With some series, it's almost inevitable that a cast member or two will eventually start developing ideas for the show as far as writing and/or directing episodes go, however, in many cases, some cast members will go even further than that, and take on the added additional responsibility of actually producing the show.
This usually will happen in one of two ways: either a certain cast member will be given the job of producing the series simply as posturing and to make them happy (this is usually common when said cast member is the lead, if not one of the leads); or the credit is because the cast member is also actively involved in the writing process, and many staff writers on shows nowadays are given producer credits, rather than writer credits.
This is particularly common among Long Runners.
Related to Actor-Inspired Element; see also Written by Cast Member and Directed by Cast Member.
Examples:
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Films — Animated
- Koati: Sofía Vergara served as both executive producer and the voice of Zaina (the main villain).
Films — Live-Action
- Following the example of Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas created his own production house, Bryna Productions (named after his mother) in 1955, which has produced some of his biggest vehicles such as Paths of Glory, The Vikings and Spartacus
- His son, Michael Douglas, has also been a producer, with films like the 1979 Columbia Pictures film The China Syndrome.
- Both Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum executive produce both 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street, of which they both headline as stars.
- The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle: In addition to playing live action Fearless Leader, Robert De Niro also produced (and provided partial financing) the movie because he was such a big fan of the original cartoon series.
- Sally Kellerman co-produced Boris & Natasha (based on Rocky And Bullwinkle, focusing on the bad guys) as well as played Natasha.
- Andy García served as co-producer on City Island.
- Jim Carrey served as a producer on Bruce Almighty.
- Shortly before Charlie's Angels (2000) went into full-scale production, Drew Barrymore bought the rights to the film so that she could produce it through her Flower Films production company.
- Daniel Craig has co-producer credits on his James Bond films Spectre and No Time to Die. This never happened with any of his predecessors.
- Deadpool: In addition to playing the titular character Ryan Reynolds became a producer to make absolutely sure the character stayed true to the comics and wasn't subjected to unnecessary Executive Meddling.
- Dianna Agron's little pet project A Fuchsia Elephant, which she produced, wrote, directed, and starred in.
- Brad Pitt is not only one of the leads of Fury (2014), but also executive produced it as well.
- Dean Geyer, who plays Blaise Remington in Rehearsal, also co-produced the film.
- Sofía Vergara and Reese Witherspoon headline Hot Pursuit, Sofia serves as one of the film's executive producers while Reese is one of the producers.
- Angelina Jolie starred as the title character of Maleficent, of which she also served as an executive producer.
- Eva Mendes, who plays Katy in Live! (2007), also produced the film.
- Naomi Watts co-produced Infinite Storm.
- Pauly Shore produced Pauly Shore Is Dead.
- Brittany Snow was executive producer and lead for Would You Rather.
- Warren Beatty produced Bonnie and Clyde and was instrumental in getting it made (legend has it that he got on his knees and begged Jack L. Warner to make it). He also produced Shampoo, Heaven Can Wait (1978), Reds, Ishtar, Dick Tracy, Bugsy, Love Affair, Bulworth and Rules Dont Apply.
- Taken to extremes in The Room, where Tommy Wiseau was the star and producer, along with also being the director and the writer. As he clearly doesn't know how to do any of these things, it goes about as well as you would expect.
- Boyd Kestner helped produce Little Loopers, which he stars as Hutch McGee.
- German filmmakers Til Schweiger and Matthias Schweighöfer are known for producing, directing and acting in their own movies, and for collaborating together as well.
- Alexandre Astier produced The Movie of his Kaamelott series, Kaamelott: Premier Volet, in addition to playing the role of King Arthur in it. And he also wrote it, directed it, and composed its soundtrack.
- Paul Walker, who played Nolan Hayes in Hours, also produced the film.
- Wesley Snipes, who co-starred in Futuresport, also produced the film.
- Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish who starred in Here Today, also produced the film.
- Michael Fassbender didn't only play the two main roles in Assassin's Creed, he was also very involved on the production side.
