Role · Art department
The research, the paperwork and the runs that keep a design moving.
The art department assistant supports the designer, art directors and coordinator through prep and shoot.
The job
The department's research and support grade. You build the designer's reference packs, chase samples and quotes, file and issue drawings, and get whatever needs to be across town by four o'clock.
On a small show you may do the coordinator's paperwork too. On a big one there may be several assistants, each with an art director. It's the grade where you show you can be left alone with a task.
A typical day
- Arrive at the art department office, often on the studio lot, before the art directors.
- Print and issue the latest drawing revisions to construction and set decoration.
- Pull research for a set two weeks away: period photographs, location references, real-world signage.
- Chase a supplier for fabric samples and log the purchase order.
- Prepare clearance paperwork for a painting that will be seen on camera.
- Collect a model or sample from a workshop and bring it back for the designer's review.
- Update the set list and the schedule board when the shooting order changes.
Skills
- Fast, accurate research, and a good eye for what is useful.
- Tidy admin: files, drawing registers, purchase orders, receipts.
- Basic drawing, Photoshop and, increasingly, CAD such as Vectorworks or SketchUp.
- A driving licence. Runs are part of the job.
- Discretion. Scripts and designs are confidential.
Reporting lines
You report to the art department coordinator, and through them to the art directors and the production designer. On most shows a trainee reports to you or works alongside you.
How people get in
Most assistants start as art department trainees, or come from theatre design, architecture, interior design or fine art with a portfolio. The ScreenSkills Trainee Finder places trainees in art departments. The British Film Designers Guild has a newcomer grade and publishes guidance on getting in.
Next step up
Into the office as art department coordinator, or into drawing as a junior draughtsperson or set designer. Which way you go depends on whether you are better at running things or drawing them. Assistants who like the floor sometimes move towards standby work.
Find out more
Skills checklist · Art department
Art department assistant
Research packs, references, sourcing samples.
Tick what you can do now. It saves on this device only. Print it or save it as a PDF and bring it to your competency check.
A guide, not a qualification. Built from our art department ladder and the art department assistant guide. Compare it with the ScreenSkills checklist . Checked 13 November 2026.
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Last reviewed 9 November 2026