Film Career · Second Unit Director Or Assistant Director
Crowd Assistant Director
Second Unit Director Or Assistant Director · Directors Guild of America
- Union
- Directors Guild of America
- Day rate
- ~$3,500–$4,000/wk
- Experience
- 8–18+ yrs
What does a Crowd Assistant Director do?
A crowd assistant director leads within the second unit director or assistant director department, answering for its output while managing the people and logistics behind it.
On union productions the position falls under Directors Guild of America, which sets the rates, hours, and conditions the role works within. Like every second unit director or assistant director 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 Crowd Assistant Director make?
- This is a department-head chair, toward the top of its department's range.
- The AD department is DGA-covered: 2nd ADs roughly $3,500-$4,000 a week, 1st ADs $5,300-$5,900, and second-unit directors negotiated.
- Roughly $90K-$275K+ a year.
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 schedule and run a set safely
Soft skills
- You can lead a crew, hold a budget, and answer for the department
- You make decisions calmly and own the results
Career progression
The role advances the way most second unit director or assistant director 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 Crowd Assistant Director?
The path here is internal: the second unit director or assistant director department promotes this position from within, based on a track record built in its junior chairs. Start at the department's entry level and let the work argue for you.
On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by Directors Guild of America contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.