- Most recently, Joey King has become a producer (and an executive one at that); she has her own production company, All The King's Horses, and was executive producer on The Kissing Booth 2 and The Kissing Booth 3.
- Brit Marling wrote, produced, and starred in Another Earth, Sound of My Voice, and The East.
- Josh Radnor directed, wrote, produced, and starred in Liberal Arts.
- Dwayne Johnson is a also a producer for films he starred in such as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Snitch, Baywatch (2017), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (and its sequel, Rampage (2018), Skyscraper, Fighting with My Family, Jungle Cruise, Red Notice, and Black Adam (2022).
- They/Them (2022): Kevin Bacon played main antagonist Owen and was also executive producer.
- Emily the Criminal: Aubrey Plaza was among the co-producers of the film in addition to playing Emily.
Live-Action TV
- 24: Series star Kiefer Sutherland became a producing immediately beginning with the second season.
- Ian McShane, who plays Mr. Wednesday in American Gods (2017), becomes one of the executive producers on the show from Season 2 onwards. Orlando Jones, who plays Anansi, is also credited as a consultant producer in Season 2.
- America's Funniest Home Videos. A few seasons into his tenure as host of the show, Tom Bergeron began receiving a producer credit, which later evolved into a senior producer credit.
- Bewitched. Although never properly credited as a producer, Elizabeth Montgomery was given a lot more creative control of the series beginning in the sixth season as part of a deal with ABC to renew the series for additional three seasons, after many of the cast and crew felt the show didn't need to continue after wrapping up its fifth season.
- Bones stars David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel both became producers over the course of the series.
- Charmed (1998): Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano both became producers around season four.
- Cobra Kai: Rotating Protagonists William Zabka and Ralph Macchio are also the show's executive co-producers.
- CSI. William Petersen served in the capacities of producer, supervising producer, co-executive producer and executive producer for various lengths of time throughout the series' entire 15-year run.
- CSI: NY. Gary Sinise served as producer from sometime in season 1 (although he wasn't credited onscreen until the beginning of season 2) until the series' end, more than eight seasons later.
- The Drew Carey Show. After the first three seasons, Drew Carey eventually became one of the executive producers for the remainder of the series' run.
- Emily in Paris has Lily Collins as both a producer and the lead actress.
- Everybody Loves Raymond. Star Ray Romano was made a producer on the show from the get-go, since the basic format was based almost entirely on his stand-up comedy.
- Growing Pains is infamous for how this can go wrong. After his conversion to Christianity, Kirk Cameron went full Moral Guardian, objecting to anything he considered too sexual (which was a lot), getting two of his co-stars fired: one for posing naked in Playboy and the other for being an agent of satan. He straight-up referred to three executives as "pornographers" (he was right on only one account) and forced the three to quit because he was that insufferable.
- Hawaii Five-0 star Alex O'Loughlin, who plays main character Steve McGarrett, becomes a producer beginning season ten.
- House of Cards (US): Kevin Spacey had been an executive producer for all five of his seasons. Robin Wright also became an executive producer beginning in season 4.
- I Love Lucy: Over the course of the series, Desi Arnaz was first granted an executive producer credit, before being elevated to co-producer.
- In the Dark: Perry Mattfeld, who plays Murphy, produced the series starting Season 3.
- In the Heat of the Night lead Carroll O'Conner also served as one of the series' executive producers.
- Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- Tom Hiddleston is an executive producer for Loki (2021) as the crew considered him the expert on the character which Hiddleston has been playing since 2011's Thor.
- Oscar Isaac is credited as an executive producer for Moon Knight (2022), in addition to playing the lead character.
- M*A*S*H. Alan Alda slowly gravitated towards a position behind the scenes on the series, mostly due to a strong interest in being behind the camera as well as in front; after getting more involved with writing scripts and later directing more and more episodes, Alda became a part of the production staff by the show's sixth season, including personally consulting with previously departed co-creator/producer, Gene Reynolds on a weekly basis for the rest of the series' run.
