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Cinematographer's pay rate


Bryce Lansing

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You know, taking a look at the salaries and the amount of days that you can work as HOD, I should go back to be 2nd AC! Would be working as many days as I would want to work and the good thing is that there are not too many good 2nd AC's.

 

 

*sound of Freya practicing with her "Hollywood" clapper in the distance*

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When I last worked on Doctor Who, which I would guess qualifies as 'high profile', the DPs were making £320 a day.

Probably it is super high profile! It should be!

£320 is €2100 / week ;)

 

Nowadays you get £300 / day in corporate though!

 

*sound of Freya practicing with her "Hollywood" clapper in the distance*

There are loads of 2nd AC women in Ireland, one of the best is a woman! So there is hope!

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I wouldn't get too excited about that, Freya - as I say, I turned down (had to) something that a BSC took. The idea that they're all working eight days a week may be a little optimistic.

 

Yes but it doesn't mean that they were struggling. They probably just wanted the job. This kind of thing happens a lot in the UK.

 

I think I've said before but I had a similar experience a few years ago where someone was paying some tiny amount to hire someone with camera to shoot some talking heads docu stuff. I got talking to them and they were asking me if I also had a steadicam kit and stuff. I had to admit that I didn't and was thinking they will be lucky to find someone with a Red camera and a steadicam operator for the tiny sum in question, it seemed ridiculous. However I later found out (when someone was careless with their emails) that I was being outbid by a number of well known Red folks with vast collections of equipment. So the joke was on me.

 

This wasn't even a feature film.

 

Freya

Edited by Freya Black
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In Spain a newcomer gets around €700 / day with camera included.

 

Then, depending on your experience and how well known you are, commercial cinematographers get between €2000/ €5000 without any kit, and those rates are not for top people! Well, the €5000 / day it is for tops yeah but the other ones are not!

 

In Ireland is pretty much the same.

 

Have a good day!

 

I don't hablo español, but Spain here i come! :)

 

 

Just kidding (for now), but who knows...

 

PS: Google translate said "hablo". I though it should be "habla".

 

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I don't hablo español, but Spain here i come! :)

 

 

Just kidding (for now), but who knows...

 

PS: Google translate said "hablo". I though it should be "habla".

 

 

Yo no hablo Español...

 

hablar

 

hablo

hablas

habla

 

hablamos

hablais

hablan

 

Since in Spanish the pronoun for verbs is indicated in the verb form, one can delete the 'yo' or other pronoun and one has...

 

no hablo Español.

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Interesting to see these different rates across the board. It seems like those who are shooting 5 to 6 days out of the week each day might have a lower rate but more consistent work and those who shoot a few projects per month have a higher day rate.

 

I live in the Bay Area and shoot mostly mini-doc and music video content. I bring most of my own gear with the exception of renting for larger project needs. My base day rate goes for about 750 where I will shoot for two to three days. For larger projects its around 1100 or so depending on the scale of work.

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  • 3 months later...

So I’ve just read the other day that Roger Deakins’s salary for The Village was $384,750. Then I thought that’s around what a DP earns per film. Of his stature. But then I saw that I forgot that DPs get paid by week so this amount probably doesn’t mean that much. All this under the condition that IMDb is right about what he got paid in the first place.

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