How much does a Best Boy make?

Day rate about $300-$1,000 (union scale around $55 an hour, roughly a $3,300 weekly guarantee), roughly $50K-$150K a year. Steady episodic and feature work pushes the high end; the indie floor is around $300-$450 a day.

Film Career · Lighting / Grip

Best Boy (Electric and Grip)

Lighting / Grip · IATSE Local 728 (electric) / Local 80 (grip), LA

Union: IATSE Local 728
Day rate: ~$300–$1,000/day
Experience: 3–7 yrs

What does a Best Boy do?

Each of the two biggest technical departments has a best boy: the gaffer's second in electric and the key grip's second in grip. The best boy manages the truck, the inventory, the paperwork, and the day players, keeping the department staffed and stocked so the department head can stay on set. The title is used for any gender; some crews say best girl or second.

What does a Best Boy make?

Day rate about $300-$1,000 (union scale around $55 an hour, roughly a $3,300 weekly guarantee), roughly $50K-$150K a year.
Steady episodic and feature work pushes the high end; the indie floor is around $300-$450 a day.

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.

On the job

Run the department truck: inventory, expendables, orders, and returns
Hire and schedule day players as the workload swells and shrinks
Track the department's paperwork, timecards, and rental agreements
Bridge between the department head on set and the vendors off it

You’ll like and be good at this job if:

Hard skills

You know the gear, power, and rigging well enough to order and manage it
You can run a crew and keep the truck organized

Soft skills

You are the dependable second who makes the department head look good
You want responsibility without yet carrying the whole creative call

Career progression

Best boy is the management step in the middle of the craft ladder: electrician or grip, then best boy, then gaffer or key grip. The job teaches the budgeting and logistics that department heads live on, which is exactly why it is the proving ground for the top job.

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
Electrician (Set Lighting Technician)· 3-5 yrs
~$45K–$130K/yr
Best Boy (Electric and Grip)you are here· 3-6 yrs
~$50K–$150K/yr
Gaffer· peak of the craft
~$55K–$180K/yr

How do you become a Best Boy?

You do not enter as a best boy; you get promoted into it. Work as an electrician or grip until a gaffer or key grip trusts you with their truck. Being organized, good with paperwork, and fair with day-player hiring is what gets you the call.

On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by IATSE Local 728 (electric) / Local 80 (grip), LA contracts.

Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.