Film Career · Art
Art Director
Art · IATSE Art Directors Guild, Local 800
- Union
- IATSE Art Directors Guild
- Day rate
- ~$3,000–$7,500/wk
- Experience
- 2–6 yrs
What does an Art Director do?
The art director runs the art department day to day, turning the production designer's concepts into drawings, budgets, and build schedules. Set construction, graphics, and set dressing crews all answer to them. On large shows several assistant art directors each own a slice of the workload.
What does an Art Director make?
- About $3,000-$7,500 a week (ADG scale around $3,000-$3,600), or roughly $120K-$300K a year.
- Project size and the size of the art department underneath you move the range.
Film work is gig based, so crew are paid a day or weekly rate rather than a salary. These are realistic 2024-2025 ranges grounded in union rate cards and industry data; actual pay swings with budget tier, market, overtime, and reputation.
Sources & how we estimate pay
Union scale is the floor; the ranges above also reflect market day rates above scale. They are grounded in the following 2024–2025 sources:
Union rate cards & wage schedules
Official guild scale — the floor each craft is paid from.
- IATSE — 2024 Basic Agreement wage scales (PDF) ↗
- IATSE Local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild) — camera rate cards ↗
- DGA — minimum salary rate cards (director, unit production manager, assistant directors) ↗
- WGA — schedule of minimums (writers) ↗
- SAG-AFTRA — theatrical & background rate sheets (cast, stunts, background) ↗
- Teamsters Local 399 — basic feature wage rates, 2024–27 (transportation, locations, wranglers) (PDF) ↗
Government wage data
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the closest federal occupation.
On the job
- Translate the production designer's concepts into working drawings and build packages
- Manage the art department budget, schedule, and crew across sets and locations
- Coordinate construction, scenic, graphics, and set dressing so builds land on time
- Supervise on-set changes when the shooting company needs a set adjusted fast
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You can draft and read construction drawings and build packages
- You can budget and schedule an art department
Soft skills
- You are organized enough to run crews, money, and deadlines at once
- You like solving practical problems more than being the sole author of the look
Career progression
The ladder is well defined: art department assistant, then draftsperson or set designer, then assistant art director, then art director. From there the step up is production designer. Strong drafting, budgeting, and people management move you up faster than pure design flair.
A typical path, from entry to the top of the craft. Times are rough and vary by market, luck, and how steadily the work comes.
- Production Assistant· 0-2 yrs
~$35K–$55K/yr
- Set Designer· 2-4 yrs
~$50K–$450K+/yr
- Art Directoryou are here· 4-7 yrs
~$120K–$300K/yr
- Production Designer· peak of the craft
~$130K–$450K+/yr
How do you become an Art Director?
A design, architecture, or theater degree helps but a portfolio and drafting skills matter more. Start as an art department PA or graphic designer on any production, learn Vectorworks or AutoCAD, and get on the Art Directors Guild's radar once you have qualifying days on covered shows.
On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by IATSE Art Directors Guild, Local 800 contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.