How To Become A Television Production Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a television production assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Erin Dougherty

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a television production assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $18.67 an hour? That's $38,826 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 12,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a television production assistant?

Erin Dougherty

Associate Professor of Costume Design Costume Director, Catawba College

Don't underestimate what you can do. Make sure to advocate for yourself, push for the max salary listed once you've been offered the job, and be firm that you meet the qualifications. Talk about the skills you can do, how you can collaborate, and adjacent skill sets that could come into play, including "soft" skills. Don't lie of course, because that will come back to bite you, and facts are really easy to check these days. You need to express self-confidence if you're going to survive in this industry, and overall, be a good person to work with.

ScoreTelevision Production AssistantUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,826

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.2

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 6.40%

Black or African American 7.96%

Hispanic or Latino 14.62%

Unknown 5.59%

White 65.26%

Gender

female 39.07%

male 60.93%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

9.2

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.6

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a television production assistant

Explore television production assistant education requirements

Most common television production assistant degrees

Bachelor's

77.9 %

Associate

12.1 %

High School Diploma

3.7 %

Start to develop specific television production assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Video Production	50.50%
Adobe Premiere	10.91%
Avid Media Composer	4.65%
Community Events	2.81%
Adobe Photoshop	2.70%

Complete relevant television production assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New television production assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a television production assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real television production assistant resumes.

Research television production assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage cross-departmental communication and collaboration to increase ESPN viewers.
Assist in organization and production of YouTube's original programming initiative channels.
Perform post-production review and cleanup of promotional clips for actors represent by agency.
Assist the company's photographer and digital imaging specialist with photography projects for marketing purposes

Prepare your television production assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your television production assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a television production assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable television production assistant resume templates

Build a professional television production assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your television production assistant resume.