What you’ll learn
- Explain what a producer does from first read to delivery, and what a producer's assistant does hour by hour at a production company and in a production office.
- Run a diary, an inbox and a submissions tracker, take meeting notes that record decisions, plan a market trip and chase a deliverables list, and know how to practise each before anyone hires you.
- Know where the jobs are, how people get them (runner, receptionist, development intern, production runner), where to find the rate cards, and the UK rules on unpaid work.
- Have a one-page Stage 1 CV, a 150-word cover email and three real routes into a producer's office this month.
- Say the five Stage 1 statements honestly and know your next step 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.
The producer, the company and the assistant
20 minWhat a producer actually does, the two seats a producer's assistant can sit in, what the day contains hour by hour, and what good looks like on day one.
- readWhat a producer does, and where the assistant sits8 min
- readThe assistant's day, hour by hour8 min
- checkCheck: the producer and the assistant4 min
Before day one: the skills, the tools and the words
20 minThe ten skills of the job and how to practise each one before anyone hires you, the software and paperwork to be fluent in, the vocabulary, the ten tips, and an honest score.
- readThe ten skills, and how to get each one now8 min
- readTools, paperwork and the words6 min
- taskScore yourself: the assistant's skills audit6 min
Getting experience at Stage 1
20 minWhere the experience for this job really comes from, the rules on pay, hours, unpaid work and confidentiality, how to look after yourself, and three routes you will choose this month.
- readWhere the experience really comes from8 min
- readThe rules: pay, hours, unpaid work, confidentiality and looking after yourself7 min
- taskFind three routes this month5 min
Your CV, cover email and first approaches
20 minWhat a Stage 1 CV for a producer's office contains, the 150-word email, how to phone without annoying anyone, the interview questions, and what a reference really is.
- readYour Stage 1 CV, cover email and first approaches8 min
- taskDraft your CV outline and one cover email7 min
- checkCheck: the CV and the approach5 min
The industry around the producer
20 minWho rings a producer's office, the calendar it runs on, the career path and a three-year plan, where else the same skills get you hired, and what the people in the case studies did.
- readWho you will deal with, and where this goes7 min
- resourcesThe library for this course8 min
- checkCheck: the industry map5 min
Your plan: Stage 1 to Stage 2
20 minYour plan in one place, the five statements as a self-certification, and what to do next on MFJF.
- plannerYour Stage 1 plan10 min
- readHow you know you are ready for Stage 25 min
- checkCheck: are you ready?5 min
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The career map
