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Marketing and PR · Stage 1

Marketing and PR Assistant

Every film is sold before it is seen: start in the team that sells it.

How film marketing and publicity work across distributors, sales agents, agencies and production companies, what an assistant actually does, and how to get a first placement. You leave with a skills audit, three routes to experience, a CV outline and a ninety-day plan.

2 hours · 6 modules · 18 lessons

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What you’ll learn

  • Be able to name the parts of a UK theatrical campaign and say who makes each one, from key art and trailers to junkets, premieres and social.
  • Know the difference between unit publicity on the shoot and distributor marketing at release, and where a Stage 1 entrant starts.
  • Have scored yourself against the eight skills and eight tools the department expects, with actions for the gaps.
  • Have three real routes to experience for this month and a Stage 1 CV outline modelled on the site's example.
  • Be able to say Sam's five Stage 1 statements honestly for this role, and know what to do next on MFJF.

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

Who does marketing in the film industry, what a campaign is made of, who is in the team and what the assistant's day contains.

  1. readWho sells the film: marketing across the industry8 min
  2. readThe team, the assistant's day and the unit publicist8 min
  3. checkCheck: the role and the department4 min
Module 2

Before day one: skills, tools and language

20 min

The skills the department hires for and how to build each one now, the software to be fluent in, the vocabulary, and an honest self-audit.

  1. readThe skills, and the tools you must be fluent in7 min
  2. readThe language of the campaign, and ten habits6 min
  3. taskTask: your skills self-audit7 min
Module 3

Getting experience at Stage 1

20 min

Where marketing and PR experience really comes from, and the rules on pay, hours, unpaid work, events and confidentiality before you say yes to any of it.

  1. readWhere experience comes from at Stage 17 min
  2. readThe rules: hours, pay, unpaid work and looking after yourself6 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 this role contains, modelled on the site's example, the letter, how to approach people, and what a reference means here.

  1. readYour Stage 1 CV, cover letter and first approaches8 min
  2. taskTask: draft your CV outline8 min
  3. checkCheck: CV, letter and approaches4 min
Module 5

The industry around the role

20 min

The chain from development to streaming and where marketing touches it, the career path and the site's three-year plan, where else the skills get you hired, and what the people in the case studies did.

  1. readThe map around the role, and where it leads8 min
  2. resourcesThe library: guides, trades, bodies and books8 min
  3. checkCheck: the industry around the role4 min
Module 6

Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2

20 min

Your ninety-day plan, the five statements you self-certify against, and what to do next on MFJF.

  1. plannerYour ninety-day plan10 min
  2. readAre you ready for Stage 2?6 min
  3. checkCheck: Stage 1 to Stage 24 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 Marketing and PR. 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: Marketing and PRTwo 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: Marketing and PRWhat to do, learn and be able to do, from no experience to paid work.
  7. The career guide: Marketing and PRThe 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.

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