fight director
Fight directors coach performers to safely execute fight sequences. They direct fights for performances such as dance, movies and television, circus, variety, and others. Fight directors may have a background in sports such as fencing, shooting or boxing, martial arts such as judo, wushu or karate, or military training.
fight director fight directors coach performers to safely execute fight sequences. They direct fights for performances such as dance, movies and television, circus, variety, and others. The role shows moderate AI exposure (0.50 on a 0-1 scale) — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. The most in-demand skills for the role include labour legislation, intellectual property law, performing arts fights legal regulations, supervise performers' fights, work ergonomically.
Pay in the UK
UK: median £45,534 a year for Arts officers, producers and directors (ONS ASHE 2025, full-time)
UK jobs are grouped differently; this is the closest UK occupation group (ONS SOC 2020 3416). ONS rates this estimate reasonably precise. 2025 provisional figures; ONS revises them a year later. Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Open Government Licence)
Pay in India (occupation group)
Average monthly earnings of salaried employees in the occupation group “Technicians and associate professionals” in India, from the Government of India's Periodic Labour Force Survey (January–December 2025). It covers everyone in this group, not only fight director, and it is not US pay converted to rupees.
Source: MoSPI (Government of India), Periodic Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2025, Table 51 — average wage/salary earnings of regular wage/salaried employees, NCO-2015 division 3. Official India data gives one average per occupation group: there are no official India figures for single careers, experience levels or cities. Read the report
Top skills
Knowledge you'll build
- Communications and Media
- English Language
- Telecommunications
- Computers and Electronics
- Administration and Management
- Customer and Personal Service
- Fine Arts
- Engineering and Technology
What you'd actually do
- Plan details such as framing, composition, camera movement, sound, and actor movement for each shot or scene.
- Communicate to actors the approach, characterization, and movement needed for each scene in such a way that rehearsals and takes are minimized.
- Direct live broadcasts, films and recordings, or non-broadcast programming for public entertainment or education.
- Research production topics using the internet, video archives, and other informational sources.
- Review film, recordings, or rehearsals to ensure conformance to production and broadcast standards.
- Study and research scripts to determine how they should be directed.
Tools & technology you'd use
Frequently asked questions
What does fight director do?
Fight directors coach performers to safely execute fight sequences. They direct fights for performances such as dance, movies and television, circus, variety, and others. Fight directors may have a background in sports such as fencing, shooting or boxing, martial arts such as judo, wushu or karate, or military training.
What skills does fight director need?
The most in-demand skills for this role include labour legislation, intellectual property law, performing arts fights legal regulations, supervise performers' fights, work ergonomically, communicate expectations of fight actions. These are the skills O*NET identifies as most important for competent performance.
Will AI replace fight director?
Our AI-durability model gives fight director a score of 0.50 on a 0-1 scale (higher = more exposure). That places it at moderate AI exposure — some tasks are being automated but the role adapts. Learning to work with AI tools rather than against them is the path forward.