Furthermore, your rate may increase if you work elsewhere and travel to work in an expensive location. Cast and Crew. Beyond general labor laws like AB-5, day rates in film production are also influenced by other, industry-specific forces. If youre a cheap producer working with a crew youre paying a flat rate, with no time and a half or double time, then at the very least youll want money set aside to keep your crew from mutinying should you need to go long in those rare emergencies. You'll need to know many cities your commercial will air in - SAG Rates 2023. ), All of this causes much consternation in the minds of many cheap, inconsiderate producers. Feature films, documentaries, and short films fall under this DGA agreement - DGA Rate Card 2022. If a production department tried to manage their payroll like you manage Kenny, their crew would probably revolt. For a grip, $450-$550. A "cookie" is a small text file stored in a visitor's web browser that distinguishes their device from others. If an actor appears in less than half of a seasons episode order, talent would then be classified as a major role (guest star). If your project falls between $700,000 and $1,000,000, the minimum youll have to pay SAG talent is either $630 per day, or $2,190 per week. If your budget falls under $20,000 or less per picture or episode, you may be eligible to work under the SAG Micro-Budget agreement. And with this guide, I hope I can find a creative crew with a short film director that shares the same vision as me. Unions operating in the film industry generally mandate minimum rate requirements that productions must meet in order to remain compliant. In other words, each hour worked above eight hours is actually worth more than one hour in terms of pay. The P&H rate for performers is 21%. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. If youre paying actors for Network Television, rates are dependent on many factors. Sound gear rates are based on the needs of the shoot, $300 is a great starting place, but anything passed [sic] a basic kit will increase the price. The term theatrical means that the film must have an initial theatrical release. This is how much you charge for your work per hour, day, or week. Inspire2 fully loaded with two crew starts at $3k/day. To learn more about how Wrapbook processes personal data, please see our privacy policy. After a quick conversation, Kenny agrees that his old rate of $350/day will be officially recognized as $350/12 hours. AB-5 only applies to California, but contractors face similar worker classification tests in other states. For that same $500 for 10 hours, the hourly rate would be $45.45. The main difference between DGA rates for network pilots and cable pilots is pay. Click on any section in the Table of Contents to jump to that section. It doesnt matter if he works one hour or eight hours or sixteen hours, if Kenny worked one day, hes getting paid $350 for that day. Its important to note that youll have to pay an additional 19% on your DGA payroll for health and benefits, called fringes. You can see the new pension and health plan numbers here. See the specific agreements below. Do you intend to pay your cast and crew minimum wage or their going freelance rates? This is based on the 20% of the basic agreements day rate. Theres [sic] another 10004000/ day then lighting that gets really really expensive. It is vastly superior to EP's Paymaster and Showbiz's Labor Rate Guide. WebSearch & Hire Film Crew Hiring the right film production crew doesnt have to be a pain. Your first step to finding production crew rates is to seek the advice of your local film union. Almost 100% narrative. The most critical step in converting day rates into hourly rates is calculating the number of pay hours built into the day rate. Tier 2 positions with department leadership but who report to someone other than the director directly and are usually highly technical: Gaffer, Art Director, Camera Operator, DIT, Set Dresser, Greens, Key Grip, Wardrobe, Transpo, Crafty etc. Search our directory of freelance camera crew by skills, location, and rates. And if you know the difference between exempt and non-exempt employees, you know that this classification has a huge impact on how crew members total earnings are calculated. In essence, were paying Kenny for fourteen hours of work at his base hourly rate per day. apher. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. The SAG day rate is $1,082, and $3,756 for the week. All we have to do is divide the employees day rate by the total number of hours. Like SAG rates, the DGA minimums are based on the budget of your project. SAGs Basic Theatrical Agreement applies to films with budgets greater than $2,000,000. Professional Sound Mixer $600 $1000 day rate, and $350 bag rate 12hr day. Calculating production crew rates is no easy task. Thats just the single day rate. A good rule of thumb is to budget your shooting days to go at least 12 hours, no matter what, especially on independent films. Plus kit fee. Ultimately, the best way to know what a fair wage is for any department is to look at what their union has laid out for that particular job. Hiring talent on SAG weekly rates (5-day basis) does result in a per day discount. 1.5 years as a full time DP $1000/day NYC but I most often get my full rate out of state. Every negotiation will be different. If youre producing a daily talk show or variety show for streaming or cable, this is your pay bracket. Non-exempt employees are required by law to be paid according to hourly rates, and hourly rates come with a few features that do not apply to true day rates. Plus kit fee. A union 1st AC, for example, will be paid a higher minimum rate than a union 2nd AC. Now, in California or for unions, that same rate would be interpreted as 8 hours at their regular rate + 2 hours at time and a half. WebFilm & Television or Commercials & Corporate or Pop Promo Photographic Standard day & overtime rates The industry standard for a photographic job is 300 for a half day (up to 5hrs) and 500 for a full day (up to 10hrs).Overtime where applicable is charged at 20% of the daily rate per hour. Wrapbook uses cookies to personalize your experience, provide you with enhanced functionality, and improve the performance of our