Film Career · Location Management
Key Location Production Assistant
Location Management · Teamsters Local 399 in Los Angeles; varies by market
- Union
- Teamsters Local 399 in Los Angeles
- Day rate
- ~$3,500–$5,500+/wk
- Experience
- 1–4 yrs
What does a Key Location Production Assistant do?
A key location production assistant is the supporting chair in the location management department, executing the department head's plan and managing the details that shooting days depend on.
Union coverage for the position varies: teamsters local 399 in los angeles; varies by market. The role is engaged show by show, and careers in location management are built on the department heads and crews who hire the same trusted people back.
What does a Key Location Production Assistant make?
- This is an entry or assistant chair, toward the lower end of its department's range.
- Location work is paid weekly with heavy prep and overtime: assistants lower, and location managers roughly $3,500-$5,500+ a week.
- Roughly $60K-$250K+ a year (Teamsters Local 399 in Los Angeles).
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) ↗
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You can scout, permit, and manage locations
Soft skills
- You are reliable, eager to learn, and happy to start at the bottom
- You anticipate what the crew needs and stay a step ahead
The ladder
Related chairs in this craft family, ordered from entry toward leadership:
- 1Key Location Production Assistant (this role)
- 2Location Production Assistant
Career progression
Within this craft family the recognized progression runs from key location production assistant toward location production assistant, with each step earned through set time and the trust of the chairs above. Where this role sits on that ladder is less important than how the location management department works: people move up when the department already believes they can do the next 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.
- Key Location Production Assistantyou are here
~$60K–$250K+/yr
~$60K–$250K+/yr
How do you become a Key Location Production Assistant?
Entry runs through availability and attitude: departments fill this position from crew lists, referrals, and people already on set who asked for the chance. Day-playing on smaller productions is the fastest way to be seen doing the work.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.