Film Career · Stunts
Wire Rigger
Stunts · SAG-AFTRA
- Union
- SAG-AFTRA
- Day rate
- ~$1,100/day
- Experience
- 3–7 yrs
What does a Wire Rigger do?
A wire rigger carries a hands-on craft within the stunts department, delivering their specialty daily as part of the department's crew.
On union productions the position falls under SAG-AFTRA, which sets the rates, hours, and conditions the role works within. Like every stunts 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 Wire Rigger make?
- Stunt work pays SAG-AFTRA performer scale (about $1,100 a day) plus per-gag adjustments, with coordinators negotiating well above.
- Roughly $60K-$300K+ a year depending on how steadily the work comes and the risk of the gags.
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 are physically trained and know stunt safety
Soft skills
- You take pride in doing your specific craft well, day in and day out
- You like hands-on work and getting the details right
Career progression
The role advances the way most stunts 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 Wire Rigger?
Careers reach this chair through the stunts 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 SAG-AFTRA contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.