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

What is a video production assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Michael Neal Ph.D.

Video production assistants are responsible for providing support to managers and video production teams by completing a variety of tasks as assigned. They assist actors and staff, clear the set, run errands, label and organize wardrobes, control crowds, and handle the paperwork. They perform minor maintenance on video equipment and manage any required vendor repair while managing and executing large-scale, multi-format tape duplication.

Video production assistants produce media assets for broadcast and digital platforms and coordinate and execute primary camera operations. They organize and maintain the company's extensive video library while cultivating professional relationships with marketing teams and clients. They also use a content management system to create numerous web pages and photoshop. Part of their duties also includes executing tasks as a team during high-pressure settings to successfully produce a smooth deliverable.

Video production assistants typically hold a bachelor's degree in communication, photography, or other related fields. They are expected to have some years of experience in a similar role. Some employers prefer candidates with excellent communication, interpersonal, or analytical skills.

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

Michael Neal Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Director, Rhetoric & Composition, Florida State University

The advice can be tricky, especially since our graduates go into a number of fields. My hope for them is that they continue to build upon what they learned in our program and apply it to new situations and contexts outside of school. I often tell students that editing, writing, and media aren't skills you master and then apply universally across contexts. Instead, we encourage students to keep growing and stretching themselves, since they will most likely face new genres, audiences, and contexts that they didn't see in college. Therefore, we teach them to be flexible, to be close readers, and analyze each rhetorical situation to determine how to best communicate within that context. Good writing isn't one-size-fits-all. Instead, it's a complex, negotiated relationship between writers, texts, contexts, audiences, media, modalities, etc.

ScoreVideo Production AssistantUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,779

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.37%

Asian 5.25%

Black or African American 9.03%

Hispanic or Latino 16.21%

Unknown 6.26%

White 62.87%

Gender

female 30.16%

male 69.84%

Age - 41

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 - 41

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.3

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a video production assistant

Explore video production assistant education requirements

Most common video production assistant degrees

Bachelor's

80.6 %

Associate

9.5 %

High School Diploma

5.3 %

Start to develop specific video production assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Video Production	19.77%
Audio Equipment	5.88%
Video Content	5.73%
Adobe Premiere Pro	5.55%
Camera Operation	4.65%

Complete relevant video production assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New video 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 video production assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real video production assistant resumes.

Research video production assistant duties and responsibilities

Manage HD camerawork and calculating wireless mic levels.
Develop the companies YouTube page to improve the companies social media presents.
Advance lighting techniques and how to format videos for private websites and public ones such as YouTube.
Create the companies first hunting DVD for retail sales in coordination with the lead video producer and company graphic artist.

Prepare your video production assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your video 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 video 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 video production assistant resume templates

Build a professional video 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 video production assistant resume.