What is a Production Office Coordinator & What’s Their Duty on the Set?
The production office coordinator is responsible for supporting the production managers and production supervisors in their role to organize the business and finance elements of the film production. This individual also works with the production managers and supervisors to coordinate the hiring of employees for the film and to ensure employment issues are taken into consideration along the way. The production office coordinator helps to ensure timely, smooth running of the film production while the project adheres to the budget and schedule that was prepared in advance of the film.
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Production Coordinator: Ins and Outs
The production coordinator works behind the scenes and reports directly to the production manager on a regular basis. They assign tasks throughout the production to help the process run smoothly and efficiently. This individual may supervise the production assistants, and coordinate various daily essential activities such as the catering, track billing or call times to ensure that all members are prepared to arrive and work on schedule.
Production office coordinators are the point of contact for the crew when it comes to determining where they are needed and when. If you have a problem with the schedule, need to make changes or have questions about call times, you would contact the production office coordinator. This individual works hard throughout the production to upkeep the schedule so that all tasks remain on track and the production is completed in a timely manner.
Production Office Coordinator Responsibilities
The responsibilities of the production office coordinator will vary sometimes with the size and scope of the production. Where there are several other team members to assist with scheduling and coordination, this individual may take a step back for certain elements of the production focusing solely on coordination of tasks. Likewise, on a production with limited resources, the production office coordinator takes on several important roles involved with the delegation of tasks and scheduling to ensure timely project completion.
Keeping the Crew Organized
Production office coordinators keep the crew and production staff organized by handling various paperwork duties such as insurance coverage allocation, cast and crew lists, work permits, scheduling, call sheets and production reports. They distribute the necessary paperwork to the associated cast and crew throughout the production to ensure everyone is aware of any script changes, schedule updates or call adjustments.
This individual is a team leader that is responsible for production assistants and the junior assistant or coordinator who may also be involved in the production depending on size and budget. They must be able to delegate tasks in a way that efficiently gets work completed and they should be able to handle multiple projects or multitask with ease.
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No Film Background Necessary
Film production coordinators do not need formal education but should have a strong background in administration and scheduling. Working on the set is helpful in understanding how production progresses and how schedules must come together to make the tasks flow appropriately for project completion.
Production Office Coordinator Skills
Production office coordinators have several skills associated with office management or administrative duties and leadership. Effective communication both oral and written is required to ensure appropriate completion of documentation that is delivered to film crew and other members. This administrative role requires budget management and schedule management therefore understanding scheduling software and the ability to work on the computer for long periods of time is a must.
Additional skills include:
- Leadership
- Tracking pr activities.
- Ability to support other office staff.
- Administrative and clerical skills.
- Time management skills.
- Empathy and ability to work well with several members of a team.
- Knowledge of insurance, permitting, casting, call sheets and other production related paperwork.
- Marketing and promotion skills.
- Task management.
