Film and TV careers: FTII and SRFTI entrance and crew roles

In short

Film and television work in India is organised as a craft hierarchy — each department has a head, assistants and technicians — and entry to the senior crafts runs either through a national film school or through years of assisting on set. The two government institutes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting are FTII, Pune (1960) and SRFTI, Kolkata (1995); both admit through a common written entrance, the Joint Entrance Test (JET), conducted by the National Testing Agency, followed by course-specific aptitude tests and interviews. This topic is examined in "Industry, law and careers" papers as institutional structure, admission process, crew hierarchy, unions and engagement terms, and it is the practical basis of every production-house interview — what a 1st AD does, who signs a call sheet, who owns the copyright. Employers who ask it include studios and production houses (Yash Raj, Dharma, Applause, Excel), broadcasters (Star, Zee, Sun, Doordarshan), OTT content teams, ad-film and corporate-video outfits, and equipment and post houses (Prasad, Prime Focus, Qube).

Explained

The institutional landscape

• FTII, Pune — Film and Television Institute of India, set up in 1960 as the Film Institute of India on the former Prabhat Studios campus; the television wing (earlier the Doordarshan training centre in Delhi) merged in 1974, giving the present name. Autonomous society funded by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; a member of CILECT, the international association of film schools.
• SRFTI, Kolkata — Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, established 1995 with teaching from 1996, also an autonomous MIB institute, named after Satyajit Ray.
• Both award post-graduate diplomas/certificates, not university degrees; proposals to give them degree-granting (deemed university / "Indian Institute of Film and Television") status have been discussed for years and the position has changed more than once — state the current status only from the live prospectus.
• Other recognised routes: AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia (MA in Mass Communication, strong production training); IIMC (journalism/radio-TV); MGR Government Film and Television Institute, Chennai; Government Film and Television Institute, Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru; K. R. Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts, Kottayam; Film and Television Institute, Rohtak; L. V. Prasad Film and TV Academy, Chennai; private schools such as Whistling Woods International (Mumbai), SIMC Pune, NID (animation/film design) and university BA/B.Sc. Film and TV Production programmes under UGC CBCS.

What the two national institutes teach

• FTII film wing — three-year PG Diploma specialisations, broadly: Direction and Screenplay Writing; Cinematography (motion picture photography); Editing; Sound Recording and Sound Design; Art Direction and Production Design; Acting. Specialisation names and durations are revised from time to time — the prospectus is authoritative.
• FTII TV wing — one-year PG Certificate courses: Direction, Electronic Cinematography, Video Editing, Audiography (sound), designed for broadcast and multi-camera work.
• FTII short-term and skilling courses run through the year (screenwriting, acting, DI, sound), many on campus and some in partnership with state bodies; they do not require JET.
• SRFTI — three-year PG Diploma in Direction and Screenplay Writing, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Recording and Design, plus Producing for Film and Television and other Electronic and Digital Media programmes; also animation and short courses in some years.
• Both run on a workshop-and-exercise model: craft exercises in year 1, joint exercises and short fiction in year 2, a diploma film in year 3, where students from different specialisations crew each other's films — this is why the crew hierarchy is examinable.

