Film Career · Production Manager
Senior Production Manager
Production Manager · Directors Guild of America
- Union
- Directors Guild of America
- Day rate
- ~$5,800–$6,600/wk
- Experience
- 5–12 yrs
What does a Senior Production Manager do?
The senior production manager is a senior craft chair in the production manager department, trusted with the work that has the least room for error.
On union productions the position falls under Directors Guild of America, which sets the rates, hours, and conditions the role works within. Like every production manager 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 Senior Production Manager make?
- Production management is DGA-covered on long-form: UPMs run roughly $5,800-$6,600 a week, with coordinators and assistants below.
- Roughly $90K-$300K a year across the department.
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 run budgets, schedules, and logistics
Soft skills
- You combine craft mastery with responsibility for the outcome
- You stay calm when the pressure is highest
The ladder
Related chairs in this craft family, ordered from entry toward leadership:
- 1Assistant Production Manager
- 2Second Production Manager
- 3Senior Production Manager (this role)
- 4Executive Production Manager
Career progression
Within this craft family the recognized progression runs from assistant production manager toward executive production manager, 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 production manager 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.
~$90K–$300K/yr
~$90K–$300K/yr
- Senior Production Manageryou are here
~$90K–$300K/yr
~$90K–$300K/yr
How do you become a Senior Production Manager?
Nobody is hired into this chair from outside: it is a promotion earned inside the production manager department, from the people who watched you hold the junior versions of the job. The route in starts at the department's entry positions and runs through years of trusted work.
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.