Film Career · Cast
Body Double
Cast · Varies by craft and market
- Union
- Varies
- Day rate
- ~$208/day and up
- Experience
- 0–40+ yrs
What does a Body Double do?
A body double carries a hands-on craft within the cast department, delivering their specialty daily as part of the department's crew.
Union coverage for the position varies: varies by craft and market. Like every cast role, the job is hired production by production, and repeat work comes from department heads who trust the name on the call sheet.
What does a Body Double make?
- SAG-AFTRA scale is $208 a day for background and about $1,100 a day for principal performers, with leads negotiating far above.
- Roughly $15K a year to millions, with almost all of the range at the very top.
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.
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You can act and take direction
Soft skills
- You are a dependable team player who makes the department run
- You like hands-on work and getting the details right
Career progression
The role advances the way most cast careers do: repeat hires from the same department heads, growing responsibility within the craft, and a reputation that travels between productions faster than any resume.
How do you become a Body Double?
Careers reach this chair through the cast department ladder: entry work first, then increasing responsibility as the crew learns your name. Smaller productions hand out the title earlier, and the credits transfer.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.