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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

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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

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Where next

Your recommended next steps

Picked for Distribution. Signed in, they follow your stage and the roles your answers point to.

  1. The career plan: DistributionWhat to do, learn and be able to do, from no experience to paid work.
  2. MFJF Academy workshopsLive sessions with people who do the job, and the monthly career clinic.
  3. Speak to an MFJF mentorAsk someone who does the job what they wish they had known.
  4. Build your CV with the CV BuilderThe industry's format, built from your profile and your current CV.
  5. The careers guide: DistributionThe job, the day, the way in and the pay, in one guide.
  6. See what entry-level jobs ask forThe job board, updated daily: read the ads before you apply.

Matching Distribution right now

Live from the job board, the Academy, the mentor programme, the film-course directory and the reading list.

Jobs on the board

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MFJF Academy workshops

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MFJF mentors

All mentors →

Film courses

All film courses →

Reading and links

All Industry Essentials →