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Getting started · Stage 1

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.

An internship in a production, sales or distribution company is mostly meetings you half understand. This quick course explains how a project gets from an idea to a greenlight, where the money comes from and how it gets paid back, what happens at a market, and the office words you will hear on your first morning.

25 minutes · 3 modules · 9 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Be able to follow a development conversation: option, rights, treatment, package, greenlight.
  • Know where a British film's money comes from and what a tax credit, equity and a pre-sale are.
  • Understand recoupment, the waterfall and why net points are worth less than they sound.
  • Know what a market is, what a sales agent does, and what an intern is actually asked to produce.

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.

Module 1

Development: how a project starts

8 min

Everything begins with rights and a piece of writing. These are the words for the years before a camera turns.

  1. readRights, scripts and the road to a greenlight3 min
  2. readWho is who, and what the paperwork is called3 min
  3. checkCheck: development and the people2 min
Module 2

Money: raising it and getting it back

8 min

Film financing has its own vocabulary, and most of it describes either where the money comes from or the order in which it goes back.

  1. readWhere the money comes from3 min
  2. readGetting it back: recoupment, the waterfall and points3 min
  3. checkCheck: financing and recoupment2 min
Module 3

Selling it, and the words in the office

9 min

Markets, festivals and the daily language of an office where everyone is chasing the same few decisions.

  1. readMarkets, festivals and the office vocabulary3 min
  2. taskTask: your day-one word list3 min
  3. checkCheck: selling, and the office3 min
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Sources and references

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

Check it yourself

This course is written from our own experience of the industry. These are the authorities that set the rules, so you can check anything here for yourself.

  • BFI funding, certification and the industry statistics behind the words
  • Pact the trade body for independent producers: deals, terms and agreements
  • Film Distributors' Association how a UK release is actually put together
  • BBFC classification, and what a certificate means commercially
  • Creative UK the wider industry and its funding language

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 Getting started. 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: Getting startedTwo 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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