Film Director Services

Here is how this works in practice. We place directors on Dutch shoots across features, drama series, documentaries and commercials, matching each project's creative direction to a director whose body of work fits the brief. Our team arranges showreel reviews and meetings in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, briefs the director on the shape of the shoot, and integrates them with the heads of department from the first prep meeting.

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Because Dutch crews are near-universally English-speaking — the Netherlands ranks first in the world for English proficiency — a foreign producer can work with a Dutch director and a full Dutch unit without a translation layer. We set up the director's schedule against the Netherlands Film Fund's 35% cash rebates timeline, the CAO collective-labour-agreement working hours, and the openings of the wider crew. Whether you need a feature director with auteur sensibility or a commercials director with brand experience, we structure the team and the call so the director can lead it.

Here is the short of it. The Dutch directing custom is unusually decorated for a country its size: Fons Rademakers won the Foreign Language Oscar for 'The Assault', Marleen Gorris for 'Antonia's Line' and Mike van Diem for 'Character', while Paul Verhoeven moved from 'Turkish Delight' and 'Soldier of Orange' to Hollywood and back to 'Black Book' and 'Elle'. The documentary line runs through Joris Ivens and Bert Haanstra, whose 'Glass' won the Best Documentary Short Oscar.

Here is how the picture comes together. Today's directors such as Anton Corbijn and Halina Reijn keep the global profile high. Most trained at the Netherlands Film Academy, part of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, and the directing community clusters around the IFFR in Rotterdam, IDFA in Amsterdam and the Netherlands Film Festival in Utrecht, where the Golden Calf awards are presented. We draw on that pool to find the right voice for your production.