As a production director, you will have the privilege of working in a variety of sectors, from industrial manufacturing to the entertainment industry. Your main purpose as a production director will be to ensure that staff members meet the production needs set by the management while also ensuring that high-quality products are manufactured for the customers.
Some of the duties and responsibilities that you will be performing in this capacity include planning and organizing schedules, assessing the project and its resource requirements, estimating and negotiating budgets and timescales, ensuring health and safety regulations are adhered to, liaising with buyers and the marketing department, organizing relevant training sessions, and supervising the work of juniors and subordinates. Essential skills required for this role are analytical, attention to detail, leadership, communication, and organization skills.
To qualify for this role, you will need a bachelor's degree in an industry-specific field; however, some employers may prefer a master's degree. Moreover, prior work experience in an industry-related field is also required. The average hourly pay for this position is $45.83, which amounts to $95,330 annually. The career is projected to grow, resulting in various new opportunities emerging all across the United States.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a production director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $45.41 an hour? That's $94,459 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 7,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many production directors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed creativity, leadership skills and time-management skills.
If you're interested in becoming a production director, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 73.2% of production directors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 7.5% of production directors have master's degrees. Even though most production directors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a production director. When we researched the most common majors for a production director, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or associate degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on production director resumes include master's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a production director. In fact, many production director jobs require experience in a role such as production manager. Meanwhile, many production directors also have previous career experience in roles such as production assistant or internship.