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Lead producer vs producer director

The differences between lead producers and producer directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a lead producer and a producer director. Additionally, a lead producer has an average salary of $77,717, which is higher than the $54,924 average annual salary of a producer director.

The top three skills for a lead producer include customer service, food safety and sales floor. The most important skills for a producer director are video production, photography, and music videos.

Lead producer vs producer director overview

Lead ProducerProducer Director
Yearly salary$77,717$54,924
Hourly rate$37.36$26.41
Growth rate8%8%
Number of jobs11,33213,931
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Average age4040
Years of experience1212

What does a lead producer do?

A leader producer is a people-focused professional who provides production leadership by management and by example. These professionals help create development momentum, challenging inertia, and setting the right pace for the team members to achieve their goals. They work hand-in-hand with leads and departmental directors to make effective decisions and ensure a deep understanding of the right way of balancing competing priorities. Lead producers also enable efficient development and remove obstacles by making it easy for teams to access feature definition.

What does a producer director do?

A producer-director is responsible for ensuring that the production operations run smoothly, both in the business and creative side. The producer-director monitors the production staff's performance, as well as reviewing the output of delegated tasks, and manages promotional and marketing events. They also coordinate closely with the creative team to meet deadlines and maintain project deliverables within the budget goals. A producer-director must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially on negotiating with sponsors to create the best experience for the audience.

Lead producer vs producer director salary

Lead producers and producer directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

Lead ProducerProducer Director
Average salary$77,717$54,924
Salary rangeBetween $46,000 And $129,000Between $33,000 And $91,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Apple
Best paying industry-Media

Differences between lead producer and producer director education

There are a few differences between a lead producer and a producer director in terms of educational background:

Lead ProducerProducer Director
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 61%Bachelor's Degree, 77%
Most common majorCommunicationPhotography
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Lead producer vs producer director demographics

Here are the differences between lead producers' and producer directors' demographics:

Lead ProducerProducer Director
Average age4040
Gender ratioMale, 67.9% Female, 32.1%Male, 73.5% Female, 26.5%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 6.3% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 14.7% Asian, 6.4% White, 65.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage14%14%

Differences between lead producer and producer director duties and responsibilities

Lead producer example responsibilities.

  • Manage image and video assets for KCOY website using Worldnow CMS.
  • Manage the compression of a massive amount of high quality HD files for post.
  • Hire and manage production resources including producers, audio engineers, writers, and QA contractors.
  • Manage on air giveaways and daily advertising metrics
  • Direct the outsourced QA efforts for the project.
  • Write and send weekly HTML email newsletter, create advertising materials for events.
  • Show more

Producer director example responsibilities.

  • Manage day-to-day completion activities including project planning and QA testing.
  • Implement social media campaign on Facebook and Instagram.
  • Design a DVD layout for the video and also edit a trailer of the video for YouTube.
  • Team with top female comedy stars to create and deliver popular original live shows, later release for DVD distribution.
  • Air nationally as part of the PBS prime-time schedule.
  • Develop video concepts and marketing strategies for small to mid size companies in NYC.
  • Show more

Lead producer vs producer director skills

Common lead producer skills
  • Customer Service, 28%
  • Food Safety, 23%
  • Sales Floor, 17%
  • Cleanliness, 8%
  • Inventory Control, 5%
  • Video Production, 3%
Common producer director skills
  • Video Production, 10%
  • Photography, 8%
  • Music Videos, 5%
  • Instagram, 5%
  • Promotional Videos, 5%
  • Video Content, 4%

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