Responsibilities, programme leadership, recruitment, decisions and handoffs.
Lead the society
Take responsibility for MFPC’s work
The Board runs MFPC and takes substantial responsibility for delivering its programmes. Board members bring relevant experience, take initiative, do the practical work, participate in Board discussions and follow through with their teams.
Use this guide to agree how you will work together. Start with a clear programme or area of responsibility, the people involved, the resources available and the next work to be completed.
Own your area and coordinate with others
Directors have substantial creative and operational ownership within their agreed areas. Build your team, develop the work and keep the people relying on it informed.
Agree shared responsibilities with the other directors involved. Explain what you can deliver, what you need from them and when. Raise a problem early enough for the team to choose a workable response.
Work with the presidents
Work with the presidents to arrange Board discussions, identify decisions and coordinate support across programmes. They can help with institutional access and practical questions that extend beyond one director’s work.
Bring a specific request: the issue, its effect, the available options and the decision or help needed. Confirm who will act on the result and pass it to the people whose plans are affected.
Begin with a practical onboarding conversation
Confirm your role, scope, availability and immediate priorities with the presidents. Review existing plans, completed work, open commitments and the current locations of working files with the person handing them over.
Identify the people you need to meet and any training, introduction or access arrangement your work requires. Handle credentials through the appropriate private process. Agree your first output and when you will discuss progress.
Know the roles
Production Director
Leads an MFPC film from story and team formation through filming, editing and final delivery. Chooses the creative direction, recruits cast and crew, organises the schedule and remains accountable for completion. Coordinates resource needs with Operations and provides confirmed film information to the directors who need it.
Radio Show Director
Leads MFPC’s radio programme, including editorial direction, episode planning, the recording schedule, the radio team and coordination with the station. Oversees production and delivery, confirms participation and preparation with contributors, and supplies accurate episode information for publicity.
Festival Director
Leads MFPC’s own film festival or event work: submissions, filmmaker communication, jury coordination, programming, venue and audience experience, and delivery. Builds a team and coordinates film readiness, practical needs, funding dependencies and confirmed event information with the other directors.
Marketing Director
Maintains the communications calendar, plans campaigns and prepares accurate announcements. Coordinates design, photography and video, manages MFPC’s Instagram account and maintains the established identity. Checks programme details, permissions and applicable publication approvals with the people responsible before release.
Partnership & Development Director
Develops relationships with clubs, organisations, filmmakers, venues and other partners, writes professional correspondence and seeks local sponsors. Coordinates proposals with the affected programme directors, obtains applicable approvals before commitments, and tracks agreed contributions and completion.
Operations Director
Coordinates practical logistics, budgets, expense records, schedules and resource tracking. Handles routine equipment and room bookings and custody, and discusses spending jointly with the presidents. Maintains current practical information so directors can plan around confirmed arrangements and identify what still needs a decision.
Build your team
Recruit for work the programme needs
Directors may approach general members first when recruiting smaller teams for their committee. Describe the activity, the role, the experience or preparation needed and the expected availability.
Members receive announcements by email and can reply with their interest or ideas. Participation is optional. Discuss each person’s contribution with them before assigning work, and keep requests or expressions of interest separate from an accepted role.
Agree a useful first task
Give a new contributor the current brief, relevant materials, a contact route and the information needed to begin. Agree the output, responsibilities, timing and who will review or receive the work.
For example: “Prepare a short list of possible filming locations using the scene requirements. Record access questions and known constraints. Bring the list to the director for discussion before any location is booked.”
Arrange individual mentorship
Members can request an individual mentorship meeting for feedback on a script or a filmmaking question. Arrange it according to the adviser’s availability and experience, and ask for the relevant material and questions beforehand.
Mentorship provides advice and feedback. The member remains responsible for carrying out their project and arranging its people, funding and equipment. A role on a director’s MFPC team has its own agreed responsibilities and preparation.
Support reliable participation
Check that the person taking a task understands the work and can access the necessary materials. Agree how they will raise questions and communicate a change in availability.
If a task becomes difficult to complete, discuss the cause and its effect with the contributor. Agree help, a smaller scope, a revised date or a handoff that works for the programme, and tell the people relying on the result.
Make decisions
Give the meeting a clear purpose
Prepare Board agendas around decisions and shared work. Circulate the relevant material to Board members so they can review the issue, options and dependencies before the discussion.
Example agenda: confirm the next outputs from each programme; resolve a shared equipment conflict; review a partnership proposal’s requirements; agree who will complete each next action. Finish by checking what was decided and what remains open.
Bring a concise, useful update
Report the stage reached, work completed, next output, responsible people and anything that needs a decision or support. Connect a problem to its effect on the plan and offer feasible options.
Example update: “The first cut is ready for review. The editor needs the confirmed credits before the next export. Production will collect them from the team and agree a review date with Marketing for the publicity information.”
Resolve dependencies together
Identify where one team needs another team’s work before it can proceed. Compare dates, people, resources and preparation, then agree the sequence with the directors involved.
Record who supplies the needed information or material, when it is required and who receives it. Check how a change affects the shared schedule. Distinguish confirmed arrangements from requests and plans still being discussed.
Check the authority for a commitment
Before making an external or financial commitment, confirm who is authorised to approve it and obtain the approvals that apply. Bring unclear authority or conditions to the presidents. Discuss spending jointly with Operations and the presidents.
Give the people reviewing the request its purpose, costs, available resources, conditions, timing and delivery obligations. Record the actual decision and any limits. If more information is needed, leave the question open with a clear next action.
Keep work moving
Turn decisions into accepted tasks
After a discussion, record the agreed action, the person who has accepted it, the required output and the date for delivery or review. Include any dependency that could affect completion.
Example action: “Operations will check two room options against the event requirements and report availability and costs before the Festival Director finalises the plan.” Confirm who receives the answer and when it is needed.
Keep current working records
Keep a concise record of decisions, reasons, open questions and next actions. Link it to the current programme plans, schedule, resource information and relevant working files.
Give files clear titles, versions and dates. Separate a draft or proposal from an agreed arrangement and a completed output. Keep personal records, access information and private Board discussions in their appropriate private locations.
Communicate changes and completion
Tell the affected people when an agreed date, task or resource changes. Explain the effect on the plan and agree the revised action with those responsible. Update the working record so the team can find the current position.
When work is complete, give the receiving person the actual output and any information needed to use it. Confirm receipt and identify anything still outstanding, including corrections, permissions or practical limitations.
Leave a handoff someone can use
Before a change of responsibility, gather the current plan, accepted tasks, decisions, locations of working files, resource arrangements, permissions and open commitments. Identify the next action and who is expecting it.
Example handoff: “The current event brief and room enquiries are in the working folder. Room confirmation is pending. The incoming lead needs to review the replies with Operations before dates are announced.” Walk through the record and confirm who is taking responsibility.