I figured it out as soon as I hit the submit button.

Hopefully they'll be able to just keep him as a name on the project, and as far away from the creative process as possible.

They might be able to insulate the project a little bit from his influence by hiring lots more producers.

For example, look at "The Fellowship of the RIngs":
Producers: Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne, Tim Sanders, and Fran Walsh.
Executive Producers: Michael Lynne, Mark Ordesky, Robert Shaye, Bob Weinstein, and Harvey Weinstein.
Co-Producers: Rick Porras, Jamie Selkirk.
Associate Producer: Ellen M. Somers.

When you have a dozen producers on a project, it becomes possible for at least a few of them to have restricted influence.

 

[Nytmare]

In film, there are a handful of different kinds of good producer, and twice as many bad ones. In the broadest of terms, producers are only really worried about the resource management of money. This of course interfaces with time, and man power, and a million other variables, but primarily, that's what their focus is supposed to be. Depending on the size of the project (and the number of producers) this means that a producer's scope might be as broad as worrying about every monetary problem the film has to deal with, or as narrow as being a source of money and exchanging it for a producer credit.

In the end, what it really comes down to is how well they understand the process, how well they understand where they fit into that particular machine, and how good they are at solving more problems than they are causing.

Just because he's a producer doesn't mean that he's going to have any input or control at all. It doesn't even mean that he's necessarily going to be invited to set.

All that being said, a producer can be replaced at any point during pre-production, production, or post-production. I was on a job where a producer was excised on the last day of post production, and it was a mad dash rush to get their name out of the credits.

 

[Nytmare]

They might be able to insulate the project a little bit from his influence by hiring lots more producers.

It's less the number of producers, and more what those producers were hired to do.

You have someone (usually the executive producers) that secured the money and whoa are paying attention to how fast that money is moving. You might have someone else dealing only with contracts and talent. You might have a producer or two dealing with a secondary and stunt unit, someone specifically watching crew over-time on a week to week basis. Someone watching the art and construction departments so that everything is finished before the shoot crew gets there. Maybe a producer or two sitting with the director at the monitor to give their input on the creative process. Someone working with the Transpo Coordinator and the Locations department to ok trucks and teamsters and figure out where everything is going to park.

At the end of it all you've got the Associate Producer credit which might have been best described by David Mamet in State and Main as "what you give to your secretary instead of a raise."