07 März 2025
Advice!, Animation/VFX History, News No Comments
7. März 2025 Johannes Wolters

Art Directors Guild: The Production Design Initiative 2025 – Submissions open

Look back: Indiewire, May 8th 2024: Art Directors Guild Suspends Training Program

An Art Directors Branch administered and funded initiative, designed to provide mentorship, supervision and on-the-job training to future Art Directors, Designers, and members of the Art Department.

PDI/Art Dept Initiative

https://adg.org/the-guild/production-design-initiative/

This is an ADG — Art Directors Branch — administered and funded opportunity. It has been created for the purpose of providing on the job mentorship, immersion, and supervision for future careers in the Art Department. The Initiative is not a structured academic program with a formal curriculum. Rather as the word “initiative” implies, a participant will only get out of the Art Department Initiative that which they are willing bring to it. The Initiative is open to anyone possessing art, design, administrative skills and life experiences that would make them valuable participants in the Art Department’s workplace environment. Participants will be designated as “Design Assistants” (DA) and It is an on-the- job immersive vocational regimen which is the only true way to learn the art and craft of art direction for motion pictures. Acceptance into the Initiative does not guarantee membership into Local 800, but it does provide all DA participants with a unique privilege to learn, grow, and build a professional portfolio and a workplace network to aid them in in their pursuit of their future careers as freelance filmmakers.
The Initiative was the first and remains one of the most ambitious learning opportunities administered by a Hollywood labor union. DA participants will be introduced to a wide range of production genres practiced by our members – feature films, episodic television, commercials, reality shows, music videos, live events, broadcast television, and theme parks. Through the Initiative DA participants will have the opportunity to closely interact with many members of the Art Department, including production designers, art directors, set designers, model-makers, illustrators, previs, graphic, scenic, and title artists. Most importantly, exposure to all the associated trades that the Art Department works in close association with. The jurisdiction of Local 800’s Art Directors is unique in that its workplace is national and not limited to the traditional Hollywood Studio 30-mile radius employment zone
Application Requirements

APPLICATION PERIOD & TIMELINE

07 Mar / 2025 Submissions Open 09:00 AM
25 Apr / 2025 Submissions Close 06:00 PM

 

In 2024 the ADG suspended its annual production design initiative as 75% of local IATSE members remained unemployed: 

Read the original article here: https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/art-directors-guild-ending-production-design-initiative-program-1235002230/

Dear PDI Applicants,

Due to historic and unprecedented circumstances within the entertainment industry we must suspend the review of all PDI applications for the 2024 calendar year. We realize this decision will come as a surprise and disappointment to many.

Since Covid our industry has been in a state of historic change and evolution. The reason for our decision to suspend the 2024 PD Initiative is due to the serious downturn in current employment opportunities for our membership, both in North America and globally. Currently more than 75% of our members are unemployed and many have not been working for 18 months or more.

Because of these circumstances there is even less of an opportunity for employment within the entertainment industry at this time.

Given this situation we cannot in good conscience encourage you to pursue our profession while so many of our members remain unemployed. This is due to multiple reasons, the 2023 strikes, the on-going 2024 labor negotiations, and a once in a generation change within the entertainment
industry as it searches for new business models to govern its content creation and distribution. We hope that this is a temporary condition, and we intend to resume the PD Initiative in 2025. At that time, you may reapply should you still be interested.

In the meantime, we encourage you to work on your portfolios and work-skills training. Also, this decision does not preclude you from making a direct outreach to current and future productions and their designers should you see an opportunity for employment as a Production Assistant within their art departments.

Most importantly, stay informed and continue to build your personal networks. We are discussing the hosting of a webinar for our PDI community and for you as well to review our current situation and its future trends. We will update you once we have a confirmed plan, date, and designer panelists.

Sincerely yours,

The ADG PDI Leadership Team

The updated statement from the ADG:

Due to an internal technical error, applicants to our Production Design Initiative (PDI) program received an email that had not been edited or fact-checked and was not intended to be widely distributed. As an early draft, the data points included in the email (such as “more than 75% of our members are unemployed and many have not been working for 18 months or more”) were not fact-checked and may be inaccurate.

Additionally, our overall message to membership was not accurately captured throughout the email. Our guild, alongside the entire motion picture/entertainment industry, has felt the effects of a global pandemic, an industry-wide strike and shift in the business models that underpin our industry. However, none of this dampens our optimism about the future of our industry and the future of production design as a profession.

This temporary pause in our PDI program during a year of contract negotiation gives our staff and membership the ability to focus on our movement of “Many Crafts, One Fight.” This labor movement alongside our peers and colleagues only strengthens our excitement for the future of the industry.

We plan to resume the PDI program in 2025.

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