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Locations · Stage 1

Location Runner and PA

First in, last out: the department that gets a film onto real streets and into real houses, and gets it out again without a mark.

Location runners and PAs are the first crew on site each morning and the last to leave. What the locations department really does, a fourteen-hour location day, how a driving licence, your local film office and daily PA work get you in, a Stage 1 CV, and a written plan with an honest self-check.

2 hours · 6 modules · 18 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Explain what the locations department does in pre-production, on the shoot and at wrap, and who a location PA answers to (it is not the ADs).
  • Describe a location day hour by hour, from opening unit base before dawn to the final litter sweep, and what good looks like on your first one.
  • Know the skills, kit, paperwork and phrases to have before day one, and have scored yourself honestly against them.
  • Have found three real routes to experience this month, and know the hours, pay, unpaid-work and safety rules that apply to each.
  • Have a Stage 1 CV outline for the role, a way of approaching location and unit managers that does not annoy them, and a saved plan with a review date.

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 locations department is for, who is in it, and what a location PA actually does between 5am and 9pm.

  1. readWhat the locations department actually does8 min
  2. readA location day, hour by hour8 min
  3. checkCheck: the department and the day4 min
Module 2

Before day one: skills, kit and knowledge

20 min

The skills the guide lists and how to get each one this month, the paperwork and kit to be fluent in, the words you will hear, and an honest score against all of it.

  1. readThe skills, and how to get each one now7 min
  2. readPaperwork, kit and the words you will hear6 min
  3. taskTask: your skills self-audit7 min
Module 3

Getting experience at Stage 1

20 min

Where location experience really comes from, and the rules on hours, pay, unpaid work and safety that apply before you say yes to any of it.

  1. readWhere experience really comes from7 min
  2. readThe rules: hours, pay, unpaid work and staying safe6 min
  3. taskTask: find three routes this month7 min
Module 4

Your CV, cover letter and first approaches

20 min

What a Stage 1 CV for a location runner contains, what to leave out, how to write to a location manager without annoying them, and what a reference means in this industry.

  1. readThe Stage 1 CV for a location runner8 min
  2. taskTask: draft your CV outline7 min
  3. checkCheck: CV, email and reference5 min
Module 5

The industry around the role

20 min

The wider map: who the department deals with, where the career goes, where else the same skills get you hired, and what the people in MFJF's case studies actually did.

  1. readThe map around locations7 min
  2. resourcesThe locations library8 min
  3. checkCheck: the map and the ladder5 min
Module 6

Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2

20 min

Turn the last five modules into a saved plan, then check yourself honestly against the five statements that mean you are ready for Stage 2.

  1. plannerYour Stage 1 plan10 min
  2. readHow you know you are ready for Stage 25 min
  3. checkCheck: are you ready for Stage 2?5 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 Locations. 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: LocationsTwo 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: LocationsWhat to do, learn and be able to do, from no experience to paid work.
  7. The career guide: LocationsThe 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 Locations right now

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

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