A producer is someone who helps oversee the production of a creative piece of content, whether it's film, TV, or even an audio recording such as a podcast. They make sure that the production runs smoothly, from the development and planning all the way to marketing.
The day-to-day tasks of a freelance producer depend on the stage of production that the video or podcast is in. They may hire workers to help bring a promising project to fruition, connect with investors to secure funding for the project, or oversee the editing process. A producer doesn't just clock out at 5 pm, they often work early mornings and late nights to get the job done.
A freelance producer is not attached to a studio or production company but works for themselves. They work directly with clients that are trying to bring a project into the world, or may work on individual projects for a larger company. As video and audio production is increasingly democratized and people are no longer dependent on big studios, the demand for freelance producers is expected to grow.
Freelance Producer Overview
Freelance Producer Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a freelance producer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.11 an hour? That's $66,798 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 7,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Freelance Producer Do
There are certain skills that many freelance producers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, leadership skills and time-management skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a freelance producer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 18.7% of freelance producers included music videos, while 12.7% of resumes included video production, and 6.2% of resumes included news stories. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the freelance producer job title. But what industry to start with? Most freelance producers actually find jobs in the media and hospitality industries.
How To Become a Freelance Producer
If you're interested in becoming a freelance producer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.6% of freelance producers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 18.2% of freelance producers have master's degrees. Even though most freelance producers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a freelance producer. When we researched the most common majors for a freelance producer, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on freelance producer resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a freelance producer. In fact, many freelance producer jobs require experience in a role such as producer. Meanwhile, many freelance producers also have previous career experience in roles such as associate producer or production assistant.
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Freelance Producer Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of producer you might progress to a role such as owner eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title marketing and creative director.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Freelance Producer Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Freelance Producer. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Freelance Producer Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Freelance Producer resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Freelance Producers
1. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
2. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
4. University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA • Public
5. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Public
6. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
7. Emory University
Atlanta, GA • Private
8. University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX • Public
9. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
10. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Public
Top Skills For a Freelance Producer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.7% of freelance producers listed music videos on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and leadership skills are important as well.
- Music Videos, 18.7%
- Video Production, 12.7%
- News Stories, 6.2%
- Live Events, 3.9%
- Production Process, 3.8%
- Other Skills, 54.7% See All Freelance Producer Skills
How Do Freelance Producer Rate Their Jobs?
Top Freelance Producer Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ freelance producers and discovered their number of freelance producer opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that CNN was the best, especially with an average salary of $62,665. ESPN follows up with an average salary of $60,643, and then comes CBS with an average of $55,259. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a freelance producer. The employers include Fox, NBCUniversal, and Framestore
Freelance Producer Videos
