Film Career · Location Management
Location Supervisor
Location Management · Teamsters Local 399 in Los Angeles; varies by market
- Union
- Teamsters Local 399 in Los Angeles
- Day rate
- ~$3,500–$5,500+/wk
- Experience
- 8–18+ yrs
What does a Location Supervisor do?
A location supervisor leads within the location management department, answering for its output while managing the people and logistics behind it.
Union coverage for the position varies: teamsters local 399 in los angeles; varies by market. The role is engaged show by show, and careers in location management are built on the department heads and crews who hire the same trusted people back.
What does a Location Supervisor make?
- This is a department-head chair, toward the top of its department's range.
- Location work is paid weekly with heavy prep and overtime: assistants lower, and location managers roughly $3,500-$5,500+ a week.
- Roughly $60K-$250K+ a year (Teamsters Local 399 in Los Angeles).
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 can scout, permit, and manage locations
Soft skills
- You are as comfortable managing people as doing the craft
- You can lead a crew, hold a budget, and answer for the department
Career progression
The role advances the way most location management 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 Location Supervisor?
The path here is internal: the location management department promotes this position from within, based on a track record built in its junior chairs. Start at the department's entry level and let the work argue for you.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.