Film Career · Second Unit Director Or Assistant Director
Unit 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 an Unit Director do?
The unit director is a leadership chair in the second unit director or assistant director department, responsible for crew, planning, and the department's delivery to the production.
On union productions the position falls under Directors Guild of America, which sets the rates, hours, and conditions the role works within. The role is engaged show by show, and careers in second unit director or assistant director are built on the department heads and crews who hire the same trusted people back.
What does an Unit 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 make decisions calmly and own the results
- You can lead a crew, hold a budget, and answer for the department
The ladder
Related chairs in this craft family, ordered from entry toward leadership:
- 1Second Unit Director
- 2Unit Director (this role)
Career progression
Within this craft family the recognized progression runs from second unit director toward unit director, 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 second unit director or assistant director 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.
~$150K–$5M+/yr
- Unit Directoryou are here
~$90K–$275K+/yr
How do you become an Unit Director?
Nobody is hired into this chair from outside: it is a promotion earned inside the second unit director or assistant director 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.