What is a Creative Producer?

There are a lot of different types of producers: Associate, Co, Line, Executive and plain old Producer…so what’s a Creative Producer? John Otterbacher (F ‘15) has earned all of these credits and then some but the one most important to him is “Creative”. He’s going to walk you through the different types of producers through his experiences, including Creative, and more importantly, he’s going to tell you why every director needs a good producer and has got to be their own producer as well. This presentation will include clips, honesty and hopefully some good questions.

Join us November 7 at 7pm ET. Register in advance here or at the link below.

John Otterbacher moved to Chicago from his native Michigan where he splits his time between teaching and filmmaking. Otterbacher has mainly worked as a producer, cinematographer, and post-coordinator specializing in independent film, tv, and new media. As a college instructor, Otterbacher has taught at a number of institutions for the last 20 years including, Flashpoint, Columbia College Chicago, Northwestern, Loyola and DePaul. He has worked with and been on the board of a number of not-for-profit organizations over the years including IFP Chicago and the Grand Rapids Film Festival and he is currently a member of the Education Advisory Committee for Cinema/Chicago and the Creative Cabinet for the Independent Filmmaker Association.  After completing his Master of Fine Arts in Film at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, John produced Moving Parts, his fourth narrative feature. Recent credits include: Roy’s World, Silt, Handle With Care, Tales of Harsh Gruder, and My Last Martini. John is currently developing a number of projects, including an as yet untitled film which focuses on water usage and is set in the Grand Canyon, with Moving Parts and Silt collaborator Emilie Upczak. When not teaching or filmmaking, he enjoys cross-country road trips with his family and working in photography.