Here's a typical conversation I find myself having with friends I've known since childhood:

	Friend:		"What do you do?"
	Me:		"I'm a Producer."
	Friend:		"What?"
	Me:		"I said, I'm a Producer!"
	Friend:		"What?"
	Me:		"God Almighty! I'm a Producer!!!! Are you deaf, man!?!?!?"
	Friend:		"Wait a minute...let's start over again. Now, what exactly do you do?"

I've had this conversation enough times that it has dawned on me that most people simply don't know what a "Producer" is. If I said I was a "Doctor", people would respect me. If I said I was a "Lawyer", people would fear me. If I said I was a "Salesman", people would run from me. If I said I was a "Public Servant", people would loathe me. If I said I was a "Teacher", people would pity me. And if I said I was an "Engineer", people would avoid me. But tell them I'm a "Producer" and people just look at me as if my mouth moved, but no sounds came out!
In as simple of terms as I can fathom, producers cause entertainment to be created. Does that mean producers write? No, because baring your innermost soul to the world is the writer's job. (Besides, as most professional writers will tell you, a producer has no soul to begin with.) Does that mean producers act? No, because making a fool of oneself to the world is the actor's job. Does that mean producers direct? No, because yelling and screaming and being hated and appearing on late night talk shows is the director's job. Good God! This is getting frustrating! Certainly, the producer doesn't get the coffee does he?! No, but he does buy the coffee. And therein lies the bigger truth of what a producer does.
Before I go into any more detail, I should first qualify the kind of producer I am. I am of a breed called the "Independent Producer". That's a very big difference from being an ordinary Producer. Ordinary producers are meek, cowardly, mindless, lifeless, robotic bean-counters who get good at office politics, back stabbing, brown nosing and ego pumping. They almost always work for big, well established studios like Paramount or Warner Bros. where such behavior is encouraged, nurtured and honed to a biting sharp serrated edge. The Independent Producer, however, is quite a different animal; those of my kind are considered "visionary". We dare to take entertainment where it doesn't normally want to go! We have been called "cutting-edge": Entertainment as a means of offending and repulsing? We embrace it!! As the term "independent" implies, we are free-spirits and answer to no one but ourselves and have the freedom to create as our artistic minds see fit. We are unhindered by the large studio system which squashes artistic creativity and which celebrates mediocrity. We are FREE! FREE I tell you!!! FREE to do anything we darn well please!!!
Unfortunately, over the years, the entertainment industry has defined "independent" as synonymous with "unemployed". So, if you didn't understand that last coffee metaphor, then just think of being unemployed and you'll have a good starting point.
So, what's it like to be unempl...er, I mean an Independent Producer? Well, as you can probably guess, there's lots of time to think about what you've done and what you're going to do. You get to do a lot of soul-searching about the meaning life - in particular, your life. And you tend to hang out a lot with other cynical, angry types bemoaning a societal system driven by money and greed. But eventually, you find a cause worth pursuing and start on a road to self-fulfillment. If you never get started on that road, you might get lucky and get a real job, have kids, settle down and become a productive citizen who makes positive contributions to society. It sounds like it should be easy, but the choice is actually a very difficult one to make!
Just how does a Producer "cause entertainment to be created"? There are many paths, but perhaps the best way to answer this question is by example. For over a year now, RIAP has been trying to get one of its story concepts sold to television as an animated series. It's called "Silicon Mountain" and, in a sentence, it's a love triangle story set in a high-tech city situated at the foot of a massive, glittering, towering mountain made of glass. As a producer, the first step is to dream up a story concept which everyone in your team can agree with.. Here's an except from that meeting:

	Producer:		Let's try to come up with a winning idea for a story, guys.
	Guy 1:		Let's make a soap opera like MAISON IKKOKU!
	Guy 2:		Nah, let's make an epic like GUNDAM 0083!
	Guy 3:		I know! Let's make an high concept art film like WINGS OF HONNEAMISE!
	Guy4:		I think we should make a sit-com like KOKO WA GREENWOOD.
	Guy 1:		Hey, I think we should exploit the market for girls! That's a big, untapped market and something like MAISON IKKOKU would work real well!
	Guy 2:		Get outta here! Everyone knows that only serious, dramatic science-fiction is all that our audience watches! I really think we ought to do something like GUNDAM.
	Guy 3:		Hey! I want to do shows with some intelligence. Not just the same old mainstream fluff and formula. I demand we do something like WINGS!
	Guy 4:		I still think we should make something fun like KOKO WA GREENWOOD.
	Guy5:		Are we even considering doing anything "H"?
	Producer:		OK, everyone! Shut up! We're making a cartoon! Can everyone agree to just that? Please?

(continued)