Film Crew Day Rates: What Freelancers Actually Charge

By the Production Ledger team · Updated October 2026

"What's your rate?" shouldn't be the scariest question in the job.

Every freelancer in production has taken a job below their number because they didn't know what the number should be. Rates aren't posted anywhere official, nobody teaches this, and asking around feels awkward. So here's the straight version: what a day rate actually covers, what the ranges really look like by role, and how to quote yours without talking yourself down.

What a day rate actually is

A day rate is the price of your labor for one working day. In most of the industry that means a 10-hour or 12-hour day, agreed up front. It is not "whatever the day turns out to be." The two details that matter as much as the number itself:

• What a day means. A $650 rate on a 10-hour day and a $650 rate on a 12-hour day are two different rates. Say which one yours is when you quote.
• What happens after that. Overtime is commonly negotiated as time-and-a-half after the agreed day length, but it isn't automatic: what OT pays, and when it starts, is whatever your agreement says, and payroll jobs can carry their own wage-law rules on top. If nobody talked about overtime before the shoot, the 14-hour day comes out of your pocket.

Both of these belong in the conversation where the rate is agreed, before the job, ideally written into a deal memo. If you invoice for overtime nobody agreed to, you're negotiating after the work is done, which is the weakest position there is. More on getting the paper side right in how to invoice a production company.

What actually moves the number

Your role and department

The spread between roles is wide and real. A production assistant and a DP on the same set can be an order of magnitude apart, and that's normal: the rate prices responsibility, skill and years, not hours in the building.

Your market

The same gaffer bills differently in Los Angeles, Atlanta and a smaller regional market. Bigger production hubs generally run higher; smaller markets generally run lower. Neither is wrong. What's wrong is quoting a small-market number in a big market because you didn't know the local range.

The kind of work

Commercial and branded work generally pays above narrative and documentary for the same role. Agency-backed jobs pay above direct-to-client small business work. A rate that flexes by project type isn't inconsistency, it's how the whole industry works.

Experience and demand

Early on you price to get hired. Once you're getting rebooked and referred, you price to what your calendar says you're worth. One honest signal worth watching: if you're booked solid at your current rate for months, it's probably sitting low.

What a day rate is not

Your day rate covers your labor. It does not cover your lighting kit, your sound cart, your camera package, rentals, mileage or expenses. Those are separate line items with their own money. Folding kit into your labor rate makes you look expensive as a person and free as a package, which is the worst of both.

Realistic ranges by role

These are working ranges for freelance film and commercial crew on single-day bookings. The low end is a working floor, not a survival number; the high end is where bigger markets and agency jobs land. For the number most working crew actually charge in your role and your market, use the rate benchmark below, since a national band this wide can only bracket it.

Swipe to see more

Directing day rates

Camera day rates

Lighting / Electric day rates

Grip day rates

Sound / Audio day rates

Producing day rates

Art Department day rates

Hair, Makeup & Wardrobe day rates

Post Production day rates

BTS & 2nd Unit day rates

Live & Broadcast day rates

Creator / Digital day rates

Photography day rates

Writing & Creative day rates

Corporate & Events day rates

Wedding & Private Events day rates

These are day rates for crew hired by the day. A couple booking a wedding videographer directly is buying a package, which includes the editing and is priced differently. For package prices, add-ons, retainers and when the balance is due, see wedding videographer rates.

These are national working ranges for recent freelance commercial and narrative work. A rate that fits Los Angeles rarely fits a smaller regional market, so where you land inside a band depends on market size, project type and experience. Typical is the middle of the range for the role. For a number tuned to your role and your city, use the rate benchmark on our homepage.

Some jobs aren't sold by the day. Long-form YouTube editing, short-form social editing and a handful of photo and event roles are bought per deliverable: a finished video, a clip, a session. They sit in the tables above with a note on the unit they sell in, so read the Notes column before comparing one of them to a day rate.

Day rates by role, in plain terms

The same numbers as the table, one role at a time, for anyone who came here with a single question. Every figure is labor for one day with kit billed separately, and every one of them narrows a lot once you pick a market in the benchmark below.

Director day rate

Directors on narrative and commercial work run about $1,500 to $10,000 a day, with $2,500 as the typical figure in our data. The band is wide, because a first short and a national spot are not the same job. Like every number here it is labor for one day, and it describes non-union freelance work.

Commercial director day rate

Agency-facing commercial directors run about $2,000 to $15,000 a day, typically around $5,000. The low end is the same working floor as any other role; the high end is where agency budgets and larger markets land.

Director + DP (hyphenate) day rate

A director who also shoots, on commercial and branded work, runs about $2,500 to $12,000 a day, typically around $4,500. If you are quoting both jobs, put them on two lines, one for directing and one for photography, so the client can see what each is.

Director of Photography (DP) day rate

A freelance DP's labor runs about $750 to $4,500 a day across US markets, on a 10-hour or 12-hour day agreed up front. That is labor only: the camera package is a separate kit fee, and the spread is wide because a commercial in Los Angeles and a regional documentary are different jobs.

Camera operator day rate

Camera operators run about $500 to $900 a day. Owner-operators who bring a body and lenses add a kit fee on top; the labor number stays the labor number.

1st AC (focus puller) day rate

A 1st AC runs about $400 to $950 a day. Commercial and agency work sits at the top of that range, and a full AC kit (follow focus, monitors, media) bills separately when it is yours.

Gaffer day rate

Gaffers run about $650 to $1,300 a day for labor. A lighting package or a truck is its own rental line, and crew who own one usually quote both numbers in the same breath.

