Film Career · Script And Continuity
Script Associate
Script And Continuity · IATSE script supervisor locals
- Union
- IATSE script supervisor locals
- Day rate
- ~$450–$700/day
- Experience
- 3–7 yrs
What does a Script Associate do?
A script associate carries a hands-on craft within the script and continuity department, delivering their specialty daily as part of the department's crew.
On union productions the position falls under IATSE script supervisor locals, which sets the rates, hours, and conditions the role works within. The role is engaged show by show, and careers in script and continuity are built on the department heads and crews who hire the same trusted people back.
What does a Script Associate make?
- Script supervision is paid by the day or week: roughly $450-$700 a day, $2,800-$4,200 a week, or roughly $70K-$130K a year (IATSE script supervisor locals).
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 track continuity, timing, and coverage in detail
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 script and continuity 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 Script Associate?
Careers reach this chair through the script and continuity 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.
On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by IATSE script supervisor locals contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.