Job description
Directors craft motion pictures, television shows, music videos or commercials and control a filming crew’s artistic, dramatic and technical aspects. Their main job is to visualise a screenplay and guide cast members and crew to ensure that vision is realised. For the most part, directors play a key role in selecting actors and key technical members, as well as putting together the production design.
Duties
- Storyboard scenes that serve as a blueprint to the real-life production
- Write screenplays or edit scripts with your personal touch
- Meet studio executives to calculate budgets and brainstorm ideas
- Direct actors to present characters in a way that matches the instructions of the script or the style of shot
- Handle equipment to fulfill your creative ideas on the style of film or TV show
- Hire crew and determine who can serve as your right-hand men
- Review screenplays and make plenty of notes for the entirety of the production
- Attend auditions, select actors for parts and monitor rehearsals
- Scout locations to determine what would be suitable for scenes
- Discuss and approve set design, costumes and musical scores to fit the production
- Spend time in a studio during post-production to properly edit a film or television episode
- Manage the release of a finished product, attend screenings and engage with the public and press
Skills, qualities and knowledge
Working hours and environment
Average working hours
45hweek
Typical schedule
Unpredictable
Nights, weekends, holidays occasionally
A director’s hours and working conditions do vary on a wide variety of factors. For a veteran director, there will be the pre-production, production and post-production phases.
Pre-production involves sitting in meetings, casting actors for roles, discussing the screenplay and creating a plan for production, which can be done in a studio and during regular business hours. The production part usually takes place on-location, which will require a lot of hours to film various takes of the same scenes. Post-production, again, can be done in a studio with doable hours.
Essentially, a director will not maintain a normal 9am–5pm, Monday–Friday schedule. It can be physically exhausting and mentally demanding.
Salary
Bottom 10%
$34k
Median
$72k
Top 10%
$160k
Annual salary estimates are based on percentile wage data collected through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey of US workers.
Qualifications and training
Education level
Undergraduate
DVM / VMD degree
Study time
4years
To become a director, you will most likely need formal training, which can either be obtained through a two-year college programme or a four-year university degree.
Although some of the greatest directors in film history never attended formal studies, the industry has greatly changed, relying on more than just a camera and a vision. You will need proficiency in a whole host of tools, from camera equipment to sound recording tools to editing software.
It should be noted that you do not necessarily need formal training to be a director. You can always shoot an independent film, submit it to film festivals and build a portfolio that way. Mostly, however, you will need to begin at the bottom of the technical ladder and climb through the ranks that way.
Job outlook
Projected growth
12%
No of new jobs
16.5k
Automation risk
2.2%
Career progression
Many directors typically start as production assistants, camera operators, assistant directors and directors of photography. With experience, you could land the opportunity of a lifetime as a director of a film or TV production from a successful studio. This takes a few years and a stellar portfolio.