Director Job Role

Director

A director, who can work on a film or a TV show, is the person who is in charge of the actors and crew on a set, deciding who to hire and coordinating their moves.

Working alongside a producer, directors develop a vision for a film. Once their vision has been established, it is then the director’s duty to decide how the film should look, turning the script into a structure of shots. They also help out the set designer and cinematographer with lighting, camera angles and lens effects. They can also have small parts in assisting with the editing, writing and financing the project. Storyboards are very useful for directors, especially when illustrating scene set-ups and camera angles.

The director also plays a vital role with the post-production of the project, working with the editor to capture the emotions of the actors and making sure the camera angles reflect the mood of the specific scene. As well as these many tasks, they also help out with the colouring and sound of a scene.

Actors are usually seen as the main draw for audiences, but depending on the level of the director’s success or fame, they can also be a big factor for people to watch the film or TV show. Although the producer is seen as the most important role behind the scenes, a director has total control on set.

Famous directors with a lot of experience can earn millions just for one movie, but for a newcomer you can expect to earn round about £40,000 annually.

You can earn approximately £5,000 a week for films with budgets under £500,000, about £8,000 a week for budgets between £500,000 and £1.5 million and just over £10,000 a week for budgets over £1.5 million. In order to earn this money though the filming must last at least 8 weeks.