Film crew hire/London/Director
Hire a director in London. One person deciding what the film is, from the treatment to the last take.
Directors for interviews, brand films, documentary and commercials across London, booked from our office on City Road. Most of the films we make are directed in-house; on larger shoots we bring in an outside director and build the production around them. From £500 a day, paid to the director in full.
- 54 five-star Google reviews
- 2 hrs for our team to read your brief, in working hours
- £10m employers’ liability on every crew member we book
- 1,400+ of our freelance crew live in and around London
Photos: Here Now Films and Christian Harb
The role
What a director does on your shoot
A director decides what the film is and gets it on the day. Before the shoot they write the treatment, plan the interviews or the script with you, and agree the look with the DOP. On the day they run the contributors or the cast, call the takes and the set-ups, and keep a list of what the edit still needs.
The director says what the film should feel like; the DOP decides how that looks. On a small corporate crew the director often produces too.
- A plan before the day. Treatment, interview questions or shot list, signed off with you.
- Contributors at ease. People who’ve never been filmed, settled enough to say it properly.
- The coverage the edit needs. Selects noted and gaps picked up before the crew wraps.
- One voice on set. The crew, the client and the contributors hear one set of calls.
What’s included
What the day rate covers
In the day rate
- An 11-hour day, including an hour for lunch
- Directing the shoot: contributors or cast, camera and set-ups
- The shot list or interview plan for the day
- A walk-through with you before the first set-up
- Notes on selects and pick-ups at wrap
On top, each on its own line
- Our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance, on the whole quote
- Prep: the treatment, recces and casting, quoted on the brief
- Edit days, if the director cuts or supervises the cut
- Parking and the Congestion Charge, at cost, if they drive in
- Travel outside Greater London, at cost
How our rates work, and the two ways to book: crew rates in London.
Two ways to book
Crew hire or full production: who’s the producer of record?
One question sets the price: who’s the producer of record? Book a director for your own production and crew, or have us make the film with you.
Crew hire
You run the shoot.
10% + 2% booking fee and insurance, on everything we book for you: crew, kit and travel.
We do
- Find, book and brief the crew, and pay them
- Book kit, travel and hotels too, if you want them
- Send the full price before anything is booked
- One person to call all day
- Employers’ liability for the crew we book, and insurance on kit we hire in
You do
- Run the shoot, or your producer does
- The plan, the schedule and the call sheet
- The location, its permission and its public liability
- Responsibility for the production: you’re the producer of record
What the 2% insures: employers’ liability for every crew member we book, and the kit we hire in for you. Nothing else on the shoot. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote.
Full production
We’re the producer of record.
15% + 5% production fee, plus insurance and contingency, on the whole production budget. Quoted as a production.
We do
- Our producer plans it with you and runs the day
- Locations, permits, kit, studio, travel and hotels, booked and paid in our name
- Insurance for the whole shoot, public liability included, plus the risk assessment and the call sheet
- One contract and one invoice, so overseas teams need no UK company
You do
- The creative calls
- Signing off the plan and the budget
What the 5% pays for: our production insurance across the whole shoot, £10m public liability included, and the contingency.
Not sure which you need? If your own producer or director will run the day, it’s crew hire. If you want us to take the production on, it’s a full production quote.
On the day
A day with a director, call to wrap
A leadership film in a City office tower: four contributors, then street b-roll after lunch. Times are an example; the call sheet sets the real ones.
- 07:30 Before call At the security desk: every crew name and the kit list went ahead for passes, so the unit goes straight up.
- 08:00 Crew call The plan walked through with the DOP: the frames, the interview set-up, and where the second camera sits.
- 09:30 First contributor Settled and talked through it. The director runs the interview and listens for the line the film hangs on.
- 12:30 Lunch The morning’s answers checked against the plan; one question rewritten for the afternoon.
- 13:30 Street b-roll A handheld unit of five on the pavement. In the City that still needs an application to the City of London’s film office, made a week ahead.
