Job Opportunities In The Film Industry

Job Opportunities In The Film Industry



Directing is one of the most important jobs in the entire industry. A director is responsible for actually making the films they work on. Directors work with and oversee the work of the production staff. As a director they are responsible for telling people what they must do and where they should be. Directors are essentially in charge of the entire production and are responsible for managing the process of making a film. As such a director will need to have good leadership skills to give direction to their large production team including; camera operators, make up artists, actors, set designers, sound technicians and anyone else involved in the process. This means that a director must be skilled at managerial tasks such as working to a budget, making big decisions planning, managing time, managing actors and other production staff involved in the process.

The size of a team of staff that the director leads can vary greatly from production to production. The size of the team can depend on factors such as their budget, connections, the area the production is taking place, schedules and the production itself. A large scale Hollywood film will have a very large team of staff producing it whereas a short film will usually have much fewer staff to work on it. Directors duties will often include; meeting with producers and discussing funding and cooperating with them on a regular basis, interpreting the script, whether it is their own script or it has been written by someone else, planning out the locations going to be used for the film, creating a schedule or plan for shoot dates and other necessary dates, the hiring of the films cast and crew, overseeing the technical crew and giving them guidance, directing the actors on their performances and they will also oversee the editing of the final product.

A director can expect inconsistent working hours while shooting a film, they will often adjust their working hours according to what is required for the shoot, often working extra hours or extending their hours to the evening or weekend. The location of the work itself is greatly varied in this job role as it depends entirely on what is required for the shoot, you could expect to be working in a film/tv studio or out on locations. Some expensive productions go through several locations, often overseas.

A director working on a film can agree to work for little or no pay and instead agree to share any profit the film makes. Directing is an important and necessary role in the production of a film and as such a director will often be paid more than most of the crew involved, their income can also depend greatly on the success of the film, if their film does well at the box office they will receive a higher pay, however if it does not do well at the box office they can risk losing money.

Directors can also work freelance, a freelance director is usually paid a fee for each project they work on. The amount of pay can vary greatly, often depending on the budget available and track record.

To become a director there are several entry routes. The most important entry requirements to note are that you must have a wide understanding and experience of film and tv. to become a director you must have a lot of understanding of the production process. It is often a good idea to spend a few years working in the industry in other roles so you build up a network of contacts. Having more contacts in this industry can greatly increase the chance and quality of jobs being offered to you. A common route to becoming a director is to work your way up. Many successful directors begin their careers as runners on a production, they work their way up through the job ranks by proving themselves as a necessary part of the production.

A good way to improve your chances of becoming an eventual director is to take a course in film making. Courses such as this are useful because they help to teach you the practical and technical skills for making films, they also help you create contacts. Courses taken could be BTECs, university courses, postgraduate courses and specialised directing and film production classes. These can be both curricular and extra-curricular.

A good method of working your way towards becoming a director and building skills is to make several short films and run them in different competitions, there are many local competitions in every area and even some made by the BBC and Channel 4 to promote film making to younger audiences. Making films requires you to have access to equipment, cast and crew, you can do this by getting involved with local community films or even by making short films as part of a course, as these will often require you to make several short films throughout the duration of that course, this can aslo help with building up acting contacts and many other kinds of contacts.

Camera operators are the members of the crew that work the cameras for the film. A camera operator will work under the supervision of a director and will sometimes have a camera assistant to support them.

Camera operators can specialise in several different areas including; on a location, there is often more opportunity for the operator to suggest potential shots to directors here, live events, here they work with a team of camera operators to provide visual coverage of an event such as a sports competition or in a studio where the camera operator will usually work to camera script, this gives a list of each of the shots required for the production. These shots will be practised several times at rehearsals. The director will cue each of the shots during recording, the skill here lies in interpreting what it is the director wants for each shot and acting quickly to achieve that shot.

Camera operators can expect to work in a number of different places depending on where the shoot is taking place, their typical work includes; assembling the equipment prior to the shoot (tripods, cables, lighting, etc), planning each shot meticulously, on expensive shoots there may only be one chance to get a shot right so planning needs to be thorough to ensure the best shot is achieved, they will have to study the script, ready and willing to experiment with potential ideas for shots, work quickly to achieve a shot and then move on to the next one, this sis especially necessary on a shoot with a very low budget and maintaining the equipment involved.

Many camera operators in the industry work freelance like some directors, the payment for a camera operator can differ depending on the production, however working freelance does allow the option to negotiate for a better pay based on your experience. Most camera operators are self-employed and work freelance this is because there is not a lot of job stability in this field, job opportunities can often be unpredictable and as such self employment is often the better option. jobs for camera operators tend to usually be concentrated in areas that have their own major studios such as; London, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and Liverpool. just like directors camera operators often have irregular work hours, with them often having to work extra hours depending how long a shoot goes on or how long they are needed. They will also work wherever the shoot is taking place and not always in studios just like directors. Camera operators will be required to carry heavy equipment, work to deadlines and stand for long period of times while a shoot takes place. Camera operators must have a lot of patience as there is a lot of re-shooting that takes place, often directors will have them retake the shot multiple times until they get the perfect shot.

