The hidden army that makes filming physically possible: finding places to shoot, moving trucks, feeding the crew, keeping everyone safe, and teaching child actors.
Top pay: highest pay, longest training
Location Manager: Secures and manages every real-world place a production films, from mansions to subway stations. Typical pay $110k.
Transportation Coordinator: Runs the fleet of trucks, trailers, and vans that moves a film crew and its gear from location to location. Typical pay $125k.
Completion Guarantor: Insures that a movie will be finished on time and on budget, and can step in to take control if a production spirals out of control. Typical pay $130k.
Mid pay: solid pay, degree or apprenticeship
Location Scout: Hunts for the perfect real places to match a script: a creepy farmhouse, a 1960s diner, a desert road. Typical pay $72k.
Production Driver (Teamster): Drives equipment trucks, star trailers, and crew vans for film and TV productions. Typical pay $85k.
Picture Car Coordinator: Finds, prepares, and manages every vehicle that appears on screen, from vintage cars to cop cruisers. Typical pay $90k.
Production Accountant: Tracks every dollar a film or show spends, pays the crew, and reports to the studio daily. Typical pay $105k.
Production Safety Supervisor: Keeps a film set safe, reviewing stunts, rigging, weapons, and weather to prevent accidents. Typical pay $105k.
Studio Teacher: A certified teacher who tutors child actors on set and protects their welfare and work-hour limits. Typical pay $80k.
Set Medic: Provides on-site medical care for cast and crew during filming. Typical pay $75k.
Script Clearance Coordinator: Checks a script and set for legal risks: real names, brand logos, artwork, and songs that need permission. Typical pay $70k.
Film Commission Liaison: Works for a city or state to attract film productions and help them get permits and locations. Typical pay $68k.
Film Location Caterer: Cooks hot breakfast and lunch for 150-person film crews out of a mobile kitchen truck. Typical pay $60k.
Film Permit Coordinator: Gets city permits so productions can film on streets, parks, and buildings. Typical pay $55k.
Set Fire Safety Officer: Watches over film sets with fire, explosions, or smoke to prevent accidents. Typical pay $85k.
Starter: fastest way in
Animal Wrangler (Film): Trains and handles animals that appear on screen, from dogs and horses to snakes and birds. Typical pay $40k.
Craft Services Provider: Keeps the cast and crew fed with snacks, drinks, and quick meals all day on set. Typical pay $45k.
Set Security Guard: Protects a film set, its equipment, and its stars, especially overnight and on public streets. Typical pay $38k.
Background Casting Coordinator: Books and organizes the dozens or hundreds of 'background actors' (extras) who fill out scenes. Typical pay $45k.
Background Actor (Extra): Appears in scenes as a non-speaking person: a diner customer, a soldier, a fan in the stands. Typical pay $15k.
Baby Wrangler: Takes care of babies and toddlers on film sets and helps get them on camera at the right moment. Typical pay $50k.
Stand-In: Stands in an actor's exact spots while the crew sets up lights and cameras before each shot. Typical pay $40k.
Photo Double: Appears on camera in place of an actor in shots where the face is not seen. Typical pay $40k.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.