Film Career · Producer
Field Associate Producer
Producer · Not unionized; PGA is a professional association
- Union
- Non-union
- Day rate
- ~$90K–$300K/yr
- Experience
- 8–25+ yrs
What does a Field Associate Producer do?
The field associate producer is a working craft position in the producer department on film and television productions.
Union coverage for the position varies: not unionized; pga is a professional association. Like every producer 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 Field Associate Producer make?
- Producing has no union floor and pay is negotiated per project: roughly $50K-$250K on indie features and $250K-$1M+ on studio films.
- Working producers land roughly $90K-$300K a year, established ones far more.
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 build budgets, schedules, and teams
Soft skills
- You take pride in doing your specific craft well, day in and day out
- You are a dependable team player who makes the department run
Career progression
The role advances the way most producer 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 Field Associate Producer?
The working route in is through the producer department's junior positions: assist the people holding this chair, learn the standards the department runs on, and take the small versions of the job wherever they are offered.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.