Working as a Production Coordinator

Courtney from How To Film School discusses the responsibilities of being an effective production coordinator.

Organization/Multitasking: This is probably the number one skill that you have to possess if you want to be a production coordinator. You are the right hand to the production manager and have to be ready and willing to balance a multitude of jobs at the same time. If you don’t enjoy paperwork and working in an office then production coordinator is not the job for you. 

Strong Computer Skills: As a production coordinator, most of your day will be spent working on a computer. You need to be comfortable trouble shooting computer issues and you need to be able to make your way around programs like Word and Excel with ease. 

Strong Scheduling Skills: During a production, the production coordinator is responsible for schedule upkeep. You need to be very comfortable with scheduling software and have a strong understanding of how the schedule works. Schedules can be very different from one production to the next so be sure to have a firm grasp on why decisions are made and how they help the production.

Team Leading: As the production coordinator you report to the production manager but you are responsible for the production assistants and junior or assistant production coordinators. You have to delegate and make sure that your team is working effectively, I find it is always best to lead with a firm but kind attitude. No one wants to help someone who is treating them like crap or bossing them around because it makes them feel important. Your team is only as good as you are.

Communication: This one goes with team leading, as the production coordinator you are the point of contact for the crew and you need to make sure that you are communicating with all of the appropriate people and getting the right messages to the right people. Be clear with instructions and emails and make sure that you are understood, don’t just assume that people have received your emails or calls, follow up with people.

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