About Us

ABOUT

The Assistant Directors Union Germany (ADU) represents the professional and economic interests of all Assistant Directors (ADs), Assistant Directors (RAs), and AD-Production Assistants (AD-PAs) working for scripted content in Germany.

One core mission of the ADU is to strengthen Germany as a production hub through the continuous professional development of its members. The occupational union pursues this goal through regular industry-specific meetings, panels addressing key issues and challenges within the industry, topic-specific workshops, mentoring programs, and an intensive exchange of experience via an exclusive online forum and an instant messaging community. The objective is to enhance the competitiveness of ADU members in both the domestic and international markets, establishing them as highly qualified and sought-after professionals for productions at home and abroad.

The ADU actively supports the dissemination and permanent establishment of the international shooting system (colloquially known as the “AD system”) in Germany. In the context of a globalized film industry, where cross-border and multinational productions are increasingly common across Europe, the traditional German Regiassistenz- /Aufnahmeleitungs-shooting system is proving outdated and impractical for complex projects. Moreover, the German shooting system is largely unknown outside the D-A-CH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), often leading to misunderstandings and logistical challenges in international productions or German productions with foreign components due to unclear responsibilities and task allocations. Our goal is to optimize the working structure on German film sets in the interest of all departments.

The ADU offers regular trainings to all ADU members to understand the functionality and specific requirements of the international shooting system, as well as the various roles within the AD profession and the production department. A key priority for the association is to clearly define and modernize the respective job descriptions and standards within both the German and international shooting systems. These definitions are continuously updated to ensure a clear distribution of tasks and responsibilities, facilitating collaboration among all positions within the production department of film productions.

The ADU places great importance on engaging with interested parties. This includes cross-departmental collaboration with other professional associations and unions, as well as production companies, streaming providers, and broadcasters, to broaden perspectives and drive common goals forward. This work is carried out, for example, through the targeted forwarding of job offers to our members, as well as the development of concepts to improve working conditions in the film industry.