Careers A–Z · Production
Production assistant
The production assistant keeps the production office running. Travel, accommodation, paperwork, distribution, purchase orders and the hundred small things that stop a unit working if nobody does them.
In the UK the office grades are production assistant and production secretary; on a US-style crew the same letters mean a floor runner. They are different jobs.
The basics
Also known as, and where the grade sits.
| Production assistant | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Production assistant, PA, production secretary. Not the American usage, which means a runner. |
| Level | Junior office grade, above runner. |
| Reports to | The production coordinator and the production manager. |
| Comes after | Production runner or office work of any kind. |
| Leads to | Assistant production coordinator, then production coordinator. |
The job
What does a production assistant do?
You book travel and accommodation, raise and chase purchase orders, distribute call sheets and script revisions, keep crew and contact lists current, and make sure everybody has what the day needs.
You handle a constant stream of interruptions while doing detailed work, and you are often the first person a crew member or a supplier speaks to.
The unglamorous end: it is administration, on a deadline, for people who are stressed. Nobody notices a well-run office; everybody notices a missing hotel booking.
The requirement
What is a production assistant good at?
Organisation, discretion and unusual tolerance for interruption.
Organisation
Systems that hold when three things arrive at once.
Accuracy
Names, dates, numbers and spellings, right the first time.
Discretion
Contracts, rates and personal details pass across your desk.
Communication
Clear, short and polite, to a hundred people a day.
Software fluency
Whatever the production runs on, learned quickly.
Kit
Tools of the trade.
| What | The actual items |
|---|---|
| Production software | Movie Magic or Scenechronize, Sargent-Disc or similar for crew and payroll paperwork. |
| Documents | Call sheets, movement orders, crew and contact lists, script revisions in colour order. |
| Office | Shared drives, distribution lists, a printer that works, and version control that people follow. |
| Finance | Purchase orders, petty cash, invoices, receipts and a reconciliation nobody enjoys. |
| Travel | Booking systems, carnets where kit crosses borders, and a hotel contact who takes your call. |
The unit
Who does a production assistant work with?
| Who | What passes between you |
|---|---|
| Production coordinator | Your direct boss, and the person you are learning the job from. |
| Every head of department | Orders, travel, paperwork and what they forgot to ask for. |
| Accounts | Purchase orders, invoices and coding. |
| Cast and agents | Travel, schedules and courtesy. |
| Locations and transport | Movement orders, parking and unit base. |
Routes in
How do I become a production assistant?
The office is one of the easiest parts of the industry to enter from another sector.
Admin transfer
Office managers, EAs and coordinators from any sector transfer well.
Trainee schemes
Production trainee schemes exist and are worth applying to.
Facilities and studios
Studio and facility offices hire and then release people onto shows.
A degree is not required. Administrative competence and a calm manner are what get people hired into a production office, and plenty of coordinators arrived from outside the industry entirely.
The reference that matters is a coordinator saying you made their week easier.
Nearby
The grades either side of this one.
The office and the floor run the same show from two directions.
Production department guide
The paperwork, the office, the published rates and the free route through all three.
Never been on a set? Start here. Offered a first day? Read this first. Want to know where this grade leads? Where people have gone names people who trained here and the productions they went to.
