Film Career · Production Support
Craft Service
Production Support · IATSE in major markets
- Union
- IATSE in major markets
- Day rate
- ~$250–$450/day
- Experience
- 3–7 yrs
What does a Craft Service do?
Craft service keeps the crew fed and watered between catered meals, which sounds small and is not: a twelve-hour day runs on the crafty table. Distinct from catering, which serves the sit-down meals, craft service is on set all day and often first to arrive.
What does a Craft Service make?
- Day rate about $250-$450 as department head, plus a separate food budget, roughly $50K-$90K a year.
- IATSE Local 80 covers craft service in many markets.
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) ↗
On the job
- Stock and run the crafty table from before call to after wrap
- Manage the budget, shopping, and dietary needs across a large crew
- Keep food safety standards on a moving, outdoor, weather-exposed operation
- Read the day and surge coffee, water, and substance when the crew flags
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You can run food service and logistics for a big crew all day
- You anticipate and stock what people need
Soft skills
- You are organized and tireless
- You take pride in being the morale center of a set
Career progression
Craft service can be a career in itself: key craft service people with good kitchens and better attitudes get requested show after show. Some grow into catering operations or production supply businesses that serve multiple productions at once.
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.
- Production Assistant· entry
~$35K–$55K/yr
- Craft Serviceyou are here· department head
~$50K–$90K/yr
How do you become a Craft Service?
Assist an established craft service key, or take the job on low-budget productions where one person runs the table alone. Food handling certification is required in most jurisdictions and cheap to get. Crews remember good crafty forever, which makes this one of the fastest reputations to build on a set.
On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by IATSE in major markets contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.