When people watch a movie they often know who the actors are, sometimes they also know who the director is, but generally they don’t know the name of the producers or how the film was put together. Sofia Sondervan is a producer who has been packaging films and producing them.

So what is the difference between directing and producing? Sofia Sondervan explains how the two roles differ. Sofia Sondervan went to school for directing but then ended up in producing. She also teaches a graduate class at the School of Visual Arts in New York for film directing and producing and in distribution.

"Directors come on-board of a project and are the creative vision driving it. Sometimes they originate the project, other times they come on in a later stage but ultimately it is their vision combined with the input from all the different departments and of course the cast that you see on the screen explains Sofia Sondervan.

The way this differs from a producer is that the producer acquires and then develops a script or sometimes an idea with a writer and secures the rights to produce the film. As a film producer, Sofia Sondervan, and other producers, will hire a director to bring a movie to life. Film producers also hire the crew and oversee the films' casting. "A producer oftentimes is the overall movie manager. Producers oversee a film's budget, respond to problems, and coordinate the work afterward from editing to music to delivering to a studio," explains Sofia Sondervan.

"Even the level of producers and their involvement may differ; you have producers, co-producers, and executive producers. Some may be involved solely with one project or with multiple projects at the same time," explains Sofia Sondervan. Some producers have a financial stake in a movie, others are responsible for managing investments, but each producer does invest into a movie's process and therefore takes care to ensure the successful completion and release of a film.

For more information about the difference between directors and producers, Sofia Sondervan suggests researching online from sources like these below:

http://www.symmetryentertainment.com/2010/02/11/film-director-vs-film-producer-crash-course/
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/what-does-film-director-do
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2009/02/what_does_a_hollywood_producer_do_exactly.html