A gaffer day costs $849 in LA and $241 in Bangkok
Published day rates for 15 crew roles across seven production cities, 2026. Median rate in USD, with the published low to high range under each bar. Every figure comes from a published source linked at the bottom of this page.
Pick a role
Not every card lists every role, so a city only appears where a published rate exists.
What stands out
The gaffer spread between Los Angeles and Bangkok, one of two roles published in all seven cities.
A London production assistant on the APA card costs more than twice a non-union Los Angeles PA.
London's median director of photography day, the highest of any city with a published DP rate.
The full table
Median day rate in USD. Local currency and the full range are in the chart above.
How this was put together
Each city uses the most complete public rate card we could find for it: union or trade association terms where they exist, published crew agency and rental house cards where they do not. Figures are converted to USD at the rates of 22 September 2026 (EUR 0.872, GBP 0.748, THB 33.26, ZAR 16.25, AED 3.67 per dollar).
Cards measure different things. London is the APA recommended commercials card, Paris is based on French collective agreement minimums, and Los Angeles and New York are non-union platform rates. Treat the numbers as a starting point for a bid, not a quote. Overtime, kit fees, fringes and per diems are not included.
Sources
- Los Angeles, New York: NeedaCrew, Film Crew Day Rates by Role and City 2026 (May 2026). needacrew.com
- London: APA Recommended Crew Terms, September 2026 card. a-p-a.net
- Paris: ChezFilms Paris tariff 2025, based on CCN Production Audiovisuelle minimums. chezfilms.com
- Dubai: Skimbox video production cost guide 2026 and Gulf Got Talents DOP hire guide 2026. skimbox.co, gulfgottalents.com
- Cape Town: CallaCrew South Africa crew rates, August 2026. callacrew.co.za
- Bangkok: Film Service Thailand 2025-26, Alchemist Productions 2026 and EasyLiving Films 2026 crew cards. filmservice.asia, alchemistproductions.co, easyliving.film
Free to cite with a link to this page. Spotted an outdated card? Write to official@designhero.shop.
Price your own job
These rates are built into Production Mogul, the budgeting tool I made for my own shoots. Pick a city, describe the job, and it drafts the budget with the local rates in a few minutes.
See Production Mogul