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.
The role and the department
20 minWhat the locations department is for, who is in it, and what a location PA actually does between 5am and 9pm.
- readWhat the locations department actually does8 min
- readA location day, hour by hour8 min
- checkCheck: the department and the day4 min
Before day one: skills, kit and knowledge
20 minThe 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.
- readThe skills, and how to get each one now7 min
- readPaperwork, kit and the words you will hear6 min
- taskTask: your skills self-audit7 min
Getting experience at Stage 1
20 minWhere 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.
- readWhere experience really comes from7 min
- readThe rules: hours, pay, unpaid work and staying safe6 min
- taskTask: find three routes this month7 min
Your CV, cover letter and first approaches
20 minWhat 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.
- readThe Stage 1 CV for a location runner8 min
- taskTask: draft your CV outline7 min
- checkCheck: CV, email and reference5 min
The industry around the role
20 minThe 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.
- readThe map around locations7 min
- resourcesThe locations library8 min
- checkCheck: the map and the ladder5 min
Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2
20 minTurn the last five modules into a saved plan, then check yourself honestly against the five statements that mean you are ready for Stage 2.
- plannerYour Stage 1 plan10 min
- readHow you know you are ready for Stage 25 min
- checkCheck: are you ready for Stage 2?5 min
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