Join Now For Free
Distribution · Stage 1

Distribution Office Assistant

Between the film market and the Friday opening: get into a UK distributor's office and learn every department from the one desk that touches them all.

Distribution is how a film reaches an audience: buying the rights, dating the release, selling it to cinemas, marketing and delivery. How a UK distributor works, the release cycle and box office, the Excel skills the office tests, the FDA's scheme, pay and unpaid work, a Stage 1 CV and a plan.

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

  • Be able to explain what a UK distributor does, name its departments and describe a film's release cycle from the market to home entertainment.
  • Be able to read a weekend box office chart like a professional and know which Excel and data skills to build before you apply.
  • Know where distribution experience really comes from, including the FDA's paid trainee scheme and free online course, and what the law says about unpaid placements.
  • Have a scored skills audit, three routes into the sector, a CV outline built against the site's example, and a plan to bring to an MFJF mentor.

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 company

20 min

What a UK film distributor actually does, who sits in the office, and what an office assistant's week contains when a film is opening on Friday.

  1. readHow a UK distributor works, from the market to the screen8 min
  2. readThe release cycle, the box office and your week8 min
  3. checkCheck: the company and the cycle4 min
Module 2

Before day one: skills, Excel and the language

20 min

The skills a distributor actually tests, the software you must be fluent in before you apply, and the words that make you sound like you belong. Ends with a scored self-audit.

  1. readThe skills that get you hired, and how to get each one now7 min
  2. readThe language of the office and the ten tips6 min
  3. taskTask: score yourself against the distribution skills list7 min
Module 3

Getting experience at Stage 1

20 min

Where distribution experience really comes from when you have none, the FDA's scheme and course, and the rules on pay, hours and unpaid work so you know what to ask before you say yes.

  1. readWhere experience really comes from for this role7 min
  2. readThe rules: pay, hours, unpaid work and looking after yourself6 min
  3. taskTask: find three routes into distribution this month7 min
Module 4

Your CV, cover letter and first approaches

20 min

What a Stage 1 CV for a distribution office looks like, what to call yourself, the cover letter that gets read, and how to approach a thirty-person company without becoming a nuisance.

  1. readThe Stage 1 distribution CV, the cover letter and the approach8 min
  2. taskTask: draft your Stage 1 CV outline7 min
  3. checkCheck: the CV and the approach5 min
Module 5

The industry around the role

20 min

The map of companies and bodies a distributor touches, the career path from assistant upwards, where the same skills get you hired, what the people in the site's case studies actually did, and the library for the course.

  1. readThe wider map, the path upwards and the people who walked it8 min
  2. resourcesThe library for this course8 min
  3. checkCheck: the map and the path4 min
Module 6

Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2

20 min

Turn the course into a plan you can show a mentor: the target, the three routes, the skills to fix, your first approaches and a review date. Then the honest test of whether you are ready to move to Stage 2.

  1. plannerPlanner: my route into distribution10 min
  2. readHow you know you are ready for Stage 2, and what to do next on MFJF6 min
  3. checkCheck: 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 Distribution. 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: DistributionTwo 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: DistributionWhat to do, learn and be able to do, from no experience to paid work.
  7. The career guide: DistributionThe 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.

Matching Distribution right now

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

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