The entrance process, step by step

1. Notification and application — a single online form for FTII and SRFTI (and, in some years, other participating institutes), with a choice of course preferences; fee payable per course group.
2. Eligibility — a bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised university (final-year students usually allowed, subject to results); a few courses add a subject or aptitude condition in particular years. Many years have carried no upper age limit; verify in the current prospectus.
3. JET — Joint Entrance Test, conducted by the NTA on the institutes' behalf: a written paper with a general section (general knowledge, current affairs, logical reasoning, language, cinema and media awareness, visual/aural perception) and a course-specific section (narrative sense for Direction, light and optics for Cinematography, sound and acoustics for Audiography, space and design for Art Direction, and so on). Pattern, marks and negative-marking rules have changed between editions.
4. Shortlisting — a merit list per course, usually several times the number of seats, is called to the institute.
5. Stage 2 — orientation/aptitude test, practical or written exercise, portfolio or showreel review, and a personal interview; Acting has physical and performance rounds. Weightages are published per course.
6. Final merit — a weighted combination of JET and Stage 2 scores; admission by course, with Government of India reservation (SC 15%, ST 7.5%, OBC-NCL 27%, EWS 10%, and horizontal PwD reservation of 5%).
7. Seats are very few — of the order of ten to twelve per specialisation at each institute, which is why acceptance rates are low; exact intake is notified yearly.
8. Fees are publicly subsidised and revised annually; FTII and SRFTI are far cheaper than private film schools, which can cost several times more for a comparable course.

Crew structure: who does what

• Above-the-line — the creative principals contracted before production: producer, director, writer, lead cast, and often the composer. Below-the-line — the technical crew and services paid by shift or week.
• Production department: Producer (owns and finances); Executive Producer; Line Producer (converts the script into a budget and schedule, hires crew); Production Manager; Production Coordinator; Location Manager; Accounts; Production Assistants; Transport and catering.
• Direction department: Director; 1st Assistant Director (runs the floor, issues the call sheet, keeps the day on schedule); 2nd AD (cast, background, paperwork); 3rd AD; Script Supervisor / continuity; Casting Director.
• Camera department: Director of Photography (cinematographer) — lighting and framing; Camera Operator; Focus Puller (1st AC); 2nd AC / clapper-loader; DIT (data wrangling, LUTs, on-set grade); Gaffer and lighting technicians; Key Grip and dolly/crane crew; drone pilot; still photographer.
• Sound department: Production Sound Mixer / location recordist; Boom Operator; in post — Sound Designer, Dialogue Editor, Foley artist, ADR recordist, Re-recording Mixer (final mix in 5.1 / 7.1 / Atmos).
• Art department: Production Designer; Art Director; Set Decorator; Props Master; Set Dresser; carpenters, painters; Costume Designer and dressers; Make-up, Hair and prosthetics.
• Post-production: Assistant Editor; Editor; Colourist (DI); VFX Supervisor, compositors, roto and matchmove artists; Music Composer, background score, lyricist, singers; subtitling, dubbing, mastering and DCP/deliverables.
• Television and live broadcast adds PCR roles not present on a film set: Panel Producer, Vision Mixer (switcher), Floor Manager, Teleprompter operator, CG/graphics operator, EVS replay operator, MCR and OB-van engineers, Video Journalist, Assignment desk, Channel Programming — multi-camera, real-time, with no retakes.

