An executive producer title can mean many things in Hollywood, and it ranges from a person who fronts the money and all the logistics to get an idea to the screen, to basically an honorific used to lure talent to a particular project.
However, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Lauren Cohan tell ABC Audio they had to work for it with their hit Negan and Maggie team-up spinoff, The Walking Dead: Dead City.
“I was thinking, ‘Yeah, it’s going to look good on the resume. You know, I’ll take the f****** credit,” Morgan says with a laugh. “You know, most actors don’t do anything in the producer role. They get the credit and they walk.”
He adds, “They made us earn it. We were a part of everything, from preproduction right through every single day of shooting. And then Lauren in particular has had a big hand in the post-production,” Morgan explained, noting after he wrapped he had to leave for another job.
Cohan says of her work in front of, and behind, the camera, “We know the characters, but we get this chance to go and do something new … it’s honestly just going to people who are at the top of their creative game, and collaborating and collaborating in every detail.”
She adds of wearing multiple hats, “You can be in producer mode, but at some point there’s a sort of retreat to getting into character that removes you from some things, even though you kind of want to be everywhere at once once you start, you know?”
She adds, “But then in post-production, you just kind of can let go and learn so much. I mean … It’s really, really satisfying.”
Dead City airs Sunday night on AMC and streams on AMC+.
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