This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with producers of live-action filmed drama. It describes the pre-production process, detailing the role of the network, the advertiser, the ratings, and pretesting. The book then describes the "professionalization" of producers and develops a typology of producers from an analysis of the interviews, finding three major types—the film makers, the writer-producer, and the old-line producer. It also analyzes the relationship of the working producer with others who are also working in the craft aspects of production—the writers, the directors, and the actors. The book analyzes the relationship of the producer with the business organization, the network, which ultimately controls the final product. It then reports producers' reaction to the change of network policy on violent content since the death of Robert Kennedy and discusses the producers' own view of the effects of this content on children.