How careers progress, and how people are engaged

• Typical ladder: Production Assistant → 3rd/2nd AD → 1st AD → Director; clapper-loader → focus puller → operator → DOP; assistant editor → editor; trainee → assistant → chief in sound and art. Credits, showreel and references, not seniority alone, decide the jump.
• Almost all work is project-based and freelance, paid per shift (a defined number of working hours plus conveyance), per day, per week or per film, with the terms in an engagement letter or deal memo.
• Craft unions and bodies: FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) federates the craft unions in Mumbai and negotiates minimum shift rates and working conditions with producer bodies; crafts include CINTAA (actors), IFTDA (directors), SWA (Screen Writers Association, which also runs script registration), WICA (cinematographers), and art-directors', editors' and technicians' associations. Producer side: IMPPA, IFTPC, AMPTPP, Producers Guild of India; regional federations exist in the south and east.
• Labour law: the four Labour Codes are in force from 21 November 2025. The Code on Social Security, 2020 defines an "audio-visual worker" and brings film and TV crew within its welfare and social-security scope; it replaced the former Cine-Workers Welfare Fund Act and the former Cine-Workers Welfare Cess Act, while the former Cine-Workers and Cinema Theatre Workers (Regulation of Employment) Act was repealed by the OSH&WC Code, 2020. The Code on Wages, 2019 governs minimum wages, timely payment and overtime at not less than twice the ordinary rate; the OSH&WC Code, 2020 governs working conditions, hours, safety and contractor duties (it also repealed the former Factories Act and the former Mines Act); the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 covers unions and disputes. Stunt and action work, sets and rigging are safety-regulated under the OSH&WC Code and state rules.
• Copyright Act, 1957 (as amended in 2012): the producer is the author of a cinematograph film; the director has no authorship right in India. Authors of the underlying literary and musical works (screenwriter, lyricist, composer) retain a statutory, non-assignable right to royalties for uses other than exhibition in a cinema hall. Performers' rights (moral rights, and royalty for commercial use) exist, but a performer who consents in writing to incorporation in a film cannot then object to the producer's use of that performance.
• Payment mechanics: crew and technicians usually invoice as professionals or firms; GST at 18% applies to most production and post-production services (slabs since 22 September 2025 are 5%, 18% and 40%); the producer deducts TDS on professional fees at 10% (fees for technical services at 2%) and on contractor payments at 1%/2% under the Income-tax Act, 2025 (in force from 1 April 2026, which renumbered every section and form — cite the provision by name unless both old and new numbers are certain).

Advantages, limitations and alternatives

• Film school advantages: structured craft training, access to cameras, sound stages, mix theatres and DI suites that no individual can buy; peer network that becomes a future crew; a diploma film as a calling card; low fees at FTII/SRFTI.
• Limitations: very few seats and a long course (three years), entrance that rewards general cultural literacy as much as technique, and a possible mismatch with fast commercial workflows; graduation guarantees no job — the industry still hires on showreel and reference.
• Assisting route advantages: paid from day one, industry contacts, current workflow knowledge. Limitations: narrow exposure, long unpaid or underpaid stretches, no theory base.
• Hybrid route (common now): a university BA/B.Sc. in Film and TV Production plus short courses, self-shot work for OTT/ads/YouTube and NFDC or state film-development schemes and labs for a first feature.

Key points

• FTII - Pune, 1960, MIB autonomous institute; three-year PG diplomas in film crafts plus one-year TV certificate courses.
• SRFTI - Kolkata, 1995, MIB autonomous institute; three-year PG diplomas including Producing for Film and Television.
• JET - the common written entrance for FTII and SRFTI, conducted by the NTA, with a general section and a course-specific section.
• Two-stage selection - JET shortlist, then aptitude/practical test, portfolio and interview; final merit is a published weighted combination.
• Eligibility - bachelor's degree in any discipline; reservation per Government of India norms (SC 15, ST 7.5, OBC-NCL 27, EWS 10, PwD 5% horizontal).
• Above-the-line vs below-the-line - creative principals contracted early versus technical crew paid by shift.
• 1st AD - runs the floor and issues the call sheet; the Line Producer owns the budget and schedule.
• DOP - heads camera and lighting; focus puller, 2nd AC, DIT, gaffer and grip report into that department.
• Script supervisor - guards continuity and logs takes, the link between set and editing room.
• Sound chain - location recordist and boom on set; sound designer, Foley, dialogue editor and re-recording mixer in post.
• Production designer - heads art; art director executes, set decorator and props dress the space.
• Post chain - assistant editor, editor, colourist (DI), VFX supervisor, music and final mix, then DCP and OTT deliverables.
• Multi-camera TV - adds panel producer, vision mixer, floor manager, PCR/MCR and OB engineers, EVS replay, CG operator.
• FWICE and craft unions - CINTAA, IFTDA, SWA and others set minimum shift rates and conditions with producer bodies.
• Audio-visual worker - the Code on Social Security, 2020 category covering film and TV crew, replacing the former cine-workers Acts.
• Overtime - at least twice the ordinary rate under the Code on Wages, 2019; hours and safety under the OSH&WC Code, 2020.
• Copyright - the producer is the author of a film; writers, lyricists and composers keep a non-assignable royalty right for non-theatrical use.
• Engagement - freelance, project-based, by deal memo; GST 18% on production services, TDS 10% on professional fees.

