What Does a Production Coordinator Do, Exactly?
The official title is production office coordinator, or POC. That’s the IATSE designation, and it’s worth knowing because union paperwork will always use that term. On set and in conversation, everyone calls the role “production coordinator” or just “the coordinator.”
The coordinator sits below-the-line and reports directly to the production manager. Think of the UPM as the person making decisions and the coordinator as the person executing them at speed, across every department, all day. It’s one of the most logistically demanding roles on any production, and it’s almost entirely invisible to audiences.
So what does a production coordinator do in concrete terms? A lot. The job spans three phases.
Pre-production: You’re setting up the production office from scratch. That means sourcing and organizing equipment, supplies, and staff. You’re coordinating travel and accommodations for cast and crew, handling work permits and visas for anyone crossing borders, and distributing the first rounds of shooting schedules, crew lists, and scripts. The office isn’t running until you’ve built it.
Production: This is when the volume hits. You’re preparing and distributing call sheets, updating crew lists daily, generating production reports, tracking script changes, managing transport logistics, and coordinating couriers and shipping. If a department head needs something moved, booked, confirmed, or documented, the request lands with you.
Wrap: You help the production manager close everything down. That means final paperwork, returning equipment, settling travel, and making sure the office itself gets wrapped cleanly.
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Beyond the paperwork, the coordinator is the primary communication hub between departments, talent, and production management. That’s not an abstract description. It means you’re the person who fields the call when two departments are asking for the same van at the same time, or when an actor’s flight gets rerouted the night before a 6 AM call time. You solve it. Fast.
The Reality of the Job Day to Day
People underestimate how much of this role is information management. On a mid-budget feature or a scripted TV series, you’re tracking moving pieces across dozens of people simultaneously. Call sheets go out every night. Script revisions get distributed by color-coded revision pages. Insurance paperwork, work permits, and crew agreements all need to be filed, updated, and accessible.
You also keep the production on schedule and on budget in a support capacity. You’re not making budget decisions, but you are the person making sure everyone knows what the schedule actually says and that cast is aware of their call times. When things slip, the coordinator is usually the first person to know.
The job is almost always freelance. You get hired for the duration of a production and then you’re on to the next one. There’s no staff salary, no paid vacation, no guaranteed next gig. That’s the trade-off for the variety and the pace.
Browse film production job listings to get a sense of what active productions are hiring for right now. The POC role comes up regularly on features and long-form TV, and understanding the full scope of the job makes those listings much easier to read.
What the Pay Actually Looks Like
Pay varies a lot depending on whether you’re working union or non-union, which market you’re in, and what type of production you’re on. Here’s what the numbers actually say.
In New York, production office coordinators fall under IATSE Local 161, whose current agreement runs from March 2025 to March 2028. Under it, the assistant production office coordinator minimum rose to at least $30.00 USD an hour in March 2026, and coordinators earn more than that. Those are minimums. Working above scale is common on bigger productions.
In British Columbia, the role is covered by IATSE Local 891 under the BCCFU Master Agreement. The production office coordinator rate on features is CAD $53.47 an hour from March 29, 2026 to April 3, 2027, and the assistant coordinator rate is CAD $47.82. British Columbia is a heavily unionized market, and those rates reflect that.
For non-union and lower-budget work, especially earlier in your career, pay will be lower and less predictable. ZipRecruiter reported an average annual figure of USD $50,904 for film production coordinators in the US as of July 2026, with the middle 80% earning between $35,000 and $69,500 depending on experience and market. Those figures mix union and non-union work, so treat them as a rough range, not a target.
How to Break Into Production Office Work
There’s no mandatory degree. Film school or a communications degree can help you understand the industry faster, but the actual path runs through the production office itself, not a classroom.
The standard progression looks like this: office PA, then production secretary, then assistant production coordinator (APOC), then production coordinator. There’s no fixed timeline. How fast you move up depends on your market and how consistently you’re working, and staying on the office track moves things faster.
The office PA job specifically is worth targeting if coordinator work is your goal. It puts you inside the production office where you’re watching the coordinator work every day. You learn the software, the paperwork flows, and the communication patterns. That’s a faster education than any general set PA gig.
In Los Angeles, the POC role falls under IATSE Local 871, which covers script supervisors, production coordinators, accountants, and script coordinators in the greater LA area. A 2024-2027 contract is currently in effect. To join Local 871 as a production coordinator or assistant production coordinator, you need either 30 paid union days or 100 paid non-union days. That’s a relatively low bar compared to some other union classifications.
