Where this leads
Where a grade leads, what it is called, and the routes onward — including the ones that have nothing to do with us. Skills that carry whether or not you stay in film.
A map, not a set of testimonials
We are measuring what happens to the women who train here. The evidence is not in yet, and until it is we will not print destination stories.
So this page is the ladder, the reporting lines and the schemes that exist now. It names nobody who has trained with us and claims nothing about where they went.
What we do claim is the work you made, the credit, the footage, named referees, a kit loan and a mentor. Not a job, and not a guaranteed placement.
The ladder, department by department
Where a trainee grade sits, what the grade directly above it is called, and what the step actually turns on.
| Department | Where you start, and what is directly above you | What the step turns on |
|---|---|---|
| Camera | Camera trainee, then clapper loader, reporting to the focus puller. | Card and data discipline nobody has to chase. Focus pulling is a long way beyond it, and it is a craft, not a promotion. |
| Grip | Grip trainee, then certified grip, then key grip. | A certification route held by the grips' branch, with a certified grip proposing you. |
| Lighting and electrical | Lighting trainee, who may not plug up, then spark, then best boy, then gaffer. | The electrical qualification comes first. Gaffers are qualified electricians. |
| Sound | Sound trainee, then boom operator, then production sound mixer. | Time on the boom before anyone lets you mix, and a professional body that takes members on proposal. |
| Data and DIT (digital imaging technician) | Data wrangler, then DIT, working beside the DoP (director of photography) rather than in the assistant chain. | A portfolio that shows you can shoot and grade, not only manage media. |
| Production office | Production runner, then production assistant, then assistant coordinator, then coordinator. | The most open first door in the industry. A production runner and a floor runner are different jobs and people confuse them. |
| Assistant directing | Floor runner, then 3rd AD, then 2nd AD, then 1st AD (first assistant director). | Hands-on time on a floor. The teachable, low-cost part is scheduling software. |
| Post-production | Assistant editor, then editor. Or grading assistant, then colourist. | Media-management discipline, which a post house will test you on before it trusts you with anything else. |
What carries outside the screen sector
Some women train here and go somewhere else entirely. The training still did its job.
Organisation under pressure. A shooting day has a fixed end and a long list. You learn to hold a sequence in your head, keep kit and paperwork straight while the plan changes, and hand over cleanly.
Working to a call time. Being ready before the thing starts, every time, is a habit rather than a personality, and employers in any sector see it in the first week.
Communication across a hierarchy. You learn to ask a head of department a direct question, to say you do not know, and to flag a problem early instead of hoping.
Technical problem solving. Something fails, you are on the clock, and you work out what changed. That transfers into engineering, IT, events and logistics without translation.
What we are measuring
We are tracking what happens to the women who train with us: whether they get onto a paid set, which grade, and whether they stay. It is recorded from the first cohort onward and published as it stands up, including the parts that do not flatter us. How we measure.
Routes that exist without us — schemes, unions and schools you can go to directly — are listed under where else to go.