Formulas and examples

1. Schedule from a script. A 112-page screenplay; the 1st AD plans 4 pages a day.

• Total eighths = 112 × 8 = 896 eighths; per day = 4 × 8 = 32 eighths.
• Shoot days = 896 ÷ 32 = 28 days. With 10% contingency ≈ 31 days; at a 6-day week ≈ 5 weeks and 1 day of principal photography.

2. Crew cost with legal overtime. 30 below-the-line crew, shift rate ₹4,500 for an 8-hour shift, 28 shoot days, of which 6 days run 4 hours over.

• Base = 30 × 4,500 × 28 = ₹37,80,000.
• Ordinary hourly rate = 4,500 ÷ 8 = ₹562.50; overtime rate (2×) = ₹1,125/hour.
• Overtime per person per long day = 1,125 × 4 = ₹4,500 → 30 × 4,500 = ₹1,35,000/day → × 6 = ₹8,10,000.
• Total crew cost = 37,80,000 + 8,10,000 = ₹45,90,000 (≈ ₹45.9 lakh).

3. Film stock from a shooting ratio. A song sequence runs 3 min 20 s in the cut, shot on 35 mm at a 9:1 ratio.

• Final length = 3.333 min → 3.333 × 90 = 300 ft in the cut.
• Exposed footage = 300 × 9 = 2,700 ft ≈ 2.7 reels of 1,000 ft.
• If negative plus processing is taken at ₹60 per foot (an assumed rate), cost = 2,700 × 60 = ₹1,62,000. A digital shoot removes this line and replaces it with media and backup cost.

4. Storage for a digital shoot. 1920×1080, 10-bit, 3 colour channels, 25 fps, uncompressed.

• Bits per frame = 2,073,600 × 10 × 3 = 62,208,000 bits.
• Per second = 62,208,000 × 25 = 1,555,200,000 bits/s ÷ 8 = 194.4 MB/s.
• One hour = 194.4 × 3,600 = 699,840 MB ≈ 700 GB; with two backup copies, ~2.1 TB per hour — the arithmetic behind a DIT's cart and why productions shoot compressed codecs.

5. Paying a DOP. Fee ₹6,00,000 for an ad film, GST at 18%, TDS on professional fees at 10%.

• GST = 6,00,000 × 0.18 = ₹1,08,000; invoice total = ₹7,08,000.
• TDS = 10% of the fee ₹6,00,000 = ₹60,000 (GST shown separately is excluded).
• Net paid to the DOP = 7,08,000 − 60,000 = ₹6,48,000; the producer deposits ₹60,000 as TDS and claims the GST as input credit if eligible.

Where it is used

• Feature film production houses and studios — Yash Raj, Dharma, Excel, AA Films, regional majors in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi and Kolkata: hiring ADs, production managers, line producers and craft assistants.
• OTT and streaming content teams — Netflix, Prime Video, JioHotstar, SonyLIV, ZEE5 commissioning teams and their production vendors: show production, line production, post supervision, localisation and QC.
• Broadcasters and news channels — Doordarshan, Star, Zee, Sun, TV9, ABP: PCR and MCR roles, floor managers, vision mixers, EVS operators, video journalists, OB crews for sport and events.
• Advertising, corporate and digital video — ad-film production houses, agency in-house studios, brand content teams and creator studios: small crews where one person covers two or three roles.
• Equipment, studio and post services — camera and lighting rental houses, Prasad/Qube/Prime Focus-type post facilities, DI and sound studios, DCP and subtitling vendors: colourists, mix engineers, data and QC technicians.
• Teaching, archives and public bodies — FTII/SRFTI and university film departments, NFDC and NFAI (archive and restoration), state film development corporations and film-facilitation offices.

