What you’ll learn
- Be able to explain how an advert is made from the client's brief through the creative team, the triple bid, the pre-production meeting, the shoot and post to Clearcast and air, and where the agency's runner fits into every stage of it.
- Know the agency production runner's day hour by hour, the documents (the brief, the bid comparison, the purchase order, the call sheet, the PPM book, the usage schedule, the clock number) and the phrases you will meet in week one.
- Have a scored skills audit, three named routes into an agency for this month, and a Stage 1 CV outline built against the site's example, with a tailored "why this agency" sentence.
- Know who to ask about pay and hours, the plain rule on unpaid placements in the UK, and the entry schemes that exist precisely because this industry has been hard to get into without contacts.
- Have a saved plan, the runner-to-junior-producer-to-agency-producer ladder in view, and be able to say the five Stage 1 statements honestly before you go to a mentor clinic and then the HotList.
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.
The agency and the production desk
20 minWhat a creative agency is, who pays for the advert, how the idea becomes a film, and what the runner on the production desk actually does from first in to last out.
- readWhat a creative agency is and how an advert gets made8 min
- readThe production desk, hour by hour8 min
- checkCheck: the agency and the day4 min
Before day one: skills, paperwork and the language
20 minThe eight things an agency producer is really hiring for and how to build each one before you are hired, the documents and money words of the production desk, and the habits that get a runner kept on.
- readThe eight skills, and how to build each one now7 min
- readThe paperwork, the money words and the language6 min
- taskTask: your skills self-audit7 min
Getting experience at Stage 1
20 minThe seven real doors into a creative agency, the schemes that exist because this industry has been hard to enter without contacts, and the rules on pay, hours, unpaid work and safety before you say yes to anything.
- readThe seven doors into an agency7 min
- readThe rules: pay, hours, unpaid work and safety6 min
- taskTask: find three routes this month7 min
Your CV, cover letter and first approaches
20 minWhat a Stage 1 agency CV contains, the letter that names a piece of work, how to approach a production department without annoying it, and what a reference means here.
- readThe Stage 1 CV, the letter and the approach8 min
- taskTask: draft your CV outline and one real letter8 min
- checkCheck: CV, letter and approach4 min
The industry around the role
20 minThe map of clients, agencies, production companies, post houses and bodies; the agencies worth knowing by name; the ladder from runner to agency producer; and where else this job can take you.
- readThe map, the bodies and the ladder8 min
- resourcesThe library8 min
- checkCheck: the industry and the path4 min
Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2
20 minYour saved plan, the five statements as a self-certification, and what to do next on MFJF.
- plannerYour plan10 min
- readHow you know you are ready for Stage 26 min
- checkCheck: ready for Stage 24 min
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The career map