- 15:30 Last contributor 20 minutes between meetings, so straight to the questions that matter.
- 18:30 Wrap Selects noted for the edit, pick-ups listed, rushes on two drives and on their way. Out by 19:00.
Which kind
Which director do you need?
“Director” covers different jobs on different shoots. Here’s how we match one to a brief.
Interview and corporate director Leadership films, customer stories, internal films From £500 a day
Plans the questions with you, runs the contributors and directs the camera team. It’s most of what we direct in-house, from an interview day at County Hall to a brand film around Marylebone.
Best for interview days with a few contributors and a fixed window with each.
Documentary director, or shooting producer-director Plans the story and finds it on the day Quoted on the brief
Researches and plans the film, runs the interviews and directs, sometimes with a camera in hand; on a small crew they produce too.
Best for branded documentary and interview-led films.
Commercials director Adverts and campaigns with a cast Quoted on the brief
Usually represented, and brought in for the job. That’s how we ran AI for Empowerment: an outside director, 35mm, four countries, and our production built around them.
Best for scripted work with a cast: in London that means an AD team, a unit base and the borough’s permit.
A director for your crew You bring the director, we crew the shoot Crew hire
When the director is yours, flown in or from across town, we put the crew and kit round them and they direct. Matt Dunstan, a US director, worked that way on London shoots in February 2024 and July 2025. His note after the first: “We had one hell of a team.”
Best for agencies and overseas productions with a director already attached.
Us making the film We’re the producer of record From £9,500
If you want the whole film made, we produce it too: director, producer, crew, permissions and edit, quoted as a production at cost plus 15% and 5% for insurance and contingency.
Best when there’s no production team on your side. See video production in London.
What it’s for
What people book a director for in London
Leadership and customer films
Interview days from the City to Canary Wharf, with contributors who have half an hour between meetings.
Agency shoots, white-label
A director for a Soho or Shoreditch agency’s client, under the agency’s name.
Overseas productions
A London director for a US or European team that can’t send its own.
Branded documentary
Contributors filmed where they work and live, across the 32 boroughs and the City.
Commercials with a cast
A script, an AD team, and a stage in Park Royal or a street on a borough permit.
Recent work
Directing on our jobs, in London
Full production · County Hall, Lambeth · June 2025
AimHi Earth × PepsiCo, at County Hall
A testimonial film for AimHi Earth’s Champions Programme with PepsiCo, written, directed and produced by our own director. AimHi wanted one room, for simple logistics and an easy sign-off from Sustainable Ventures, whose meeting rooms in County Hall have the views. An hour to load in and light, 30 to 40 minutes with each contributor, a roaming C camera between questions, a wrap by half past five, then four edit days with a freelance editor we booked.
Full production · Marylebone, W1 · May 2025
A property developer’s film, around Marylebone
A brand film for a design agency’s client, a developer showing a new Marylebone address to buyers. A crew of three: our director, a cinematographer and an assistant, small cine cameras and cine lenses, no big rigs and no lighting sprawl. The moving shots came off a Ronin 4D hired from FOMO Rentals in east London the evening before. A restaurant on the route gave written permission to film inside, on terms agreed by email: web, social and some paid use, no TV or outdoor, and sign-off of its own segment.
Before you book
Things to know
The day
- 11 hours, including an hour for lunch.
- Overtime at card rates, agreed with you before it happens.
- Prep, recces and edit days are quoted separately.
Permissions in London
- Private property: the owner’s permission in writing, with the usage agreed.
- Pavements and council land: the borough’s film service, FilmFixer in six boroughs.
- Boroughs and the Royal Parks ask for £5m public liability, TfL and Canary Wharf £10m (checked October 2026). On a crew hire that certificate is yours; on a full production it’s ours.
Paying and changes
- Nothing to pay until you confirm the director.
- 50% by card when you book, 50% on receipt of the final rushes.
- Every line on the quote: day rate, booking fee, kit, travel.
- Cancellation terms are on every quote.
