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Producing · Stage 1

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.

Producers are not appointed; they make themselves by producing things and learning what things cost. The life of a film from the producer's chair, six routes in with the years and money, producing a first short properly, where first fees come from, how a feature is financed, and a six-month plan.

2 hours · 6 modules · 18 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Be able to describe what a producer does across development, financing, prep, shoot, post and delivery, and say what each producer credit on a film actually means.
  • Know the six routes to producing with realistic years and money for each, and have chosen the one you are starting on, with reasons.
  • Have a one-page plan for a first short that can be insured, contracted, cleared, kept safe and sent to festivals, and know which funders and schemes exist for it.
  • Know where the first paid producing work comes from, the difference between a fee and a deferral, employed against freelance, and how a British feature is financed in outline, without anyone giving you financial advice.
  • Have a saved six-month plan, three people to approach, a review date, and be able to say MFJF's five Stage 1 statements honestly as a producer.

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

What a producer actually does

20 min

The whole life of a film from the producer's chair, the different kinds of producer and what each word on a credit means, and the honest truth about how producers get made.

  1. readFrom the first idea to the last sale: the producer's job across a film8 min
  2. readThe kinds of producer, what a credit means, and how producers get made7 min
  3. checkCheck: the job and the credits5 min
Module 2

The routes in, with years and money

20 min

The six roads people actually take to producing, how long each takes, what each pays along the way, and a task to choose yours.

  1. readRoute one: making shorts. Route two: the production office ladder8 min
  2. readRoutes three to six: development, television, documentary, and the producer-director partnership7 min
  3. taskTask: choose your route and say why5 min
Module 3

Day 1 to year 3: producing your first short properly

20 min

How to produce a short so that the credit is real: rights, budget, schedule, insurance, contracts, clearances and a festival plan. Then the funders, the schemes, and what three years of work should look like.

  1. readThe first short, done properly: rights, money, paper, safety, festivals8 min
  2. readThe funders, the schemes, and what three years of work looks like6 min
  3. taskTask: the one-page plan for your first short6 min
Module 4

Getting paid

20 min

Where the first paid producing work comes from, what a fee and a deferral really are, employed versus freelance, and how a feature is actually financed, in outline and without financial advice.

  1. readThe first paid producing work, fees and deferrals, employed or freelance8 min
  2. readHow a feature is financed, in outline7 min
  3. checkCheck: getting paid and how films are financed5 min
Module 5

The industry around you

20 min

The bodies, companies, festivals and markets a producer lives among, the calendar they run on, what the people in MFJF's case studies did, and the library for the years ahead.

  1. readThe map: Pact, the BFI, sales agents, distributors, festivals and markets7 min
  2. resourcesThe producer's library8 min
  3. checkCheck: the map5 min
Module 6

Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2 as a producer

20 min

The plan you take away: what you will produce in the next six months, the route you are on, the three people to approach, and a review date. Then how you know you are moving, and what to do next on MFJF.

  1. plannerYour producer's plan9 min
  2. readHow you know you are moving, and the five statements for a producer7 min
  3. checkCheck: ready for Stage 2 as a producer4 min
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Sources and references

Where this course comes from. Open any of them yourself.

What this course was written from

Every link checked 19 September 2026.

You are not doing this alone

You have your own personal career mentor

That is us, the MFJF team. Book an MFJF Mentor Session with us every month: we guide you through this journey and answer all your questions, from which job is yours to your CV and your next application.

Book my MFJF Mentor Session

Where next

Your recommended next steps

Picked for Producing. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to. See your whole MFJF journey, step by step →

  1. My MFJF JourneyOne page for everything MFJF has built, in the order you need it.
  2. My Reading ListThe books, blogs and bodies you have saved, in one place.
  3. Start the Stage 1 course: ProducingTwo hours on what the job is, how people get in and what to do first.
  4. Get on the HotListPut yourself in front of productions looking for crew.
  5. Join MFJF DayPlayersDay work on productions for crew with the credits and the skills.
  6. Find your role in the career plannersEvery entry-level job by department, with a three-stage planner for each.
  7. Read the career guidesWhat each job is, the day, the way in and the pay: one guide for every role.
  8. See how it all fits on the career maps17 maps of how films get made: the people, the process and the departments.
  9. Who works whereEvery department on a shoot and every kind of film company: who is in each and what they do.
  10. Industry EssentialsThe books, industry bodies, websites and blogs worth knowing, department by department.
  11. Read the MFJF Survival GuidesStraight answers to what everyone starting out asks: how long it takes, what you get paid, and what to do every day.
  12. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  13. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.

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