Film Career · Set Decorator
Series Set Decorator
Set Decorator · IATSE Local 44 and craft locals
- Union
- IATSE Local 44 and craft locals
- Day rate
- ~$2,800–$6,500/wk
- Experience
- 3–7 yrs
What does a Series Set Decorator do?
The series set decorator is a working craft position in the set decorator department on film and television productions.
On union productions the position falls under IATSE Local 44 and craft locals, which sets the rates, hours, and conditions the role works within. The role is engaged show by show, and careers in set decorator are built on the department heads and crews who hire the same trusted people back.
What does a Series Set Decorator make?
- Set decoration is paid weekly: roughly $2,800-$6,500 a week (scale around $2,900-$3,400), or roughly $100K-$250K a year (IATSE Local 44 and craft locals).
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 know decorating craft, sourcing, and budgets
Soft skills
- You take pride in doing your specific craft well, day in and day out
- You are a dependable team player who makes the department run
Career progression
The role advances the way most set decorator 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 Series Set Decorator?
The working route in is through the set decorator department's junior positions: assist the people holding this chair, learn the standards the department runs on, and take the small versions of the job wherever they are offered.
On covered productions, rates, hours, and conditions for the role are set by IATSE Local 44 and craft locals contracts.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.