Director career

Whakataka

Directors control the creation of film, television, radio and stage productions. They direct cast and crew members and work with others to achieve an artistic vision.

Directors control the creation of film, television, radio and stage productions. They direct cast and crew members and work with others to achieve an artistic vision.

What would you do as a Director?

Directors

  • usually work long and irregular hours
  • usually work on film sets, on location, in studios and theatres and may travel locally, nationally and internationally
  • need to be creative, communicate well and make decisions

Tasks

  • direct film, television, radio and stage productions
  • study, edit and interpret scripts
  • give guidance to actors performing roles
  • manage actors, film crew and production staff
  • work with others on technical requirements
  • make final artistic production decisions
  • develop creative ideas
  • work with casting directors to find actors
  • work with editors in post-production

How can you become a Director?

You need experience to become a director and a qualification may be useful.

You need

  • experience in similar work

You may need

  • a relevant tertiary qualification in communication and media or similar area
  • examples of your work

If you're in school

You usually need NCEA Level 3 to do the study or training for this job.

Studying this at the University of Waikato

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For screen direction, study a Media Production major in our Bachelor of Communication or a Screen and Media Studies major in our Bachelor of Arts. For stage, our Theatre Studies major lists director among its career outcomes, and you'll rehearse and stage work at the Gallagher Academy of Performing Arts. Like all our undergraduate degrees, these include work-integrated learning, so you'll build a body of work as you study.

To specialise further, you can continue with our Master of Media and Creative Technologies.

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Director FAQs

Scholarships

A range of scholarships are available to help with the cost of studying at Waikato. Options are available across a wide range of subjects and study levels, including scholarships for new students, current students and specific areas of study.

Find a scholarship

QS ranking

QS World University Rankings 2027

Waikato is ranked equal 293rd globally, placing us in the top 1.5% of universities worldwide, and 2nd in New Zealand by citations per faculty.

Contact us

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