Access to this role is more open than directing but there is still more chance of securing such a role if the person applying has had previous experience with or even qualifications in photography, film or tv, media production, media studies, lighting, or cinematography. It is often possible to get into this role without a degree. It is more important that they can demonstrate that they have the necessary skills to operate the equipment. In this role it is important that a possible camera operator has experience so most camera operators work their way up to that role over a number of years, having started their career as camera assistants.


Runners are towards the bottom of the job ladder in this industry, this is where a lot of directors start their careers in the industry before working their way up. Runners do the jobs that no one else wants to do, many runners work part time or do it as part of work experience. Runners will be tasked with the simple errand jobs such as; welcoming important guests and TV stars, general admin work, getting lunch for the cast and crew, making a delivering hot drinks and coffee for the cast and crew,  cleaning up sets and helping out the crew when carrying heavy equipment.

This role is mostly manual labour and menial tasks that otherwise no one else would be doing, because of this it helps people just entering the industry learn how things work and what goes on in the production of a film, without getting them involved in things too difficult for them, this makes a runner a good entry level job for people wanting to enter the industry. Being a runner is about gaining experience, once you have worked on one film it gets easier to be hired onto another and this progresses until you have gained enough trust and confidence that you are offered a junior or assistant role. It is not completely necessary to have a degree in film to get a job in this position, however having a degree in film or media does improve your chances of being hired onto a film. To work as a runner you have to be hard working and passionate, even though it may get boring performing menial labour tasks around a set, it is much more beneficial to stick with it in the long run so as to get a good relationship between you, the crew and anyone involved, this helps you prove your skills and necessity to them. Runners are usually paid by the hour . There is not a lot of pay working as a runner, some runners will still work for free, this is usually because they are using the job as a platform to get into the industry and not just as a way of generating income.

A producer role is one of the jobs on the higher end of the film industry job ladder. Producers are essentially the bosses of the whole production. They cooperate with the director and production staff during filming. A producer is involved in everything often seeing projects through from the start to the finish, they are often involved in marketing and distributing the final product. One of the producers priorities is funding the production, they are there to ensure that the production does not exceed the budget. they are also in charge of facilitating the production, often having to secure locations for a shoot. A producer working in the film industry can expect to have to; raise the funding for a production, talk with script writers and directors about ideas, research and producing the final script, building up contacts for a production, talking with financial backers to help fund a production, budgeting and scheduling, hiring staff for the production, including a director and crew, organising schedules for shoot dates and making sure everyone complies with the proper health and safety rules.

payment for producers can vary from £18,000 to £25,000 for assistant producers and with more experience possibly even as much as £55,000. Departmental head however can earn a wage as much as £80,000. As for freelance producers, their fees differ greatly depending on what kind of production they work on, how much experience they have. and the size of the company or project. Permanent jobs with salaries are however decreasing which means there is less guaranteed work for a set pay.

Just like the other job roles in film production work hours can often be long and sometimes they may have to work over weekends. A lot of time may be spent outdoors or on location. This means that the conditions in each production can be very different for a producer. Someone looking to become a producer must be able to handle a lot f stress and be flexible to change. A producer must also be willing to accept the large amount of financial responsibility required of the position. Most producers in the industry have a degree. Having a degree may vastly improve your chances of being taken on as a producer for a film. Being educated to a degree level in subjects such as; information technology, photography film or tv and communication and media studies will greatly help you to be considered for a position as a producer.

There are many different types of contract or employment available in the film industry, having mulitple ways of employment helps with the imbalance in the availability of full time contracts, meaning that despite how you are able to work you still have the opportunity to make it into the industry.

One such contract type is the full time contract, a full time contract requires that a person works 35-40 hours a week. This means that you are obligated to work somewhere between those amount of hours every week, this is different to the part-time contract which could require any number of hours each week such as 10 or 25. Both full time and part time employees have exactly the same rights. There are many part-time and full time jobs in the film industry, these can range from runners to camera operators. Full time and Part time employees have regular schedules and are paid a portion of their salary each month.

A freelance employee is someone who is self-employed or is a part of another company, a freelance worker does not work for a company full time but instead is hired by different companies for different jobs. Freelance workers are not entitles to the exact same right as 'workers,' this means that there is no minimum wage and their wage can vary greatly. Freelance employees will often look after their own tax and national insurance contributions. An employer is still responsible for a freelancers health and safety. there are many freelancers in the film industry often making short films, this means that while there are a lot of job opportunities here it is also highly competitive. Since freelance working does not guarantee work there is no guaranteed income. When working as a freelancer you must manage your money and are legally required to declare your income to Inland Revenue. You must register yourself as self employed to them so that they can calculate your tax. Freelance work can however be advantageous as you can negotiate your pay with the company or client, this means that you can get a pay that is better to your liking whereas working on a contract or part time means you are unable to negotiate the pay and have a fixed wage.

Hourly Paid employees are people who are paid for their work by the amount of hours they work. This is similar to piece work which is when an employee is paid not for the hours they work but for the amount produced. Hourly work can be advantageous because you get paid for the amount of hours you actually work whereas on a contract you do not receive more money for the extra amount of hours you work.