Film Career · Second Unit Director Or Assistant Director
First Assistant Director
Second Unit Director Or Assistant Director · Directors Guild of America
- Union
- Directors Guild of America
- Day rate
- ~$3,500–$4,000/wk
- Experience
- 5–12 yrs
What does a First Assistant Director do?
The first assistant director is a senior craft chair in the second unit director or assistant director 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. 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 a First Assistant Director 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 trusted with the work that has the least room for error
- You combine craft mastery with responsibility for the outcome
The ladder
Related chairs in this craft family, ordered from entry toward leadership:
Career progression
Within this craft family the recognized progression runs from assistant director toward supervising 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.
~$90K–$275K+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
- First Assistant Directoryou are here
~$90K–$275K+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
~$90K–$275K+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
~$90K–$275K+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
~$150K–$5M+/yr
How do you become a First Assistant 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.