What our insurance covers
- Employers’ liability for the director we book: £10m.
- Kit we hire in for you is insured. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote.
- Nothing else on a crew hire. Public liability, the location and your own kit stay with you, and your venue will want your certificate. When we’re the producer of record, our policy covers the shoot.
From £500 a day
There’s no APA/Bectu card rate for directors.
| Day rate, 11 hours | £500 |
| Booking fee, 10% | £50 |
| Insurance, 2% | £10 |
| One day, before travel | £560 + VAT |
The 2% is employers’ liability for the director we book, and cover on kit we hire in. What it covers
You won’t pay anything until you confirm the director.
- 1,400+ crew living in and around London
- 50% by card at booking, 50% on the final rushes
- Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours
Or call us on 07412 543822.
Reviews
What clients say about our crews
Straight from our Google Business Profile.
Book a director in London.
Tell us what the film is for, who’s in it, and whether you need a crew as well. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Check availability
The whole crew
Every role in London, booked the same way
One brief, one quote, every role on its own line. Our day rates in London, paid to the crew member in full:
Production 06
- Director This page From £500
- Producer From £450
- Production manager £504–627
- 2nd AD £355–448
- Production assistant £400
- Runner £245
Camera 07
- DOP From £850
- Camera operator £529–656
- Focus puller £461–575
- Clapper loader £355–448
- Steadicam operator From £950
- Gimbal operator £529–656
- Drone operator From £750
Data and playback 02
- DIT £527
- Video playback £334–518
Sound 01
- Sound recordist £550
Hair, make-up and costume 02
- Hair and make-up £398
- Costume £519–694
Art department 02
- Art director £675–878
- Set builders £341–512
Post-production 01
- Editor From £350
How our rates work: crew rates in London. Or start from a set-up: interview crews and units in London.
Production support
Everything around the crew
A London shoot’s prep is half permissions and places. Here are the guides, and each item can go on the quote if you want us to book it.
02
Locations and permits
Borough film services, the Royal Parks, TfL, the private estates and the drone zones.
Questions
Hiring a director in London: questions
How much does a director cost in London?
Our directors start at £500 for an 11-hour day, including an hour for lunch, and the director is paid all of it. Prep, recces and edit days are quoted on the brief. On top go our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance, so one day comes to £560 + VAT, before any travel outside Greater London.
What does the insurance on a crew booking cover?
Two things. Employers’ liability for every crew member we book, up to £10m, and insurance on the kit we hire in for you. That’s what the 2% pays for. A large kit rental may need extra insurance, as its own line on the quote. The 2% doesn’t insure the rest of the shoot: public liability, the location, your own kit and anything you book yourself stay with you, because you’re the producer of record. If you’d rather we were, it’s quoted as a full production, and our insurance covers the whole shoot, public liability included.
Do you direct in-house, or book freelance directors?
Both. Most of the films we make are directed in-house. On larger shoots we bring in an outside director and run the production around them, as we did on AI for Empowerment.
Do I need a permit to film on a London street?
It depends on the borough and the size of the unit. In the six FilmFixer boroughs, five people or fewer, handheld or on a tripod, can usually film on the pavement without one if 1.5m stays clear. Westminster allows five or fewer, handheld only, with 2m clear; the City wants an application even for a small crew. Bigger units go through the borough’s film service: Film London advises three days’ notice for a small crew and ten for a large one (checked October 2026). Our guide to London’s borough film services has who to ask.
Can you crew a London shoot for a director flying in?
Yes: we crew it and book the kit and locations, and your director directs. If you need a UK company to contract, we become the producer of record and it’s a production quote. Heathrow Express gets them to Paddington in 15 minutes. See how a UK production service company works.
How far ahead should I book a director in London?
As early as you can: the prep is where the film gets decided. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. The dates that bind are London’s notice periods: the Royal Parks want five working days for a crew of ten or fewer, TfL three weeks for the Underground, and NATS at least 21 days for a drone over the City or Hyde Park (checked October 2026).