Film/TV+
Services: start with call to discuss project. Bespoke service plan offer based on needs. Including: script consulting sessions. Script feedback/redlines. Consulting for animal aquisition. Actual animal aquisition and contract negotiation with owners. Providing owned animals. Offsite training. Onsite rehearsal and filming. Support in post including for media.
To name: first time producers who have never worked with animals before, encourage heavily to have a free discussion call with me to AMA. ICP film students and small productions in Toronto and mtl.
Dont forget DMWYD animal actors evaluator badge, and the whmis/safe on set certificate. Also first aid certificate. And any dog bite preventation and response related (be a tree/etc?)
A note on how animal work actually gets made
In film and television, animal work rarely arrives neatly divided between departments. On most productions, the roles described here are handled by one person or a small team; the same individual who consults on the script is the one who sources the animals, trains the behaviors, and stands at the edge of set on shoot day cueing the performance. This isn't a limitation. It's how the work is built.
The categories below reflect the genuine functions involved in bringing animal performance from concept to screen. Understanding them separately matters, as each represents a distinct phase with its own timeline, its own decision points, and its own costs. Productions that skip the consultative phase and jump straight to "we need a dog on set next Tuesday" are the ones that run into problems.
In practice, hiring for animal work on a production most often means hiring one experienced person who can move fluidly across all of these functions. What you're really assessing is whether that person has the depth to do each of them well; not just handle an animal on the day, but think upstream about what the story needs, what's genuinely achievable, and how to protect both the production and the animals throughout.
Animal Training/Behavior Consultant
Identify the art of the possible when it comes to animal behavior and how it fits into your story. This role works at the script and development level; shaping what's written, flagging what's achievable, and translating creative vision into realistic execution. Covers capability assessment, on-screen behavior planning, safety considerations, acquisition needs assessment, and training timeline forecasting before a single animal is on set.
Animal Coordinator
The organizational backbone of animal work on a production. Responsible for acquisition or sourcing, scheduling animals and trainers across shoot days, managing training and performance timelines, and ensuring all animal-related logistics are integrated with the broader production schedule. The coordinator keeps animal work on time, on budget, and prepared.
Animal Trainer
Responsible for the hands-on training of required behaviors with the animals cast in the production. Works from the behavior plan established in pre-production to bring each performance to a reliable, shoot-ready standard. This includes foundational conditioning, behavior shaping, proofing for on-set conditions, and readiness assessment ahead of filming.
Animal Handler/Wrangler
Present on set for every animal moment. The handler manages the animal's physical presence during filming — cueing behaviors, maintaining safety, reading the animal's state in real time, and communicating with the director and crew on what's working and what needs adjustment. This role is the direct interface between trained behavior and camera.
Animals available for hire
A roster of personally owned and trained animals available for immediate production use. Unlike sourced or acquired animals, these individuals are already conditioned for on-set environments, have an established behavioral history, and come with known capabilities and limitations. No lead time required for acquisition — they're ready when you are.