Key grip day rate

Key grips run about $600 to $1,200 a day. Like gaffers, the grip package is priced separately from the person, which is what keeps the labor rate intact when production brings its own truck.

Production sound mixer day rate

A production sound mixer with a basic kit runs about $650 to $1,500 a day. Sound is the department most often quoted with kit included, so say plainly whether your number is labor only or labor plus bag.

Boom operator day rate

Boom operators run about $400 to $850 a day for labor alone. The rate moves with the market and the length of the day more than with the size of the production.

1st Assistant Director day rate

A 1st AD runs about $600 to $1,500 a day. Prep days are working days for this role in particular, and most 1st ADs quote them at full rate or an agreed fraction.

Production assistant (PA) day rate

PAs run about $200 to $450 a day, typically around $300. State which day length the rate buys, because a 10-hour day and a 12-hour day are different rates. Unpaid is not a rate.

Key makeup artist day rate

Key makeup artists run about $600 to $2,000 a day. Kit fees for consumables are normal and are quoted separately from the labor rate.

Wardrobe stylist day rate

Wardrobe stylists run about $500 to $2,000 a day. Pull days and returns are working days, and purchases are reimbursed expenses rather than part of the rate.

Video editor day rate

Editors booked by the day run about $500 to $2,000, typically around $1,000. Long-form YouTube and short-form social editing are usually bought per deliverable instead, so they have their own rows in the Post Production table above, priced per video and per clip.

Kit fees: the second number

If you bring gear, you have two rates: labor and kit. A sound mixer with a full bag, a gaffer with a van of lighting, a DP with a camera package: the kit bills its own daily fee, priced on what the package actually is. There's no standard percentage of your labor rate, and pretending there is one either undersells a real package or pads a small one, and the full breakdown of labor, kit, rentals and reimbursements is in kit fee vs day rate.

Keeping them separate isn't bureaucracy. It protects the labor rate when a client says "we've got camera covered, just need you," and it makes the kit's value visible when they don't. It also matters for insurance: gear on set should be worth a known number on paper, and a kit fee is where that starts being real. The list behind that number is its own guide: tracking your kit.

How to quote without underpricing yourself

• Give a number, not a shrug. "My rate is $900 on a 10-hour day, kit is separate" beats "whatever works for the budget" every time, including for the client, who now knows what they're buying.
• Know whether the job is payroll or 1099 before you quote. On a payroll job taxes come out of your check; on a 1099 job every dollar arrives whole and the taxes are yours to handle, so the same number doesn't take home the same amount. Here's how 1099s actually work.
• Half days mostly aren't. A half day still blocks the whole day on your calendar: you can't book anything else around it. That's why crew who offer them price them well above half (a common approach lands somewhere around 60–75% of the full rate), and plenty don't offer them at all.
• Prep, scout and travel days are working days. Full rate or an agreed fraction. A day spent driving to location is a day you couldn't sell to anyone else.
• When they ask "what's the budget?" back, it's fine to answer a range: "depending on the day length and whether you need my kit, I'm typically $X to $Y." A range keeps you in the room without naming a number blind.
• Discount deliberately or not at all. A passion project, a director you love, a slow month: real reasons exist. Discount on purpose, say it's a discount, and keep your actual rate on the paper so the lower number doesn't quietly become the new one.

Find your range for this role, in your market

The table above is the wide view. Our rate benchmark narrows it: pick the role and the market and it gives you a range built from the same research behind these numbers, free and without an account. Where in that range this particular job sits is your call: the benchmark won't make it for you, and neither will a table.

Whatever number you land on, quote it as two lines, not one: labor at your day rate, kit at its own fee. Blending them is how a client who "has camera covered" ends up negotiating your labor rate down to a number that was really pricing your gear. That split is the whole subject of kit fee vs day rate.

Raising your rate

Rates move between jobs, not during them. The cleanest moment is a new client, who has no old number to compare against. For returning clients, tell them ahead of the next booking, plainly: "heads up, my rate's now $X." If you're booked out, rebooked and referred at your current number, it's time. Most freelancers wait a year too long.

Want to run your own numbers? The day rate calculator turns a rate into an hourly figure with overtime, and the crew budget estimator adds up a whole crew from these same ranges.

Day rate questions, answered

What is a good starting day rate for a new PA?

Production assistants run about $200 to $450 a day nationally in our data, typically around $300. Unpaid is not a rate. Whatever the number, say which day length it buys, because a 10-hour day and a 12-hour day are different rates.

Is a 10-hour day rate the same as a 12-hour day rate?

No. A rate on a 10-hour day and the same number on a 12-hour day are two different rates. Say which one yours is when you quote.

How is overtime paid on a film crew day rate?

It is commonly negotiated as time and a half after the agreed day length, but it is not automatic. What overtime pays and when it starts is whatever your agreement says, and payroll jobs can carry wage-law rules on top. If nobody talked about overtime before the shoot, the long day comes out of your pocket.

Should I quote my full rate for a short film or a low-budget shoot?

Discount on purpose or not at all. If you do discount, say so, and keep your actual rate on the paper so the lower number does not quietly become your new rate. Prep, scout and travel days are working days at full rate or an agreed fraction.

How much should I charge for a half day?

A half day still blocks the whole day, so crew who offer them price well above half. Around 60 to 75 percent of the full rate is a common approach, and plenty of crew do not offer half days at all.

Does my day rate include my camera or lighting kit?

No. A day rate covers your labor alone, kit is its own daily fee priced on what the package actually is, and there is no standard percentage of labor, so quote two lines: labor and kit.