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Production Posse

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The Rat Pack in their many roles.
Top to bottom: Ocean's 11, Sergeants 3, Robin and the 7 Hoods

Adam Sandler: I'm writing a movie right now about the Russian Revolution.
Jake: Oh, really? Who does Kevin James play in it?
Sandler: Ha ha, it's a serious movie. [pause] Trotsky.
Jake: There it is!
Brooklyn Nine-Nine, "Operation Broken Feather"

A group of people that, whenever one is involved in a production, others are almost guaranteed to show up at some point.

This used to be a very enforced part of media making. Studios expected artists to specialize into units. An example would be John Ford being specialized in westerns, which meant that large parts of the crew — both in front of and behind the camera — would literally always work together. Another aspect of Hollywood filmmaking which used to enforce this in the past was that studios would often have exclusive contracts with big names spanning several years and movies. For instance, the vast majority of Humphrey Bogart's films after he made it big were for Warner Bros.

John August coined the term "Clique Flick" on his filmmaking podcast Script Notes.

See also Those Two Actors and Only So Many Canadian Actors. When each member tends to play the same sort of role every time, they're a Universal-Adaptor Cast. Associated Composer is a subtrope.


Example subpages:

Other examples:

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    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 
  • Comic book writer Alan Moore has collaborated with several artists more than once. He worked with:
  • Writer Marv Wolfman has collaborated with artist George Pérez on The New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and History of the DC Universe.
  • Writer Michael Gallagher has frequently collaborated with artist David Manak, most notably on early issues of Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics) and the ALF comic. The two also handled Spy vs. Spy installments in MAD for a short time.
  • MAD has several examples, stemming from the Running Gag of calling their regulars "The Usual Gang of Idiots":
    • Senior editors Charlie Kadau and Joe Raiola frequently wrote gags together.
    • The above-mentioned Michael Gallagher regularly collaborated with artist Tom Bunk for one-page gags.
    • Nearly all of Anthony Barbieri's contributions to the magazine were Monroe and..., which was originally drawn by Bill Wray and then taken over by Tom Fowler.
    • For most of the magazine's history, nearly all of the movie and TV show parodies were illustrated by Mort Drucker or Angelo Torres (plus a handful from Jack Davis), with writing usually handled by Larry Siegel, Lou Silverstone, Dick DeBartolo, Arnie Kogen, or Stan Hart. Over time, newer writers began to take over; as of The New '10s when the magazine largely stopped publishing new content, writing duties usually went to DeBartolo, Kogen, Desmond Devlin, or David Shayne, while Tom Richmond, Hermann Mejia, and Tom Bunk became the main illustrators.
    • For most of the 21st century, Mark Fredrickson did the cover art.
  • Writer Tom King is a frequent collaborator with artist Mitch Gerads, having worked together on The Sheriff of Babylon, Mister Miracle (2017), Heroes in Crisis, and Strange Adventures (2020). The reason why Mister Miracle even happened is because the two were originally planning to work on a Batman one-off "The War of Jokes and Riddles", which DC decided to integrate into King's run of Batman using that series' artists, and King pushed to work on something else so they could properly collaborate again.

