Start with this one
MFJF 101: how to find work, how long it takes and what you get paid
The job hunt itself, on both tracks: who hires freelance crew and who hires at the companies, how long each really takes, what each pays, and how not to waste the first year.
Not sure which job yet?
Find the roles that might suit you
Eight short questions about what you enjoy, how you want to work and what you have done already. You get the entry-level roles that fit, what a week in each is really like, and what to do next.
Getting started
For everyone, whichever side you are heading for.
Before your first day
Short courses on the words, the paperwork and the money. Read one the night before you start.
Getting started
Film Production Jargon: the words you need to know before your first day on set
The words that will be said around you on day one, and what each one means.
On set
Getting started
Post Production Jargon: the words you need to know before your first day as a Post Production Runner
The language of the edit, the grade, the mix and the delivery, in the order the work happens.
Post-production and VFX
Getting started
Film Business Jargon: the words you need to know before your first day as an intern
Development, financing, sales and the words said around an office where nobody explains anything.
The business of film
Getting started
Production Paperwork: the documents you need to know before your first day on set
Every form a shooting day runs on, who issues it, who signs it, and the ones that decide whether you get paid.
On set
Getting started
Production Company Paperwork: the documents you need to know before your first day in the office
Options, budgets, cost reports and cash flow: the documents a production company lives in, with worked examples.
The business of film
Getting started
Distribution Paperwork: the documents you need to know before your first day at a distributor
Licences, deliverables, classification and box office reports: what a distributor signs, receives and sends, with examples.
The business of film
Getting started
Post Production Paperwork: the documents you need to know before your first day in post
Reports, turnover lists, specs, QC and the delivery checklist: the documents that follow the footage, with examples.
Post-production and VFX
Getting started
Life as a Freelancer: money, tax and finding the next job
How you get paid, how tax actually works, the documents to keep, and what to do in the last two weeks of a job.
Getting started
The National Minimum Wage: and the law on unpaid work experience and unpaid short films
What you must be paid, the four times unpaid is legal, where a no-budget short really stands, and what to do if you have worked and not been paid.
Getting started
Post Production Runner: the software you need to know
The programs a post house runs on, what a runner is actually allowed to touch, and how to move media without losing it.
Getting started
VFX Assistant: the software you need to know
How a visual effects job is tracked, what the artists around you are running, and the version discipline that makes you useful from day one.
Getting started
Production Office Runner: the software you need to know
The programs a production office runs on, the spreadsheet habits that keep you employed, and why a watermark matters.
Production roles
On set and in the production office: the crew who make the film.
Production Office
Production Runner and Office PA
The switchboard of the film: get into the production office and stay there.
The production office
Assistant Directors
Floor Runner and Set PA
The set runs on its runners: join the AD department and learn to hold the line.
On set
Camera
Camera Trainee
Keep the team ready: how the camera department works, and how you get your first trainee day.
On set
Production Sound
Sound Trainee
The quietest department on set: get onto the sound cart and learn the craft from the people who own the kit.
On set
Hair and Make-up
Hair and Make-up Trainee
Every face on screen goes through the chair: get into the make-up trailer and be the trainee they ask back.
On set
Costume
Costume Trainee
Dress the character, not the fashion: get into the costume department and be useful on day one.
On set
Art Department
Art Department Assistant
The biggest department on the floor and the one that builds the world: get into the art department and earn your place in it.
On set
Locations
Location Runner and PA
First in, last out: the department that gets a film onto real streets and into real houses, and gets it out again without a mark.
On set
Directors
Director's Assistant
The desk outside the director's door: the diary, the script, the car and the confidence.
On set
Producers
Producer's Assistant
Run the producer's day so the producer can run the film.
The production office
Casting
Casting Assistant
Run the room and keep the sheet: get into a casting office and be the assistant every casting director wants back.
The production office
Lighting and Grip
Lighting and Grip Trainee
Power, lamps and everything the camera sits on: how the sparks and the grips work, and how you get your first day with either.
On set
Props and Set Decoration
Props and Set Dec Trainee
Everything the actors touch and everything around them when they do: get into props and set dec and earn your place on the truck.
On set
Non-production roles
Post, VFX, development, sales, distribution, finance, marketing, agencies, festivals and commercials: the companies around the film.
Post Production
Post-production Runner
First in, last out: get into a post house and learn every room from the corridor.
Post-production and VFX
Visual Effects
VFX Runner
A foot in the door of a VFX house, and a clear route from the kitchen to the pipeline.
Post-production and VFX
Development
Development Intern at a Production Company
Read everything, write it up well, and become the person a production company cannot do without.
The business of film
Distribution
Distribution Office Assistant
Between the film market and the Friday opening: get into a UK distributor's office and learn every department from the one desk that touches them all.
The business of film
Film Sales
Film Sales Assistant
Where films meet the world: get into a sales company and learn the business from the stand up.
The business of film
Film Finance
Film Finance Assistant
The money behind the movie: get into a UK film finance office and learn how features really get made.
The business of film
Marketing and PR
Marketing and PR Assistant
Every film is sold before it is seen: start in the team that sells it.
The business of film
Commercials
Commercials Runner
Thirty seconds on screen, weeks of work behind it: get into a commercials production company and learn the whole trade fast.
The production office
Editing
Edit Assistant
Keep the editor cutting: how the cutting room works, and how you get your first day at the assistant's desk.
Post-production and VFX
Talent Agencies
Talent Agency Assistant
The other end of the phone: get into a talent agency and learn how careers are made, one deal at a time.
The business of film
Festivals and Exhibition
Film Festival and Cinema Assistant
The room where the audience meets the film: get into a festival office or behind a cinema's front desk and learn the business from the door.
The business of film
Animation
Animation Runner
A foot in the door of an animation studio, and a clear route from the kitchen to the production desk.
Post-production and VFX
Creative Agencies
Creative Agency Runner
The client side of the commercial: get on to an advertising agency's production desk and learn how the money, the idea and the film all meet.
The business of film
Development
Script Reader
Read the script, write the report a producer can act on in a minute, and make reading your way into development.
The business of film
How to become a...
The four careers everyone asks about, from day one to the first paid job: director, producer, screenwriter, editor.
Directing
How to Become a Director: From Day 1 to Getting Paid
Nobody hires directors. Here is how they get made, what it costs, and how the first paid job arrives.
Directing, producing, writing, editing
Producing
How to Become a Producer: From Day 1 to Getting Paid
It starts and ends with the producer: the whole road from never having made anything to your first paid producing work.
Directing, producing, writing, editing
Screenwriting
How to Become a Screenwriter: From Day 1 to Getting Paid
From a script nobody asked for to the first cheque: the routes, the years, the money and the plan.
Directing, producing, writing, editing
Editing
How to Become an Editor: From Day 1 to Getting Paid
The whole road: from never having cut anything to your first paid cut, and the long climb to the editor's chair.
Directing, producing, writing, editing
Development
How to Become a Development Assistant: From Day 1 to Getting Paid
Development is where films begin. Here is the desk they begin on, the one skill that gets you hired, and how the first wage actually arrives.
Directing, producing, writing, editing
Cinematography
How to Become a DOP: From Day 1 to Getting Paid
Nobody advertises for a Director of Photography. Here is the department you start in, the two routes up, and where the first day rate comes from.
Directing, producing, writing, editing
New to the three stages? Read The Three Career Stages on the site first.
