Film Directing vs. Producing: Two Leadership Tracks Compared

Directors and producers both lead film projects, but they lead different parts of them. Directing programs train you to shape performance, image and story on set and in the edit. Producing programs train you to find and develop material, put together money and people, and carry a project through production, marketing and distribution. Many schools teach both inside one production degree; others offer separate degrees with separate applications. This guide explains the difference using programs' own descriptions, so you can tell which track a page is actually describing.

What each track trains you to do

The AFI Conservatory, which offers an MFA in six disciplines, describes its two-year directing curriculum as a chance to direct up to three narrative short films in the first year and a thesis project in the second, building a directing portfolio. Its producing curriculum is framed around managing the details of moving a project from story to screen: development and production experience, identifying content and developing material with writers.

UCLA's Producers Program puts the business side in plain view. Over two years, its curriculum covers development, financing, distribution and strategy, and first-year courses include production planning and budgeting, entertainment law and business negotiations, and international financing and distribution. UCLA's Production/Directing MFA, by contrast, is a three-year curriculum that ends in a documentary or narrative thesis film the student writes, plans, shoots and edits.

In short:

• Directing centers on the creative work of the film itself: scripts, actors, shots, edit.
• Producing centers on the project as a whole: rights, money, schedules, people, audiences.

Dedicated degree, concentration or broad production degree

Film programs package these tracks in several ways, and the label matters:

• A dedicated degree. UCLA's Producers Program MFA and AFI's MFA in Producing admit students

specifically as producers. NYU also lists an online MA in Media Producing (32 credits) with courses in production management, entertainment business law, and fundraising and deal making.

• A named concentration inside a broader degree. Temple University's Film and Media Arts program

lets students apply in the spring of sophomore year to upper-level concentrations: Directing is a BFA concentration, while Producing is a BA concentration. DePaul's BFA in Film & Television offers twelve concentrations, including directing and creative producing.

• A broad production degree. NYU's Graduate Film MFA is described as training writer/directors,

but its bulletin says students can begin to specialize in editing, cinematography or producing in the spring of the second year, and may graduate as producers with a producing thesis portfolio.

On our site, a concentration counts only when the school names it officially. One producing elective in a directing curriculum is not a producing concentration. Compare listings on our film directing and producing pages.

How the applications differ

Directing applications usually ask for films you made. Producing applications usually ask how you think about projects and teams. AFI's requirements for the Fall 2027 cycle show the contrast clearly:

• Directing: a short self-recorded introduction video, a narrative sample you directed alone

(judged on up to ten continuous minutes), an original short of up to five minutes made for the application on an assigned topic, and a one-page self-critique of each film.

• Producing: a self-recorded introduction video, a pitch of up to two pages for a feature or

series you would like to produce, written answers to short questions, and an optional work sample where you were the lead producer.

Chapman's graduate producing application similarly asks for a two-page essay about a large team project or event you planned. If you have organized shoots, events or budgets but have not directed, a producing application may let you show that experience directly.

What the thesis looks like

The final project reveals the track's priorities:

• At AFI, directors complete a thesis project in their second year.
• At UCLA, Producers Program students complete a two-part thesis: a feature or television project

with a plan to package, finance, budget, market and distribute it, plus a production experience, typically producing an MFA directing student's thesis film.

• At UCLA, Production/Directing students spend most of the third year writing, planning, shooting and

editing their own thesis film.

Producing and directing students often meet on the same thesis film, which is one reason many schools teach them side by side.

Costs and practical differences

Directing students usually carry the creative responsibility for their own films, and some schools expect them to pay for part of them. Columbia College Chicago's 2026–27 cost page for its Film and Television Directing MFA, for instance, estimates spending of about $3,000 in the first year and $10,000 in the second year on film projects. Producing students, as the UCLA curriculum shows, spend much of their time on development, financing and business coursework. Either way, tuition is separate from mandatory fees and from what a film costs to make, so read each school's fee pages and any thesis budget policy; our production costs page explains the categories.

Choosing between them

Consider:

1. What you want to control. If you want the final say on performance and image, look at

directing. If you want to choose which projects get made and how, look at producing.

1. What you can show now. A directing application needs work you directed. A producing

application leans on pitches, plans and evidence of organizing people.

1. How the school structures the tracks. A combined MFA lets you try both before committing; a

dedicated MFA asks you to commit at the application.

See how schools structure these tracks in our MFA in filmmaking overview, for example AFI's MFA in Producing. Requirements, prompts and deadlines change each cycle, so confirm them on the program's official pages before you apply.