    Films — Animation 

    Music 
  • EVERY RAP GROUP, CREW OR LABEL EVER. Every solo album one member does, you can almost guarantee the others won't be far behind. This is particularly prevalent in the somewhat self-insular rap groups the Wu-Tang Clan and OFWGKTA.
    • And Young Money. Any album by any member of YMCMB is probably going to have at least another member of the team on it somewhere (and there are several). Being the labels' founding musicians, chances are any YMCMB album will have some sort of vocal involvement from either Birdman or Lil Wayne.
    • GOOD Music, Kanye West's clique and label, does this as well - chances are any album the label releases will have involvement either in production or in vocals from Kanye himself, a hook from The-Dream, and features from any artist on the roster.
      • Kanye himself. Most stuff he's done since the start of his career has involved Common, John Legend, Malik Yusuf, Mos Def and Jay-Z somewhere along the line. He also gained his childhood friends Really Doe and GLC considerable exposure, along with his cousin Tony Williams. These days, if Kanye has a new album out, you can usually expect any (or indeed all) of these artists to be in hot pursuit - anyone mentioned above, Kid Cudi, Raekwon, The-Dream, Jay-Z, anyone not mentioned who is signed to GOOD Music, Talib Kweli, Justin Vernon, Lupe Fiasco, La Roux and Rihanna. You can also always expect his mentor No I.D. to have given some of the tracks a once-over production-wise.
      • And Jay-Z. Almost every Jay-Z album these days will involve production from one or more of Kanye West, Timbaland, Just Blaze or Pharrell Williams. Chances are Kanye may have a verse or two as well. Others who are likely to be involved are Jay's wife Beyoncé, J. Cole, Rick Ross, Nas and Rihanna.
  • Brad Paisley largely writes songs with Kelley Lovelace, Chris DuBois, or Lee Thomas Miller. He also uses members of his road band, The Drama Kings, on most of his albums.
  • George Strait has had many of the same staff since his 1992 soundtrack for Pure Country, including the same batch of session musicians (among them: drummer Eddie Bayers, fiddler Stuart Duncan, steel guitarist Paul Franklin, guitarists Steve Gibson and Brent Mason, pianist John Barlow Jarvis, and bassist Glenn Worf). Tony Brown was also the producer for all of these until Cold Beer Conversation, when Chuck Ainlay took over. Almost all of his albums have also included at least one song written by Dean Dillon, who penned his debut single "Unwound".
  • Garth Brooks has several examples:
    • The most famous is "The G-Men", a set of session musicians who have appeared on all of his albums except In the Life of Chris Gaines: Bruce Bouton (steel guitar), Mark Casstevens (acoustic guitar), Mike Chapman (bass guitar), Rob Hajacos (fiddle), Chris Leuzinger (electric guitar), Milton Sledge (drums), and Bobby Wood (keyboards). All of his albums until The Ultimate Hits (again excluding the Chris Gaines album) were produced by Allen Reynolds and engineered by Mark Miller (not the lead singer of Sawyer Brown). After Reynolds retired, Miller was promoted to producer and John Kelton took over engineering duties. Many members of the G-Men also played on most albums produced by Reynolds in the late 80s-early 90s, such as those by Hal Ketchum, Crystal Gayle, and Kathy Mattea, as well as Ty England's Highways and Dance Halls, which Garth produced (Ty was formerly a guitarist in Garth's road band).
    • In addition, every studio album except for No Fences and Man Against Machine has also featured at least one song written by Kent Blazy. Other songwriters who have turned up on multiple albums include Tony Arata, Pat Alger, Stephanie Davis, Victoria Shaw, and Kim Williams.
  • Travis Tritt's first four studio albums had multiple overlapping musicians, including backing vocalists Dana McVicker and Dennis Locorriere, bassist Mike Brignardello, guitarists Richard Bennett and Wendell Cox, and drummer Steve Turner. All four were produced by Gregg Brown, with several songs written by Jill Colucci, Stewart Harris, and Tritt himself.
  • Except for his little known debut "What Room Was the Holiday In" and songs on which he was a featured artist, all of Tim McGraw's material has been produced by Byron Gallimore (albeit with a couple different co-producers over the years). Also, the vast majority of his music videos were directed by Sherman Hasley until his 2013 death.
  • Whenever Sia makes a music video, you can expect Maddie Ziegler to be in it after appearing in her last three.
  • Kenny Chesney has been produced by Buddy Cannon since 1997. Also, nearly all of his music videos since "Young" in 2002 have been directed or co-directed by Shaun Silva.
  • John Conlee has been produced by Bud Logan for literally his entire career, and has used Brent Rowan as his sole lead guitarist since "Friday Night Blues".
  • Toby Keith has included songs written by Scotty Emerick from nearly every album from How Do You Like Me Now?! onward, and several from Bobby Pinson starting with Big Dog Daddy. Also, all but two of his music videos from 1997's "We Were in Love" onward have been directed by Michael Salomon.
  • The vast majority of Keith Urban albums have at least one song written by Monty Powell, and backing vocals from Jerry Flowers (a former member of Urban's pre-fame band The Ranch).
  • A number of videos from Cyndi Lauper's She's So Unusual period featured Lauper alongside wrestler/wrestling manager Captain Lou Albano and her then-boyfriend David Wolff in roles.
  • Iron Maiden's 1980s days had producer Martin Birch and artist Derek Riggs as a given. From 2000s on, while the artist has been inconsistent, South African producer Kevin Shirley is a given.
  • All but two of Patty Loveless' albums have her husband Emory Gordy Jr. serving as both bass guitarist and producer. Many of them also had at least one song written by Kostas, and backing vocals from Vince Gill (for whom she has also returned the favor on many occasions) and Mac McAnally.
  • Nearly all of the albums released on Average Joes Entertainment, a label co-owned by Country Rap artist Colt Ford, have been produced by Noah Gordon (who had a minor chart entry in 1994 with "The Blue Pages") and Shannon Houchins.
  • Every release by Country Music record label Big Loud has been produced by Joey Moi, who co-owns the label. Many of their releases are penned by their roster of songwriters: Craig Wiseman (the label's other owner), Chris Tompkins, Rodney Clawson, Matt Dragstrem, Brad and Brett Warren (who formerly recorded as the Warren Brothers), Ernest K. Smith, HARDY, and Sarah Buxton. Both Ernest K. Smith and HARDY also record for the label, and Buxton sometimes chimes in on backing vocals.
  • Big & Rich had their singer-songwriting clique, known collectively as the MuzikMafia. The fronting members included Big & Rich members Big Kenny and John Rich; Gretchen Wilson; James Otto; Shannon Lawson; and Cowboy Troy. Many of them collaborated with each other, often singing and writing on each other's albums. A few other non-musical members existed over the years, but the group seems to have largely dissipated.
  • Tracy Lawrence tended to have most of his songs written by Larry Boone, Paul Nelson, and Kenny Beard. He also did most of his production work with Flip Anderson, a member of his road band.
  • Factory Records used Peter Saville as its designer and Martin Hannett served as in-house producer on many of the early releases, including those by Joy Division and New Order. Saville kept designing for the New Order even after Factory went bankrupt in 1992.
  • All of Justin Moore's albums have been produced by Jeremy Stover, who also writes many of the songs on them. Many of his albums also feature songs written by at least one member of the songwriting team The Peach Pickers (Dallas Davidson, Ben Hayslip, and Rhett Akinsnote ).
  • Clint Black wrote nearly all of his material with his guitarist Hayden Nicholas.
  • With regard to anything he's done since ABBA, if Benny Andersson is involved, expect Tommy Korberg, Anders and Karin Glenmark, and latterly Helen Sjoholm to be in there as well.
  • Nearly all of Ronnie Milsap's albums were produced by Tom Collins and/or Ron Galbraith, and most of them also had at least one song written by Mike Reid.
  • The combination of Elton John, lyricist Bernie Taupin, his backing band of Davey Johnstone (guitar), the late Dee Murray (bass), Nigel Olsson (drums) and sometimes Ray Cooper (percussion), with production by the late Gus Dudgeon and Paul Buckmaster or Del Newman conducting orchestral parts, was arguably collectively responsible for the classic Elton John sound of 1972-1975, and has partially if not fully been involved with Elton ever since. Davey and Nigel have stayed as part of Elton's backing band since 2001, while Bernie has stayed (with few exceptions) as Elton's full-time lyricist since 1983.
  • Giorgio Moroder's production posse in the 1970s included co-producer Pete Bellotte and a fairly consistent core group of musicians including Keith Forsey (drums), Mats Bjorklund (guitar), Les Hurdle (bass) and Dino Solera (woodwind). Bellotte and Forsey remained frequent collaborators as Moroder moved more into film soundtracks in the 1980s, Forsey also increasingly acting as lyricist and sometimes co-producer. During the 1980s, a recognisable posse of lead and backing vocalists turned up on many of Moroder's projects, including Paul Engemann, Beth Andersen, E.C. Daily and Joe Esposito.
  • Nearly all of AC/DC's studio albums from Stiff Upper Lip onwards have been recorded at The Warehouse Studio in Vancouver under producer Brendan O'Brien (except for Stiff Upper Lip, which was produced by George Young).

