Join Now For Free
Directors · Stage 1

Director's Assistant

The desk outside the director's door: the diary, the script, the car and the confidence.

A director's assistant keeps one director's diary, script, notes and travel in order on a feature or high-end series. It is not an assistant director's job and is rarely advertised. What the job contains, how people really get it, what your Stage 1 CV should say, and a written plan to reach Stage 2.

2 hours · 6 modules · 18 lessons

Go PRO to access this courseEvery lesson and resource in Foundations comes with MFJF PRO. Already PRO? Sign in

What you’ll learn

  • Say plainly what a director's assistant is and is not, where the job exists, who hires for it and who you answer to, and describe a prep day and a shooting day hour by hour.
  • Know the twelve skills a director is really hiring for and how to get each one now, the documents, tools and phrases to be fluent in, and have scored yourself against them.
  • Have found three real routes to experience this month and know the rules on pay, unpaid work, tax, confidentiality, hours and driving that apply to them.
  • Have a Stage 1 CV outline with the right title on it, a covering email, and a way of approaching coordinators and assistants that does not annoy them.
  • Have a saved plan from Stage 1 to Stage 2 and be able to say MFJF's five Stage 1 statements honestly.

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 director

20 min

What a director's assistant is and, first, what it is not; where the job exists; the director's year seen from your desk; and what a prep day and a shooting day actually contain.

  1. readNot an assistant director: what a director's assistant actually is8 min
  2. readThe director's day, and yours, hour by hour8 min
  3. checkCheck: the role and the director4 min
Module 2

Before day one: skills, paperwork and knowledge

20 min

The twelve skills a director is actually hiring for and how to get each one before you have a credit; the documents, tools and phrases to be fluent in; and an honest audit of where you stand.

  1. readThe twelve skills a director is hiring for, and how to get each one now7 min
  2. readPaperwork, tools, phrases and the ten tips7 min
  3. taskTask: your skills audit, with a score6 min
Module 3

Getting experience at Stage 1

20 min

Where this job really comes from when it is almost never advertised, the seven routes that lead to it, the rules on pay, unpaid work, tax, confidentiality, hours and driving, and a task to find three routes this month.

  1. readWhere the job really comes from: seven routes8 min
  2. readThe rules: pay, unpaid work, tax, the NDA, hours and driving6 min
  3. taskTask: find three routes this month6 min
Module 4

Your CV, covering email and first approaches

20 min

Why the title on this CV is the hard part, what a Stage 1 CV for this career contains and leaves out, the covering email that gets read, how to approach coordinators and assistants without annoying them, and what a reference means here.

  1. readYour Stage 1 CV, your covering email, and how to approach the people who hire8 min
  2. taskTask: draft your Stage 1 CV outline8 min
  3. checkCheck: CVs, emails and approaches4 min
Module 5

The industry around the role

20 min

The wider map: everyone on the other end of the director's phone, the ladder and the site's three-year plan, where else the same skills get you hired, and what the people in the case studies actually did.

  1. readThe industry around the director's desk8 min
  2. resourcesThe director's assistant's library8 min
  3. checkCheck: the industry around the role4 min
Module 6

Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2

20 min

Turn everything you have produced into a saved plan, then check yourself honestly against MFJF's five Stage 1 statements and decide what you do next on the site.

  1. plannerYour Stage 1 plan10 min
  2. readHow you know you are ready for Stage 26 min
  3. checkCheck: are you ready for Stage 2?4 min
MFJF PRO

Unlock this course with PRO

Go PRO to open every lesson and resource in this course, and in every other Foundations course.

Go PRO to access this courseAlready PRO? Sign in

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 Directors. 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: DirectorsTwo 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.

Matching Directors right now

Live from the mentor programme, the Industry Essentials, the film course directory, Industry News and the competitions open now.

All mentors →
All Industry Essentials →
All film courses →
All Community Blog posts →
All trainee schemes →
All competitions →