- Monk: Star Tony Shalhoub became a producer on the show beginning with the fourth season.
- Mr. Robot: Christian Slater was a producer on seasons 2-4, Rami Malek on seasons 3-4.
- Scott Bakula is credited as a producer and executive producer, a rare move, on NCIS: New Orleans.
- Mark Harmon got promoted to producer in the fifth season (and later executive producer in season 9) in NCIS. Even after his departure during season 19, he's still credited as executive producer.
- Brit Marling wrote, produced, and starred in The OA.
- Matthew Perry is starring in CBS's remake of The Odd Couple as Oscar Maddison, and as such, the network has also appointed him to executive produce it as well.
- Seinfeld. Given that the show was based entirely on Jerry Seinfeld's stand-up career, and an underlying theme of how comedians get their material, NBC appointed Seinfeld himself as a producer, and later still, when co-creator and executive producer, Larry David, walked away from the series after its seventh season, Seinfeld was promoted to executive producer.
- In That '90s Show, the upcoming Sequel Series to That '70s Show, original cast members from the previous series, Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp, in addition to reprising their roles as Red and Kitty Forman respectively, are also serving as executive producers on the spinoff.
- Shining Vale: Courteney Cox, who plays main character Pat Phelps, also co-produces the series.
- Sylvester Stallone, in addition of being a main lead, served as a executive producer in Tulsa King.
- From season 2 on, The Sinner was executive-produced by Jessica Biel, who was the series' female lead in the first season, but who played no on-camera role in later seasons.
- Tyler Posey who plays the lead Scott McCall on Teen Wolf became a producer for seasons 5 and 6.
- Jared Padalecki is the executive producer and lead of CW's Walker.
- Starting season 10 onwards, Jason Beghe is starting to be credited as executive producer in Chicago P.D.
- Whose Line Is It Anyway?. Given the success of The Drew Carey Show, as well as their clout, both Drew Carey and Ryan Stiles were executive producers on the original U.S. version of show. Later still, with the 2013 revival of the U.S. version, all three of the regular performers (Stiles, Colin Mochrie, and Wayne Brady) each receive individual executive producer credits.
- World's Dumbest.... Among the regular commentators on the show is Family Guy writer, Ted Jessup, who eventually began serving as this show's consulting producer, though due his involvement with Family Guy taking up more of his time, that position was eventually handed over to fellow commentator, Mike Trainor, who began appearing more regularly on the show.
Pro Wrestling
- All Elite Wrestling Dynamite, as of Christmas 2019, lists six current performers as various producers on the show.
- Professional Wrestling has historically used various wrestlers as "Head Booker" which is the Wrestling equivalent of the Executive Producer with various "Agents" who are usually semi-retired wrestlers or other talent as the equivalent of Producer for individual house shows and secondary TV programs.
- Triple H and Mickie James are both on-screen talent listed as Producers on various WWE TV Programs.
Puppet Shows
- Sesame Street:
- A variation of this. Outside from occasionally directing a Muppet insert, Jim Henson was never involved with the actual production (contrary to popular belief); in 1989, however, when the show celebrated its 20th anniversary, Henson wanted to express his gratitude and appreciation to CTW (now Sesame Workshop) for being a part of the show for all those years, by producing an anniversary special through his then-Henson Associates company.
- During the 2000s, Kevin Clash, who was already directing for the show more frequently, began to executive produce Elmo-related Sesame projects, such as the recurring Elmo's World segments on the show, as well as Elmo-driven DVDs and specials; this was mostly because of the impact that Clash had on turning Elmo into the character he's known as today.
Western Animation
- Tuca & Bertie is executive produced by Tuca and Bertie's respective voice actors, Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong.
- The Legend of Vox Machina is produced by the members of the Critical Role team, who also voice the titular group of adventurers.
- Velma stars Mindy Kaling as the titular teen detective from Scooby-Doo. She's also one of the producers of the series.
