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Animation · Stage 1

Animation Runner

A foot in the door of an animation studio, and a clear route from the kitchen to the production desk.

What an animation studio makes, what its runners do, and how to land a first running role in UK animation. The pipeline from story to delivery, the software to learn first, pay and unpaid work, trainee schemes and shadowing, and a Stage 1 CV. You leave with three real routes and a dated plan.

2 hours · 6 modules · 18 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Be able to describe an animation studio's pipeline in order, from story, voice and design through modelling or fabrication, rigging, layout, animation, lighting and comp to delivery, say where the production team sits, and say what a runner does in that building hour by hour.
  • Have built a shot tracker and a schedule in Google Sheets, installed Blender, chosen a lane (production, CG, 2D, stop motion, or story and design) and have a twelve-week plan that produces one small honest piece of work.
  • Know where Stage 1 animation experience really comes from (your own work, student films, shadowing, the ScreenSkills and apprenticeship routes, festivals, related jobs) and the UK rules on pay, hours, unpaid work, the union and safety.
  • Have a Stage 1 runner CV outline modelled on the site's nearest example, a plan for a one-page website, and a three-paragraph approach you can send to a named person at a named studio.
  • Know the map of UK animation studios, the production and artist ladders out of running, where else the same skills get you hired, and be able to say Sam's five Stage 1 statements honestly for this role, then do the next thing on MFJF: mentor clinic, Academy workshop, then the HotList at Stage 2.

Where this leads

By the end you will have written your own Stage 1 plan, checked yourself against MFJF's five Stage 1 statements, and know exactly what to do next: a mentor clinic, an Academy workshop, and Stage 2, the HotList.

Finish the course and you can build your personal plan: MFJF's three-stage planner for this role, ticked from Your Profile and your CV, with dated next steps and the CV line each one becomes.

Module 1

The animation studio and the runner's place in it

20 min

What an animation studio makes, how a film moves through it, who works there, and what the runner actually does from opening the building to typing the notes in dailies.

  1. readWhat an animation studio makes and how a film moves through it8 min
  2. readA runner's day in an animation studio, and the production assistant's8 min
  3. checkCheck: the pipeline and the job4 min
Module 2

Before day one: software, kit and the words

20 min

The spreadsheet to learn first, the free animation software and how far to take it, what to own, the paperwork, the jargon, and the ten tips turned into habits; then an honest, scored self-audit.

  1. readGoogle Sheets first: the software that gets a runner noticed7 min
  2. readKit, paperwork, the words people use, and the ten tips6 min
  3. taskTask: your skills self-audit, scored out of 367 min
Module 3

Getting experience at Stage 1

20 min

The routes that actually produce animation experience for someone with no film job, the UK rules on pay, hours, unpaid work, the union and safety, and a task that finds you three routes this month.

  1. readWhere animation experience really comes from8 min
  2. readThe rules: pay, hours, unpaid work, the union and safety6 min
  3. taskTask: find three routes to experience this month6 min
Module 4

Your CV, website and first approaches

20 min

What a Stage 1 animation runner CV contains, the title on it, the website for each lane, the three-paragraph email, how to approach studios without annoying them, and what a reference means here.

  1. readThe Stage 1 animation runner CV, website and approach8 min
  2. taskTask: draft your CV outline and profile line8 min
  3. checkCheck: the CV, the website and the approach4 min
Module 5

The industry around the role

20 min

The map of UK animation studios, the two ladders out of running, the three-year plan read across from the site's VFX planner, where else the skills go, what the people in the nearest case studies did, and the library for this course.

  1. readThe map: studios, the two ladders and the three-year plan8 min
  2. resourcesThe library: do-first to do-later8 min
  3. checkCheck: the map and the paths4 min
Module 6

Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2

20 min

Your plan, saved; the five statements as a self-certification for this role; and exactly what to do next on MFJF.

  1. plannerYour animation runner plan10 min
  2. readHow you know you are ready for Stage 26 min
  3. checkCheck: the self-certification4 min

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Where next

Your recommended next steps

Picked for Animation. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to.

  1. Find your role on the career mapEvery entry-level job by department, and where each one leads.
  2. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  3. Speak to an MFJF mentorAsk someone who does the job what they wish they had known.
  4. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.
  5. Industry ResourcesCareer guides, CV advice and example CVs for every department.
  6. See what entry-level jobs ask forThe job board, updated daily: read the ads before you apply.

Matching Animation right now

Live from the job board, the Academy, the mentor programme, the film-course directory and the reading list.

MFJF Academy workshops

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MFJF mentors

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Film courses

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Reading and links

All Industry Essentials →