What Does a First AD Do?

A first assistant director breaks down the script, builds the shooting schedule, and then runs the set day to day: calling the roll, managing the crew, keeping the day on time, and owning safety on the floor. They are the director's operational counterpart and the single most important person for whether a shoot functions.

If you can only afford to pay one crew member properly on a small film, it should probably be this one.

Pre-production: they build the plan

Most of the AD's value is created before the shoot starts.

The breakdown. The first AD does their own script breakdown, scene by scene, tagging elements and measuring page counts. This is where they learn the film in detail.

The schedule. They build the stripboard and turn it into a shooting schedule: which scenes on which day, in what order, at which location, with which cast. This is the central document of the entire production and it belongs to the AD.

The day out of days. Working out which actors are needed when, and compressing their days. See the DOOD post.

Tech scouts. Walking every location with heads of department, working out how each scene will actually be achieved and how long it will take. See what is a tech scout.

Call sheets. Or rather, owning them; the second AD usually produces them. The AD decides the shape of the day that the call sheet describes.

Risk assessment. Formally, on any professional production. Identifying hazards in each scene and location and documenting the mitigations.

On the day: they run the floor

The AD's job on set is to make sure that the next thing is always ready.

Calling the roll. The standard sequence, with regional variations:

1st AD:      Final checks, please. Lock it up.
1st AD:      Turn over.
Sound:       Sound speed.
Camera:      Rolling. / Speed.
2nd AC:      Scene 47 apple, take 3. (claps)
1st AD:      (hands to director)
Director:    Action.

And at the end, the director calls "cut". The AD then either resets or moves on.

Keeping time. The AD carries the whole day in their head: what has been shot, what remains, how many setups are left, when lunch has to be called, when the light goes, when turnaround will bite. They are constantly recalculating.

Managing the crew. Telling departments what is coming, so the next setup is being prepared while the current one shoots. Good ADs are always working one or two steps ahead of the camera.

Directing background. Extras are the AD's responsibility, not the director's. Placing them, giving them action, cueing them.

Safety. In many jurisdictions this is a formal legal responsibility. The AD runs safety briefings, enforces protocols, and has the authority to stop the shoot. This is not ceremonial: an AD who does not stop an unsafe setup has failed at the most important part of the job.

Communicating decisions. When the schedule changes, which it does daily, the AD is who tells everyone.

The relationship with the director

This is the working partnership that determines the shape of a shoot.

A good pairing has a rhythm: the director says what they want, the AD says what it costs in time, and they agree what to do. It happens dozens of times a day, in short exchanges, often in half sentences.

Where it fails is when the AD becomes an obstacle rather than an instrument. An AD who says no reflexively pushes the director into working around them, and the day gets worse. An AD who never pushes back lets the film run out of time in week three. The good ones say "yes, and that means we lose the insert" so that the director is making an informed trade rather than being blocked.

Many directors work with the same first AD repeatedly for exactly this reason.

What makes a good one

Arithmetic under pressure. Constantly recalculating what fits in the remaining hours.

Volume and clarity. A set needs someone audible, and instructions have to be unambiguous the first time.

Temperament. Calm is contagious and so is panic. The best ADs are unflappable in a way that visibly steadies everyone else.

Detail memory. Which actor is released at 4pm, which location has a noise curfew, which prop has not arrived.

Diplomacy. They spend the day telling skilled, tired people that they have less time than they wanted.

The AD department

First AD. Runs the floor, owns the schedule.

Second AD. Produces call sheets, manages cast through the day, runs the base camp, handles paperwork.

Third AD or second second. Manages background, assists on the floor, holds the perimeter.

Set PAs / runners. The bottom of the department and the entry point for most people's careers.

Note that the AD department is not a junior version of directing. It is a distinct career path with its own craft, and most first ADs are not aspiring directors. Assuming otherwise is a common and slightly insulting mistake.

On a small film

On a short with eight people, someone still has to do this. The functions do not disappear when the crew shrinks; they just get absorbed, usually badly.

The minimum version: one person who owns the schedule, keeps time, calls the roll, and is empowered to say when a scene has to be dropped. It should not be the director, for the reasons above, and it should be somebody who is comfortable being firm.

If you are directing a short and cannot find an AD, at least separate the timekeeping: give someone a printed schedule and the explicit job of telling you, out loud, when you are behind. Almost every first-time shoot that collapses does so because nobody had that job.

On the tooling side of the job, we wrote separately about what a first AD actually needs from scheduling software, which is a shorter list than most vendors suggest.

Next

The other half of the AD department, and the person whose name is at the bottom of every call sheet you will ever receive.