    Radio 
  • Andy Hamilton's comedies often share a similar supporting cast, for example both Old Harry's Game and Revolting People feature (as well as Hamilton himself) actors Philip Pope and Michael Fenton Stevens (both of whom featured in other shows including KYTV) whilst actor David Swift also appear in Old Harry's Game as God, having previously appeared alongside Robert Duncan (Scumspawn), Fenton Stevens, Pope and Hamilton in Drop the Dead Donkey in which James Grout (the Professor in Old Harry's Game) also played a guest role.

    Theatre 
  • William Shakespeare had a stock company which included Richard Burbage (who generally played the leads) and Will Kemp (who played the comic roles). This is lampshaded in Hamlet where the actor playing Polonius is the same actor who originally played Julius Caesar (and therefore got stabbed again by Richard Burbage who played both Hamlet and Brutus).
  • Many of Stephen Sondheim's musicals were created in association with director-producer Harold Prince (Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Merrily We Roll Along, the failed version of Road Show known as Bounce) and writer-director James Lapine (Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Passion, the 2012 revival of Merrily We Roll Along). Almost all of these shows were orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick. (Sondheim had a lot of trouble with previous orchestrators when he started composing Broadway musicals in the 1960s.)
  • Every Broadway musical originally starring Ethel Merman, with the exception of Gypsy, had a book written by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse or by Herbert Fields with either B.G. DeSylva or Dorothy Fields. Cole Porter wrote songs for five Ethel Merman shows, and she was the only performer whose name he associated with the song ideas in his personal notebook.
  • Gilbert and Sullivan's operas, from The Sorcerer onward, were produced by Richard D'Oyly Carte's Comic Opera Company and its successor, the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. There were many recurring actors, but a few names stand out:
  • Joe Iconis of Be More Chill fame often recruits the same cast and crew for his shows, and frequently involves these people in concerts and independent albums featuring his music under the name "Iconis & Family." Frequent members include Lauren Marcus (also his wife), George Salazar, Eric William Morris, and Jason SweetTooth Williams.
  • Lin-Manuel Miranda seems to be forming one with musical director Alex Lacamoire, choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, actors Christopher Jackson, Anthony Ramos, and Karen Olivo. When he appeared on Drunk History, Miranda told Jackson, "Long as I got a job, you got a job."
  • Movista, the producers of the Tsukiuta and Identity V stage play series, tend to cast a lot of the same actors. While the general 2.5D sphere tends to have a few famous names who appear in a lot of work, mostly Touken Ranbu cast members, Movista's group is separate from this. Hirai Yuki and Chiba Mizuki have had lead roles in almost all of Movista's series, and Chiba sings the theme songs even for plays he isn't in (Tsukipro's Machine Elements steampunk AU). Particularly noteworthy was their original series, 'Kuro to Shiro', where out of 16 cast members, 7 were in both Tsukipro and Identity V, and only one was in neither. The same choreographer, J.U.N., has also worked on both Identity V and Tsukipro's SQS series.

