Written by Tristan D. Rama / 5 Minutes Read
Every year, people apply to work in production because they’ve seen the final film. The color graded footage, the music, the polished thirty-second reel that took two weeks to make. What they haven’t seen is the sixteen-hour day that came before it, the seven AM call time after a five AM wrap the night before, or the moment three hours into a shoot when the weather changes and everything you planned has to be rebuilt on the spot.
This is an honest look at what the job actually is, written for anyone considering it, including the people just starting out as a runner.
Picture by Tristan D. Rama at Avocado Factory (2026)
THE HOURS ARE LONGER THAN YOU THINK
A shoot day is rarely eight hours. It’s often twelve, sometimes fourteen, and that’s before you count the pre-production planning and the post-production editing that happen around it. Even a runner, the entry point into most production teams, is expected to be on set from setup to wrap, not just during the parts that look interesting.
This isn’t unique to any one company. It’s the nature of the work. Light changes, locations fall through, talent runs late, and none of that stops the day from needing to finish. If you’re imagining a job with predictable nine-to-five hours, production isn’t that job.
YOU WILL MOVE, OFTEN WITH LITTLE NOTICE
One week you might be on a rooftop in Jakarta. The next, a rice field in Ubud, then a fishing village on the coast. Locations change based on the story being told, not personal convenience, and schedules often shift with only a few days’ warning.
For some people, this is the best part of the job. For others, it becomes exhausting faster than expected. Knowing which one you are before you commit matters more than most people realize when they first apply.
THE UNCERTAINTY IS REAL, ESPECIALLY EARLY ON
Production work doesn’t move in a straight line. A shoot scheduled for next week can be postponed by weather, by a client’s internal delay, or by a location permit that falls through at the last minute. Income and schedule stability, especially for freelance or entry-level roles, take time to build.
This is worth saying plainly rather than glossing over: the first year or two in this industry is often the hardest, and it asks something of you that a normal office job doesn’t. It asks you to be comfortable without a fixed routine.
WHAT ACTUALLY MAKES SOMEONE GOOD AT THIS
The people who last in production aren’t necessarily the most naturally talented. They’re the ones who stay calm when a shoot goes sideways, who can be told the plan changed twenty minutes before call time and adjust without falling apart, and who understand that being a runner today doesn’t mean being a runner in three years, if the mindset is right.
Mental steadiness matters more than most people expect walking in. Not toughness for its own sake, but the ability to keep your head clear when the day isn’t going the way it was supposed to.
WHY WE'RE HONEST ABOUT THIS
We would rather someone read this and decide production isn’t for them before they join, than have them find out six months in after investing real time and energy. This industry rewards people who genuinely want to be here, and it wears down people who joined for the wrong reasons.
If after reading this you still want in, that’s usually a good sign.
If you’re interested in joining a production team and this honest picture didn’t scare you off, we’d like to hear from you.
