Second Assistant Directors

We supply second ADs who manage cast, background and the forms that keeps an Austrian shoot on schedule. Our second ADs prepare call sheets, set up the movement of cast and extras, manage the background holding area, and support the first AD in running the floor. We brief them on your script, schedule and cast needs, then confirm openings against your shoot dates.

Here is how this works in practice. A capable second AD is key on any production with major cast or crowd work, whether a feature at Rosenhuegel Filmstudios or a commercial across Vienna. Our second ADs work fluently in English and German and integrate seamlessly with global and DACH-region crews. We contract under the Kollektivvertrag terms set by the Fachverband der Film- und Musikwirtschaft within the WKO.

Set up the second AD with the first AD, third AD and production coordinator so the assistant-director team runs the day cleanly.

Here is the short of it. The second AD role sits within Austria's structured, well-covered production framework. Crew pay, working hours, turnaround and break entitlements are set by the Kollektivvertrag — the collective agreements negotiated through the Fachverband der Film- und Musikwirtschaft within the WKO — and the second AD's call sheets and scheduling work directly with those terms.

Here is the breakdown. Austria's deep, skilled and English-speaking crew pool, centred on Vienna and trained through the Filmakademie Wien, means second ADs can be staffed at short notice, and EU freedom of movement allows shoots to draw extra AD-department crew from Germany, the Czech Republic and other neighbours. The country's history of tricky shoots — from large-cast period dramas to global shoots such as 'Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation' at the Wiener Staatsoper — has built a crew culture used at running tight floors.

Productions supported by the Oesterreichisches Filminstitut and the Filmfonds Wien rely on that AD-department depth.