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Costume · Stage 1

Costume Trainee

Dress the character, not the fashion: get into the costume department and be useful on day one.

Your first job in a film or TV costume department: what it does from prep to wrap, the workroom and the set, the sewing, continuity and breakdown skills a supervisor tests, where experience comes from, pay and unpaid work, and the CV and approaches that get a trainee booked, with a saved plan.

2 hours · 6 modules · 18 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Be able to describe the costume department from designer to daily, explain the difference between the workroom and the set, and say what a trainee does from the 05:45 unlock to the end-of-day storage check.
  • Have scored yourself on the twelve practical skills a supervisor will test, chosen three to fix in eight weeks, and know the cheapest honest way to learn each one.
  • Have found three named, dated routes to costume experience this month, and know the rules on pay, unpaid work, hours, tax and safety that apply to each.
  • Have an outline of a one-page Stage 1 costume CV checked against the site's example, a three-paragraph cover letter plan, and a way of approaching supervisors that does not annoy them.
  • Have a saved plan and be able to say, honestly, the five Stage 1 exit statements for this role, and know what to do next on MFJF.

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 role and the department

20 min

What the costume department does from script breakdown to wrap, who is in it, the two worlds of workroom and set, and what a trainee actually does all day.

  1. readWhat the costume department does, and where it does it8 min
  2. readWho is in the department, and the trainee's day hour by hour8 min
  3. checkCheck: the department4 min
Module 2

Before day one: skills, kit and knowledge

20 min

The sewing, garment, dressing, continuity and breakdown skills a supervisor assumes you have, how to learn each one now, the kit, the paperwork, the words, and the ten tips. Then an honest audit with a score.

  1. readSewing, garment, continuity and breakdown skills: what to learn now7 min
  2. readKit, paperwork, the words people use and the ten tips6 min
  3. taskTask: your skills audit, scored out of 367 min
Module 3

Getting experience at Stage 1

20 min

Where costume experience really comes from: theatre and television as parallel routes, costume houses and hire companies, vetted short films, styling tests, alterations shops, courses and schemes. Then the rules on pay, unpaid work, hours, tax and safety, and a task to find three routes this month.

  1. readWhere costume experience really comes from7 min
  2. readThe rules: pay, unpaid work, hours, tax and safety6 min
  3. taskTask: find three routes you can start this month7 min
Module 4

Your CV, cover letter and first approaches

20 min

What a one-page Stage 1 costume CV contains, the portfolio, the three-paragraph letter, how to approach supervisors in prep without annoying them, and what a reference really means. Then draft your outline against the site's example.

  1. readThe CV a costume supervisor wants to see, the letter and the approach7 min
  2. taskTask: draft your Stage 1 CV outline against the site's example8 min
  3. checkCheck: CV, letter and approaches5 min
Module 5

The industry around the role

20 min

The wider map: film, television, theatre, costume houses, workrooms and events; the three career routes and the site's three-year plan; what the nearest case studies show; and the curated library for this course.

  1. readThe map around costume, the three routes onward and the three-year plan7 min
  2. resourcesThe costume trainee's library8 min
  3. checkCheck: the industry around the role5 min
Module 6

Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2

20 min

Your saved plan, the five statements you self-certify against, and what to do next on MFJF.

  1. plannerYour plan10 min
  2. readHow you know you are ready for Stage 26 min
  3. checkCheck: ready for Stage 24 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 Costume. 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: CostumeTwo 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. The career planner: CostumeWhat to do, learn and be able to do, from no experience to paid work.
  7. The career guide: CostumeThe job, the day, the way in and the pay, in one guide.
  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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