Interview questions

• Q: Who conducts the entrance examination for FTII and SRFTI, and what is it called? A: The National Testing Agency conducts the Joint Entrance Test (JET) for both institutes, after which each institute runs its own aptitude test, portfolio review and interview.
• Q: What qualification do you need to apply, and is there an age limit? A: A bachelor's degree in any discipline from a recognised university; many editions have had no upper age limit, but the current prospectus governs that and any course-specific condition.
• Q: Do FTII and SRFTI award degrees? A: No — they award post-graduate diplomas and certificates as autonomous institutes under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; degree-granting status has been proposed repeatedly and the current position should be checked against the live notification.
• Q: What exactly does a 1st AD do that a director does not? A: The 1st AD runs the floor — breaks down the script, builds and defends the schedule, issues the call sheet and keeps the unit moving — so the director can concentrate on performance and staging.
• Q: Difference between a line producer and a production manager? A: The line producer owns the budget and schedule and hires the crew; the production manager executes that plan day to day — permissions, logistics, payments, transport and locations.
• Q: Who is the author of a cinematograph film in Indian law? A: The producer, under the Copyright Act, 1957; the director has no authorship right in India, while the screenwriter, lyricist and composer retain a non-assignable royalty right for uses other than theatrical exhibition.
• Q: What is a shooting ratio, and why does the producer care? A: The ratio of material exposed to material used in the final cut; it drives stock or media cost, shoot days and the editor's workload.
• Q: Which law now covers film crew welfare and working conditions? A: The four Labour Codes in force from 21 November 2025 — the Code on Social Security, 2020 defines the "audio-visual worker" and replaced the former cine-workers Acts, while hours, safety and overtime come under the OSH&WC Code, 2020 and the Code on Wages, 2019.
• Q: What is the minimum overtime rate you must budget? A: At least twice the ordinary rate of wages under the Code on Wages, 2019, in addition to any higher rate agreed with the craft union.
• Q: How does a multi-camera TV crew differ from a film unit? A: It adds live-gallery roles — panel producer, vision mixer, floor manager, PCR/MCR engineers, EVS replay and graphics operators — and works in real time without retakes, so cueing and continuity discipline replace coverage.
• Q: What does a DIT do? A: The Digital Imaging Technician offloads and backs up camera media, verifies checksums, manages LUTs and on-set look, and hands verified material and reports to post.
• Q: If you were paid ₹2,00,000 as an editor, what deductions apply? A: GST at 18% is charged on top if you are registered, and the producer deducts TDS on professional fees at 10% of the fee under the Income-tax Act, 2025, so you receive the fee plus GST less the TDS.

Common mistakes

• Treating the JET written test as the whole admission — the course-specific aptitude test, portfolio and interview carry substantial published weight.
• Saying FTII and SRFTI grant degrees, or quoting a seat count, fee or exam pattern from an old year as current.
• Confusing the director with the 1st AD, or the production designer with the art director, in a crew-hierarchy answer.
• Quoting repealed laws — the Factories Act or the cine-workers Acts — instead of the Labour Codes in force since 21 November 2025, or quoting old Income-tax Act, 1961 section numbers after the 2025 Act renumbering.
• Naming the director as the author/copyright owner of a film; in India it is the producer.
• Using N frames or feet without the frame rate: 35 mm footage calculations need 16 frames per foot and 24 fps (90 ft/min).
• Budgeting overtime at 1.5× by habit, when the statutory floor is twice the ordinary rate.
• Mixing bits and bytes in data-rate questions — divide by 8 before quoting MB/s or storage.

Related topics

Media industry in India · OTT, web series and content distribution · Film certification: CBFC and the Cinematograph Act · Media ethics and laws in India · Screenwriting and script breakdown · Production budgeting and scheduling