This is a unique job – within our organization and in the marketplace. A Classifier is primarily responsible for classifying motion pictures that are sent to us by film distributors before they are shown in movie theaters. Classifications include ratings such as PG and 14A. This role is part of the Regulatory Services department, which is responsible for ensuring licensing requirements and business practices follow consumer protection laws, including the Motion Picture Act.
Here is a typical day in the life of a Classifier:
Most of your time is spent alone watching movies to assign a classification to them, so once you get to the office, you will likely start your day by grabbing a cup of coffee in the kitchen and briefly chatting with your co-workers. Once you’ve stored your lunch in the fridge, you do a quick check of your emails.
Today it looks like you have three films and five advertising trailers to classify. Over the next several hours, you are focused on your computer monitor and watching for specific content elements and depictions. Today’s movies include a family-friendly comedy, a drama, and a documentary about child abuse. Using the Motion Picture Act, you will objectively decide on the appropriate classification.
At lunch, you join your co-workers for a potluck to raise funds for a local charity. You have one movie left to watch as well as some data entry and uploading your classification decisions to our website. At the end of the day, you get an email from a member of the public who is not happy with how we classified a film. You meet with your supervisor to get some context around that decision, and you send a response to help them understand our process and why that movie was classified PG and not 14A.
As the day wraps up, you say goodbye to your team and head out of the office feeling a great deal of satisfaction, knowing that each film you classified today will help consumers make more informed choices when choosing their next film.
Think you might want to join our team?
Read The Right Fit, our HR & culture blog, and the careers page of our website. Any new job postings can be found on the Join our talented team menu of our careers page. To learn more about the work we do as a provincial regulator, visit the About us section of www.consumerprotectionbc.ca.