I referenced this book quite a bit in my essay about whether or not producers are a detriment to entertainment. I particularly talked about the section talking about Dino De Laurentiis, because it brings up a very interesting concept regarding the subject. Basically, the way De Laurentiis works as a producer, according to the book, is that he separates his films into production movies, films in which he funds them solely for profit, and auteur movies, which is pretty self-explanatory. This was particularly interested when the book went into detail about how De Laurentiis and David Lynch collaborated. They both agreed on a contract in which Lynch had to make a blockbuster film (Dune) and in exchange he got to make an independent film of his choice (Blue Velvet), but since Dune ended up being a huge flop, Laurentiis only gave Lynch $6 million to fund his next film.
The reason this fascinated me was because it made me think about why producers would make a film for profits in the first place. Sure, some producers might only care about the money but given Laurentiis' working habit, he seems to put money as a high priority in order to even allow his directors to have the creative freedom they need for their project. Sometimes an auteur will be so overly ambitious when given the amount of freedom they want that they end up needing more money for their films, so the producers can afford to sacrifice quality for cash, in order for art to prevail. This really changed my view on producers as a whole in general. Keep in mind, I've always known what the actual role of the producer is, but I know some work differently to others, and this book even categorises them.
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