Film Career · Second Unit Director Or Assistant Director
Creative Associate
Second Unit Director Or Assistant Director · Directors Guild of America
- Union
- Directors Guild of America
- Day rate
- ~$3,500–$4,000/wk
- Experience
- 3–7 yrs
What does a Creative Associate do?
A creative associate carries a hands-on craft within the second unit director or assistant director department, delivering their specialty daily as part of the department's crew.
On union productions the position falls under Directors Guild of America, which sets the rates, hours, and conditions the role works within. Like every second unit director or assistant director 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 Creative Associate make?
- 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 are a dependable team player who makes the department run
- You like hands-on work and getting the details right
Career progression
The role advances the way most second unit director or assistant director 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 Creative Associate?
Careers reach this chair through the second unit director or assistant director 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 Directors Guild of America contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.