Directors Guild - Producer
Training Plan

Assistant Directors Training Program | 15301 Ventura Blvd. Bldg E #1075 | Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

 Phone: (818) 386-2545
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Message From The Chair
 

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Mark Higginbotham

 

“Assistant Directors work the line where business meets art in the collaborative, yet hierarchal, sphere of motion picture and television production.  In teamwork with the Director and Producer, the Assistant Director must facilitate production with all departments in a collaborative effort and prioritize with the ultimate result in mind: to finish the job in the time allotted within the resources available.  Not for the faint of heart, but in the process of helping someone else’s story come alive every AD has stories of adventure to share resulting from the journey of being a part of a motion picture or television production.

The Assistant Director Training Program is unique in that it seeks to provide education and opportunity for those who aspire to the job of DGA member Assistant Directors.  Acceptance into the program provides paid "on the job training" as well as mentorship throughout training. By nurturing our future Directors' Guild members, in turn, we nurture the motion picture and television production industry itself.

I joined the Board of Trustees of the Program in 2004 and consider it a great honor to serve on not only the Board but also, this year, as the Board Chair.  Each year, I look forward to the arrival of the next class of trainees as they embark on the path of discovery and learning in a program, which will provide them a chance to find out what it takes to become an assistant director.  Not all who start the program finish however, those who complete the journey through the program have been provided with the tools, knowledge, and guidance to become a successful assistant director.  As with all learning, it is up to the graduate to take the knowledge which has been provided by the Program and work to find his or her place as an assistant director.”