Film Career · Production Support
Technical Advisor
Production Support · Varies by craft and market
- Union
- Varies
- Day rate
- ~$200–$700/day
- Experience
- 3–7 yrs
What does a Technical Advisor do?
A technical advisor carries a hands-on craft within the production support department, delivering their specialty daily as part of the department's crew.
Union coverage for the position varies: varies by craft and market. The role is engaged show by show, and careers in production support are built on the department heads and crews who hire the same trusted people back.
What does a Technical Advisor make?
- Pay for these support roles is by the day and varies widely by craft and market, typically roughly $200-$700 a day, or roughly $40K-$130K a year with steady work.
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 have a practical craft the production needs
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 production support 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 Technical Advisor?
Careers reach this chair through the production support 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.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.