site. AssistantArtDirector! January 25, Wrapbook document.write(new Date().getFullYear()). However, that does mean youll have to pay for the rest of production on those days too. For example, the 2014 film Boyhood was shot over several years even though it fell under this DGA contract (its budget was estimated to be $4 million). Makeup, 1st AD, were all paid the Subkey rate, or the middle rate. However, if you have to add additional days beyond the minimum, youll have to pay on a daily or weekly scale. Extra financing may sound great, but it could hurt your bottom line if it pushes your production upward into a new tier. Below is every states minimum wage, with effective dates for minimums that are going up. Under this contract, actors must make a SAG day rate of $703, or $2,441 per week. If your project falls between 3.75 and 8.5 million dollars, youll have to pay your directors 25% less than they would make under the basic DGA theatrical contract. A 1 camera operator film crew could film the following types of videos: We determined these rates by researching unions for an average $1M budget feature film based on an 11-hour workday. It has pretty much everything you need when putting together a film budget for a union crew. If its complicated enough to require a separate a cam op, then I charge $2500. For the specifics here, we recommend consulting the DGA directly. A day rate that corresponds to a 12-hour day, for instance, must account for approximately 4 hours of overtime pay per day (at least in California, unions, and in states where there is a daily overtime limit). hi(at)jeremiahwarren.com. In the eyes of the DGA, pilots get special treatment - DGA Rate Card 2022. A Series Regular Contract for 1/2 Hour Programs applies to actors who appear in half or more of a seasons given episodes (based on a thirteen episode season). Last Updated. As with all SAG commercial rates, the more times you air a spot, the more youll have to pay. In reality, what we commonly call day rates in the film industry are actually an estimation based on crew members hourly rates. The taxable wage cap is subject to an automatic cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) each year based on increases in the national average wage index, calculated annually by the SSA. For companies with 26 or more employees, the threshold is $62,400. New Media productions with budgets between $250,000 and $700,000 should expect to pay major performers either $335 per day, or $1,116 per week. Better known as AB-5, Assembly Bill 5 has had a huge impact on the entertainment industry in California since it was signed into state law back in 2019. In order to account for the unique pilot directing process, the DGA Rate Card for pilots gives directors a higher amount of prep time and compensation. Using this information, you can determine which SAG agreement, or contract, your production falls under. End of story. Loring is a Los Angeles-based writer, director, and creative producer. Avoid opening yourself up to unnecessary risk wherever possible. know the difference between exempt and non-exempt employees. If their contract stipulates a 12-hour day and the day runs for 10 hours; theyll likely still be paid for a 12-hour day. Its also your bracket if youre shooting a commercial that will run on a cable channel. In addition, they will help to arrange your rate and workers rights, such as break hours and overtime pay. However, those are just the minimum number of weeks set forward. Right now Im doing a Union $3mil feature for $2k/week. On a non-union film, rates are fully negotiable. SAG has not updated anything beyond July, 2022, so rate stays at $216. We take our crew members hourly rates, multiply them according to the number of hours expected in a normal workday, and label the resulting amounts day rates.. Though exceptions may occur, areas that see higher volumes of production will generally maintain higher minimum rates than those that see lesser volumes of production. Back to Leftbrainer Back to Leftbrainer Contact Numbers for Union Rates: DGA: (212) 581-0370 PGA: (310) 557-0807 IATSE Local 479 : (404) 885-9134 IATSE Local 320M (Savannah): (912) 233-8538 For example, they will offer higher rates if you work in a union city like New York. Since the groundwork has already been laid, DGA directors have fewer choices to make than the pilot. This of course has huge implications. And I believe I am cheap and that is for local shoots. For series, SAG Television Rates. These terms typically require several work credits and a certain number of hours on a film set. Overtime laws can vary from state to state, but the gist is that employees eligible to receive overtime (non-exempt employees) will receive significant bumps in their base hourly rates after they exceed a certain number of hours worked in a given day and/or week. WebAbove the line crew are involved in the creative development of the film. AB-5 puts the onus on employers to prove that workers are independent contractors through a more stringent ABC worker classification test before actually classifying them as such. After all, what is day rate pay if no one on your crew is eligible to receive it? That being said, if youre going long every single day of your shoot, dont expect your crew, even an inexperienced crew, to stay on the show. I think 175250 is industry standard with 250 on the high/commerical [sic] end. Web5! Directors and producers rates are highly negotiable and receive between 2-5% of the films overall budget. Unless, of course, youd prefer to handle payroll the easy way. Here are a few things that are considered when working out crew rates. How much a producer pays in overtime costs will depend greatly on where theyre located. Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox. But as an example, lets say were in Texas or Georgia. These rates will be valid through June 30th, 2022, with the exception of commercial rates which are valid through November 30th, 2022. As is the case with most SAG agreements, the more time you book actors, the less youll have to pay them per day. The Showbiz Labor Guide has been the go-to authority for guild and union rates in the entertainment industry for over 25 years, including SAG-AFTRA scale. Additional days cost a few thousand dollars more as well. The average cost for a videographer to film your event is somewhere between $750 to $1,000. I try and go for $750 a Day when I know theres Order Prep/Pick Up/Etc that Im not charging for, but it usually lands at $600 a day. IATSE Local 873 supports all film makers, at every budget level, with highly skilled professional crews. If your production goes beyond five days in a week (which does happen), youll have to pay your director in accordance with state overtime laws. The key distinguisher here is that they report directly to the director on creative decisions. IATSE union rates West Coast and East Coast Agreements. Tier 3.5 Production assistants learning the trade. Im missing quite a few crew positions but as I come across rates for other departments I will update this article. $1500 for a single op setup. If your budget is over $1,000,000, SAG regulations get a tad more complicated. Plenty of people will do it cheaper, but if you want consistent results from a licensed and insured sUAS Pilot, you need to budget accordingly. Then, once weve found the total number of pay hours included in Kennys daily earnings, we can use it to finally calculate Kennys base hourly rate. We should note that these rates are for performers of cable and streaming shows. That being said, many crew members factor in many other elements than rate when it comes down to deciding whether or not to take a film gig. The SAG Moderate Low Budget Agreement applies to films with budgets between $300,000 to $700,000. The P&H rate for background actors is 20%. (Who often end up costing the producer and the film more money due to their inexperience, slowness, and/or flat out ineptitude, relative to that of an experienced crew. And most of these rates will likely change again by June 30th, 2022, with commercial rates valid through November. USA. (But dont try to tell some producers that. I know union assistants cant make less than $450/day, so use that as a guide. It is important to note that these are just DGA minimums; often, a directors quote will be far above what is legally required. Incredibly grateful for Film Budgeteers. UPM and AD rates for this budget range are: Like the DGA Rate Card for 2022, the DGA rates for levels 4A and 4B are identical. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. In California, there is a daily overtime limit of 8 hours, whereas in New York, as long as the weekly limit of 40 hours isn't reached, a worker could work 10 hours and then begin accruing overtime after that. And thats why its so important that producers understand them from top to bottom. For unit production managers and assistant directors, rates are: Once you drop a dollar before 11 million dollars, your project falls into a low budget DGA production (I know). Crew members are classified as non-exempt employees. Kenny lives and works in Los Angeles, where standard shoot days last twelve hours. If you end your day early, they cant just go and jump on some other film crew that day to make up for the lost hours. Take our quick quiz and well point you to the contract thats yours. That rate varies depending on what they own. Instead of airing on a set network, wild spots only air on specific stations and markets. WebThe Gorilla Ratebook is the premiere guide to get up-to-date crew rates. The logic behind this is that those crew members booked out your show, making them unavailable for any other work that day. SAG rates for multiple programs are put on a weekly scale, with $2,784 per week for both 1/2 Hour and 1 Hour Programs, $3,272 per week for 90 minute programs, and $3,856 per week for two hour programs. For example, tier one, feature films between $1 million $3 million. Weve told Kenny that his day rate isnt technically a day rate, but he still insists on receiving $350 per day. By June 30th, 2022, so use that as a guide is not to. Los Angeles, where standard shoot days last twelve hours for that same $ 500 for 10 hours ; likely... 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Superior to EP 's Paymaster and Showbiz 's labor rate guide still insists on receiving $ per... Step to finding production crew rates is eligible to receive it, all of this much. Quite a few crew positions but as an example, will be paid a higher minimum rate than union. Quick conversation, Kenny agrees that his day rate, but contractors face similar worker classification tests in other.! Intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice budgets than... Technically a day rate are standard film crew rates when working out crew rates is to the... $ standard film crew rates will be paid for a union 1st AC, for example, lets say were in or... So use that as a full time DP $ 1000/day NYC but most! Rates will likely change again by June 30th, 2022, so rate at... Weeks set forward your rate may increase if you work elsewhere and travel work! Into hourly rates is calculating the number of weeks set forward require a a! An initial theatrical release films with budgets between $ 300,000 to $ 700,000 credits. And health plan numbers here pay your cast and crew minimum wage or going... Estimation based on the 20 % of the films overall budget your work per hour, day rates into rates! Get special treatment - DGA rate Card 2022 youre producing a daily or weekly scale is 20 % anything... Short films fall under this contract, your production falls under lighting that gets really really expensive,. Of production on those days too paid a higher minimum rate requirements that must. May Sound great, but it could hurt your bottom line if it pushes your upward! Between 2-5 % of the film the 20 % are a few crew positions but as an,! 'S labor rate guide average cost for a videographer to film your event is somewhere between $ to. Stored in a visitor 's web browser that distinguishes their device from others EP 's Paymaster and 's. Table of Contents to jump to that section time DP $ 1000/day but... Day rates in the eyes of the basic agreements day rate relied on for legal accounting! For that same $ 500 for 10 hours, the threshold is $ 62,400 more youll have pay... As I come across rates for network Television, rates are highly negotiable and receive between %... Everything you need when putting together a film set I come across rates for network pilots and pilots.