    Video Games 

    Visual Novels 
  • Whenever writer Takeshi Masada undertakes one of his projects, artist G Yuusuke and composer Keishi Yonao are generally not far behind. Even when he was forced to change mediums after all the trouble following the closure of Greenwood, the three still stick together for Avesta of Black and White.

    Web Original 
  • Alfa Legion videos are sure to have Bruva Alfabusa, Thunder Psyker, Eliphas the Inheritor and Karl the Deranged, and several other Legionnaires appear from time to time as well.
  • Vocaloid composers Hitoshizuku and Yama have worked on so many songs together that they have a separate channel dedicated for their crossovers. For added posse, their videos are mostly illustrated by Suzunosuke. They eventually form an official group named TeamOS.
  • Kurt Hugo Schneider's most frequent collaborators are his brother Max, Sam Tsui, and Alyson Stoner.
  • The voice-acting from Digimon Resumido is done by Friendzone Team and some recurring dubbers from the Revengeverse.
  • Following the cancellation of her Disney Channel series Sonny with a Chance and its reboot So Random!, Allisyn Ashley Arm (aka Zora Lancaster) has used cast members from both shows (especially Audrey Whitby and Matthew Scott Montgomery) in her YouTube comedy series, in particular Astrid Clover.
  • Rooster Teeth is getting up there, if they're not already. Between the company's staff and hired actors, it's not hard to find recurring actors - Lindsay Jones, Barbara Dunkelman, Michael Jones, Shannon McCormick, Jen Brown, Lee Eddy, Samantha Ireland - with a few even producing\writing\directing as well (Gray G. Haddock, Kerry Shawcross, Miles Luna).
  • Shipwrecked Comedy itself is an example, but the group also frequently works with: director William Joe Stribling, composer Dylan Glatthorn, cinematographer Alex Gallitano, and actors such as Joey Richter, Blake Silver, Jessica Jade Andres, Lauren Lopez, and Christopher Higgins, who has both acted and been the behind-the-scenes photographer for numerous projects.
    • At this point, Shipwrecked, Team Starkid, and Tin Can Brothers all frequently share actors, with Starkid and Tin Can Bros sharing co-founders Joey Richter and Brian Rosenthal (though Shipwrecked and Tin Can Bros. once pretended to have a rivalry).
  • Discussed by the Super Best Friends Zaibatsu during their Let's Watch of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, in which they point out how Metal Gear's voice cast - barring David Hayter, who is frequently busy with things outside of voice work - frequently seems to pop up together, bringing up Robin Atkin Downes and Paul Eiding's roles in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle specifically.
  • Out of practicality, Gus Johnson's sketches regularly feature the same actors: His brother Sven Johnson (several of his other family members make regular appearances too), his roommate Eddy Burback, and his girlfriend Abelina Sabrina. Likewise, Gus regularly appears in sketches on Sven's and Sabrina's channels. He and Ian Kung have also appeared in several of each other's sketches.
  • A lot of the people who did voices for Winter of '83 had also worked with Lewis Lovhaug before or are even fellow former Channel Awesome members, including his wife Viga Gadson, Nash Bozard, Chuck Sonnenburg, Allison Pregler, and Marc Swint.

    Western Animation 

    Other 
  • Stu is usually accompanied by his girlfriend Jeanine Kasun, as well as writers/historians Mark Evanier, Earl Kress, and Jerry Beck.
  • More than half of the books written by Canadian children's author Robert Munsch are illustrated by Michael Martchenko. Any book Michael Martchenko has illustrated for will have been written by Munsch, Allen Morgan, or Martchenko himself.
  • Disney has often used the Rome-based Royfilm studio for Italian dubs of their TV shows and films.

 
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