Production Assistants

Here is how this works in practice. Our Saudi production assistants staff set and office runs across the kingdom's main studio facilities. These have NEOM Bajdah Studios (9,000 m², the largest in MENA, four sound stages, opened 2022), MBC Studios in Riyadh and Jeddah, Telfaz11 Studios, Manga Productions Riyadh (a Saudi-Japan Toei Animation JV), Pixomondo Riyadh, Big Time Studios, and Spider Eye Studios.

PAs also staff field shoots across the major locations. Examples have AlUla and Hegra (Kandahar 2023, Gerard Butler, $43M, dir. Ric Roman Waugh. Desert Warrior 2024, Anthony Mackie, dir. Rupert Wyatt. Cherry for Apple TV+. Hellraiser plates 2022), the Diriyah JAX District, Jeddah Al-Balad, the Edge of the World, the Empty Quarter, the Red Sea coast, and NEOM's Sindalah, Trojena, and Oxagon zones.

Here is the short of it. Our many-tongue workforce covers Arabic (MSA, Najdi from Riyadh, Hejazi from Jeddah, Eastern from Dammam), English, Urdu (from the large Pakistani driver and runner pool), Filipino, Hindi, Bengali, Tagalog, and Indonesian. That covers domestic and global cast and crew radio call and runner duties.

The training pipeline is strong. Effat University Jeddah cinematic arts (the first Saudi women's film school program), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, King Saud University Riyadh, and Telfaz11 in-house training all feed in.

Schedules handle the five daily prayer pauses (Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha) plus Friday prayers around 12:00-13:30. During Ramadan, PAs work the 9pm-2am iftar-to-suhoor window. From October to April, 15-30°C makes outdoor work easy. June to September brings 45-50°C heat — that means required hydration runs, AC trailer upkeep, and shade tent setup.

Here is the breakdown. Compliance covers many bases. Ministry of Human Resources work permits, GOSI payroll sign-ups, and 15% VAT all apply. Saudization Nitaqat quotas (Saudi-national PAs drive a 5% rebates uplift on the Cultural Development Fund's 40% cash rebates), Tawuniya or Bupa Arabia medical insurance, and Saudi Civil Defense permits for stunt and pyro days are also needed.

Modest dress for female on-camera talent on domestic broadcast is standard (PAs set up fittings). Religious site restrictions apply too — no non-Muslim crew within the Mecca or Medina Haram. The workweek runs Sunday-Thursday.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. There is no domestic Saudi PA union. Global DGA training program and IATSE work routes reciprocally through Dubai EPS bureaus like Entertainment Partners ME and Talent Bank Dubai. Saudi-resident directors like Haifaa al-Mansour, Mahmoud Sabbagh, Ali Kalthami (Telfaz11's Sattar, 2022 box-office record), and Shahad Ameen brief PAs through the script-supervisor and 2nd AD chain.