Third Assistant Directors

Here is what we have to work with. We supply third ADs who support the assistant-director team and help run the floor on Austrian shoots. Our third ADs help with background and crowd running, cast movement, set communication and the practical tasks that keep a shoot moving, working under the first and second AD. We brief them on your script, schedule and crowd needs, then confirm openings against your shoot dates.

Here is how this works in practice. A third AD adds key capacity on shoots with major background or tricky floor logistics, whether a period drama in Vienna or a commercial on regional locations. Our third ADs work fluently in English and German and integrate easily 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 third AD with the first AD, second AD and production coordinator so the AD team runs the day together.

Here is the short of it. The third AD role is part of Austria's structured assistant-director team and a key step in the country's crew-training pipeline. Many Austrian ADs and production managers worked their way up through the third and second AD positions, often after entering the industry as runners or through the Filmakademie Wien, the film academy of the mdw.

Here is the breakdown. Even at this level, engagements are covered by the Kollektivvertrag — the collective agreements negotiated through the Fachverband der Film- und Musikwirtschaft within the WKO — so third ADs work on clear, fair terms. Austria's deep, English-speaking crew pool, centred on Vienna, and EU freedom of movement let shoots staff the AD department readily and draw on crews from Germany and neighbouring countries.

The country's steady production activity, supported by the Oesterreichisches Filminstitut and the Filmfonds Wien, keeps third ADs in regular work and builds the experience behind Austria's tight sets.