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Introduction to Film/TV Production Accounting

The course

Learn the essential skills to get your first role in this in-demand area of the film & TV industry.

Looking for a communications-led role to break into the industry? Production accounting will take you right to the heart of a production, where an understanding of story is as important as competency working with numbers.

This online professional development course will give you a broad overview of the roles, functions and purpose of the accounting team on a film or TV production.

Learn practical skills by taking part in real-world scenarios and find out exactly what goes on in a production office, from understanding the structure of a film crew and production timelines to estimating the final cost of a show.

You’ll emerge with an understanding of the roles and career progression within production accounting, an awareness of whether you’d like to work in a production accounts office – and the knowhow to get your first role.

 

Meet your course director

Lucy Drake

Lucy is an experienced freelance financial controller who also provides consultancy, training, coaching and mentoring in the film and TV industry. Lucy co-authored the Production Accounting Know-How website and she also develops and runs training programmes within the industry.

In partnership with John Yorke Story

Accessible, industry-focused CPD training and consultancy for professionals at any stage of their career. Online learning led by BAFTA-winning John Yorke, author of bestselling book on story structure Into the Woods.

CPD accreditation

This course has been independently accredited for integrity and quality. It reaches globally recognised CPD standards and benchmarks for active learning that develops professional skills, competence and career aspirations.

How it works

We give you the theory in the form of videos, podcasts, written lectures and reading extracts. In the case of our live workshops, this includes a live online seminar.

You put it into practice by completing the writing assignments.

You share your work with the small group of fellow writers and the teaching team.

Your tutor and fellow learners read your work and give professional-style feedback on your submission. Giving feedback notes helps to build your skills as an editor - a critical part of the writing process.

You reflect on the exercises with the group and share what you’ve learned.

You use what you learned from the feedback and discussions to review your work and improve it.

Things to know

This CPD training is for people who want to work in TV or film production within the accounts team. It’s suitable for:

  • Anyone who loves the industry and is looking for a first role
  • Anyone considering a career move into film / TV production accounting
  • Accountants from other industries
  • Those already working in production who think they would enjoy moving over to the accounts office
  • Producers and Line Producers who would like to know more about what Production Accountants do, removing the mystery of the accounts office

This professional training allows you to:

  • Understand the costs and expenses that go into a production.
  • Learn key vocabulary and jargon-busting for production accounting.
  • Identify the different roles in productions and how they work with each other.
  • Know what different cost reports and documents are, how to use them, when to use them and how to make them.
  • Forecast a budget for a production.
  • Gain greater understanding of industry expectations and processes.
  • Clearly identify and pursue your potential in production accounting.
  • Develop the professional skills production accountants require (eg discipline, attention to detail, ability to work to deadlines).
  • Increase your communication skills and team-working.
  • Build greater independence, autonomy and critical judgment as you self- direct, self-manage and realise your assignments and final project to the course briefs.
  • Network with others working in TV and film production, and with the tutor team and industry guests.

Each course is divided into sessions. These sessions are released one by one (weekly or fortnightly, depending on the course). 

There’s no need to log on at a set time. You can work through the learning materials whenever suits you, day or night, wherever you are in the world. Just complete the assignments and join forum discussions by the session deadline. 

Our teaching method is based on the science of active learning: you read/listen/watch, try out, share and reflect. It’s a social experience – you become part of a small group, feeding back on each other’s writing to build a supportive bunch of readers you trust. Find out more here.

Join our alumni

After your course, you can join our online alumni community where you’ll meet our growing network of past students. You’ll be able to.

  • Rejoin your classmates in a private forum
  • Meet alumni from other courses and share work for feedback
  • Join discussions about production accounting and the industry
  • Attend live chats with guest writers and industry folk

Mentoring and one-to-one feedback

The John Yorke Story tutor team offer mentoring, script reads and reports. We are happy to quote by job or script, or to arrange a longer mentoring scheme as you work on a specific story idea. We’ll create a package to suit you, so for more information please email [email protected]

Taking things further

If you’d like to take another John Yorke Story course, we’ll give you a discount. Please get in touch for more details.

The team

Meet your course team

Lucy Drake

Course Director

Lucy is an experienced freelance financial controller who also provides consultancy, training, coaching and mentoring in the film and TV industry. Lucy co-authored the Production Accounting Know-How website and she also develops and runs training programmes within the industry.

More about Lucy Drake

Chay Collins

Moderator

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