On the East Coast, the path to union membership often runs through IATSE Local 161. Working as an office PA is frequently cited as a faster route to the coordinator track and to union membership under that local.
If you’re building your network and looking for where to get started, the film industry employment starter pack covers the fundamentals of breaking into production work. And if you want to see who’s already working in production office roles, the crew directory gives you a real look at the professional landscape.
What Skills Actually Matter
Organization is obvious. But the coordinators who last are the ones who communicate clearly under pressure. You’re managing information flow across departments, talent, and production management simultaneously. When something breaks down, it usually breaks down in communication first.
Software matters too. You need to be comfortable with scheduling and production management tools, spreadsheets, and document distribution. You don’t need to be an IT specialist, but you can’t be slow with these things when the call sheet needs to go out at 10 PM.
Budget awareness helps even though you’re not the one controlling the budget. Understanding what approvals cost time and what they cost money makes you a better communicator with the UPM. And the UPM will notice.
Connections matter more than credentials in this role. Because it’s gig-based and freelance-driven, most POC work comes through relationships built on previous productions. The office PA who was reliable, discreet, and fast is the person who gets the call when the APOC needs to move up. Build that reputation early and protect it.
For more context on how this role fits into the bigger picture of production staffing, the actor and cast directory alongside the crew side shows you how the two sides of a production intersect, and why coordination between them is constant.
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Key Takeaways
The production coordinator runs the information and logistics infrastructure of a film or TV production, reporting to the UPM and touching every department from pre-production through wrap.
- The official IATSE title is production office coordinator (POC). Know both terms because you’ll see both on job postings and union paperwork.
- The role is freelance and gig-based. You’re hired for the duration of a production, not as a staff employee.
- Union rates vary by market. In BC, the Local 891 feature rate for a production office coordinator is CAD $53.47/hour for 2026-27. In New York, Local 161’s assistant coordinator minimum is at least $30/hour, with coordinators earning more.
- The fastest path in is through the production office itself: office PA, then secretary or APOC, then coordinator. The timeline depends on your market and how consistently you’re working.
- In Los Angeles, Local 871 membership for production coordinators requires 30 paid union days or 100 paid non-union days, one of the more achievable union entry thresholds in the industry.
The coordinator role rewards people who are genuinely organized, fast under pressure, and good at keeping relationships intact when everything is moving at once.
FAQs
Is production coordinator a union job?
It depends on the production and the market. In Los Angeles, the role is unionized under IATSE Local 871. In New York, it falls under IATSE Local 161. In British Columbia, it’s covered by the BCCFU Master Agreement through Local 891. Non-union productions exist at every budget level, particularly on indie features and lower-budget projects, but the larger studio and streaming productions are almost always union.
What’s the difference between a production coordinator and a production manager?
The production manager (or UPM) makes decisions about budget, scheduling, and department hiring. The coordinator executes those decisions operationally, managing the paperwork, communications, travel, and office logistics that keep the production running. The coordinator reports to the UPM. It’s a distinction between strategic oversight and operational execution.
Do you need a film degree to become a production coordinator?
No. There’s no mandatory degree for the role. On-set experience through PA work is widely considered the more practical route. A film or communications degree can give you industry context faster, but it won’t substitute for time spent actually inside a production office.
How long does it take to become a production coordinator?
There’s no fixed timeline. It depends on your market and how consistently you’re working. Staying on the office track, specifically as an office PA and then APOC, moves things faster than bouncing between general set PA work and office work.
What does a production coordinator do differently on TV versus film?
The core responsibilities are the same, but TV production runs faster. On a scripted series, you’re dealing with ongoing script revisions, revolving guest cast, and an overlapping pre-production and production cycle that never really stops. On a feature, the timeline is longer and the production office ramps up and down more cleanly. TV is higher volume; features tend to be more concentrated intensity around specific prep and shoot periods.
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Ready To Find Your First Production Office Job?
The production coordinator role is one of the most demanding and most rewarding entry points into serious film and TV production. Get your time in the production office early, stay close to the POC and APOC, and treat every piece of paperwork as a learning opportunity. The skills you build there, communication under pressure, logistics thinking, understanding how departments actually function, transfer to almost every other role in production management if you decide to move up.
