Producing Curriculum

Curriculum Guides

The FilmSkills Producing Curriculum is designed to expose students to the business of filmmaking. Adaptable for both studio and independent productions, this curriculum navigates the development process, raising money, working with investors, scheduling and budgeting, and managing assets during production.

Learning Objectives

Students gain clear understanding of the industry business machine, with the tools and approach necessary to successfully develop the foundation for a production.

About the Lessons

Every box in the curriculum outline below is a self-contained lesson, complete with a 20-30 minute long on-set video tutorial, test questions, projects and exercises, and downloadable resources to enhance the lesson.

Lessons can be mixed and matched to create a custom learning path in each class, and while the curriculum below is our recommendation as the content producers, you can select any lessons you wish when building each class, including lessons from other categories.

Download the Complete Curriculum Catalog

The catalog features complete descriptions and video durations for every FilmSkills Academic lesson. You can look up each lesson from the curriculum flow chart below for more information.

Professionals Contributing to the FilmSkills Producing Curriculum

Jeff Ulin

Studio Executive, LucasFilm

Jeff was the Head of Worldwide Distribution and Online for LucasFilm, overseeing the release of the Star Wars prequels.

Cristen Carr Strubbe

Unit Production Manager

Cristen ran productions for Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me if You Can," and "Charlie Wilson's War," Academy-Award winning, "American Beauty," and over a dozen other blockbusters.

Wayne Fitterman

Head of Production at William Morris-Endeavor

Wayne Fitterman leads the WME's Production Department, one the top five most powerful talent agencies in the world. His clients have included, Oscar-winning cinematographers, production designers, producers, and actors.

Jody Brockway

Emmy-Nominated VP of Production, NBC

Jody managed NBC Studio's made-for television movie department, with credits including "Christmas Cupid," "Snowglobe," "Identity Theft," "Maiden Voyage," "Rush of Fear," "Cruel Justice," and "The Ron Clark Story"

Eve Light Honthaner

Production Coordinator

Eve's credits include "Titanic," "Tropic Thunder," "Joy Ride," "Just Married," "In Dreams," and "The Game"

Stephen Marinaccio

Line Producer

Stephen worked with James Cameron on "Aliens of the Deep," and numerous features, including "Marco Polo," "The Darkest Hour," and "13 Hours"

Richard Middleton

Producer

Richard has produced the Academy-Award winner, "The Artist," and "Hitchcock," "The 5th Wave," "I Love You Phillip Morris," "Jonah Hex," "and "ZeroZeroZero"

Anne Marie Gillen

Producer

Anne Marie served as COO of Morgan Freeman's production company, Revelations Entertainment, and is the producer of Oscar nominated "Fried Green Tomatoes."

Carole Kirschner

VP of Amblin Television

Carole has worked at CBS Comedy and as Vice President of Steven Spielberg’s first Amblin Television. During that time, she heard more than 3,000 pitches, bought hundreds of scripts, and was involved in developing dozens of television series.

Rob Bowman

Director, Executive Producer

Rob directed "The X-Files" movie, numerous episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and was the Executive Producer of ABC's hit drama, "Castle."

Josh McLaglen

Producer, 1st Assistant Director

Josh is the producer of "Avatar," the X-Men movies, "Logan," "Real Steel," and, as James Cameron's 1st AD, ran the sets of "Titanic," "Avatar," and dozens of other Hollywood blockbusters.

Alexa Amin

Studio Executive

Alexa is the former Vice President of Development at Sony Pictures Animation and Vice President of Production at New Regency Productions.

Steve Skrovan

Emmy-Winning Executive Producer

Two-time Emmy winner, Steve is the Executive Producer on "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Hot in Cleveland," "'Til Death," and "School of Rock," and produced the Sundance Grand Jury Prize nominee, "An Unreasonable Man."

Andrew Davis

Director

Andy is best known for directing Harrison Ford in the Oscar nominated, "The Fugitive." He has also directed numerous feature FilmSkills, including "Under Siege," "Above the Law" (both starring Steven Segal), "Code of Silence," "Holes," "The Package" and "The Guardian."

Lloyd Kaufman

President, Troma Pictures

Lloyd is president of Troma Pictures and the chairman of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA), the global trade association of independent distributors and producers of motion picture and television programming.

Maria Battle-Campbell

Second Unit Director/Assistant Director

Maria's credits include "Avatar 1, 2 & 3," "The Island," "Stranger Things," "Serenity," "Real Steel," "X-Men: First Class," "Transparent"

Ricky Margolis

Investor

Ricky serves as the Vice President of Future Films, LLC. The Future Film Group is a major financier and producer in the media sector having raised over $2bn in finance and having been involved in over 200 films and TV shows.

Noel Bermudez

Production Accountant

Noel has managed the accounting for "American Crime Story," "Feud," "Stitchers," "Switched at Birth," "10 Things I Hate About You," "The Pacific," "Wasteland," "Tin Cup," and "What's Love Got To Do With It."

Mike Musteric

Second Unit Director, 2nd Assistant Director

Mike's credits include, "Logan," "Avatar," "Enemy of the State," "X-Men: First Class," "Stranger Things," "Real Steel," and "Lost"

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