Film crew hire/New York/Director
Hire a director in New York. The person who decides what the film is, and makes sure the day gets it.
Freelance New York directors for interviews, brand films, documentary and commercials, from a Midtown boardroom to a stage in Brooklyn. We match the director to the brief, then crew and run the shoot around them. From $1,500 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
- 10 hrs a New York crew day, plus a meal break
- 500+ productions, filmed in sixteen countries
Photos: Here Now Films, Johannes Blenke and Christian Harb
The role
What a director does on your shoot
A director decides what the film is and makes sure the shoot gets it. Before the day they write the treatment, plan the interviews or the script with you, and agree the look with the DP. On the day they settle the contributors or direct the cast, call the set-ups, and keep a running list of what the edit still needs.
The directors we book in New York are freelancers who live and work in the city. They know how long a Midtown tower takes to get a crew upstairs, and how an executive with a trading floor waiting behind them behaves on camera. We pick one for the brief, not from a rota. The director says what the film should feel like; the DP decides how that looks.
- A plan before the day. Treatment, questions or shot list, signed off with you on a call before anyone books a loft.
- Contributors at ease. Executives with 20 minutes between meetings, settled enough to say it in their own words.
- Coverage the edit can use. Selects noted on the day, and the gaps picked up before the crew wraps.
- One voice on set. Your client, the crew and the contributors hear one set of calls.
What’s included
What the day rate covers
In the day rate
- A 10-hour day, plus a meal break
- Directing the shoot: contributors or cast, camera and set-ups
- The shot list or interview plan for the day
- A call with you and the DP before the shoot
- 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, on the whole quote
- Payroll and insurance for the job, at cost
- Prep: the treatment, recces and casting, quoted on the brief
- Edit days, if the director supervises the cut
- Travel outside the five boroughs, and any cars or vans, at cost
How our rates work, and the two ways to book: crew rates in New York.
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% booking fee, on everything we book for you: crew, kit and travel. Payroll and insurance at cost, on their own line.
We do
- Find, book and brief the New York crew
- Every crew member employed for the job: payroll, workers’ compensation and COIs
- Book kit, vans and travel too, if you want them
- Send the full price, in dollars, before anything is booked
- One person to call all day
You do
- Run the shoot, or your producer does
- The plan, the schedule and the call sheet
- The location, its COI and any Mayor’s Office permit
- Responsibility for the production: you’re the producer of record
Payroll and insurance are their own line on the quote, at cost: payroll for each crew member, the insurance they need for the job, New York workers’ compensation included, and the certificates of insurance your location asks for.
Full production
We’re the producer of record.
From $20,000 for a New York production; most land between that and $75,000. One quote, in dollars, every line shown.
We do
- Our producer plans it with you and runs the job
- Locations, permits, kit, studio and travel, booked in the production’s name
- The production’s insurance, the COIs and the Mayor’s Office permit
- One quote and one contract with us, wherever you’re based
You do
- The creative calls
- Signing off the plan and the budget
The production’s insurance, the crew’s payroll and any permits are lines in the quote, so you see each one before you sign.
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 on a high floor of a Midtown office tower: four contributors, then b-roll on the sidewalk after the meal break. Times are an example; the call sheet sets the real ones.
- 07:30 Through security Every crew name went to the building the day before, with a COI naming it. The kit goes up in the freight elevator, booked for the morning.
- 08:00 Crew call The plan walked through with the DP: the frames, the interview set-up, and where the second camera sits against the glass.
- 09:30 First contributor Settled, talked through it, mic’d. The director runs the interview and listens for the line the film hangs on.
- 12:30 Meal break The morning’s answers checked against the plan; one question rewritten for the afternoon.
- 13:30 Sidewalk b-roll A hand-held unit of four on the street outside. No parked production vehicles and no exclusive use of the sidewalk, so no permit needed (checked October 2026).
- 15:30 Last contributor Twenty 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 the freight elevator down before the building closes it.
Which kind
Which director do you need?
The word covers several different jobs. This is how we match a New York director to the brief.
Interview and corporate director Leadership films, customer stories, internal films From $1,500 a day
Plans the questions with you, runs the contributors and directs the camera team, in a Financial District boardroom or a daylight loft in Chelsea.
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, which suits a contributor filmed at work in Queens and at home in the Bronx.
Best for branded documentary and interview-led films.
Commercials director Adverts with a cast Scale $1,841
Usually represented, often a DGA member, and brought in for the job with an AD team round them. On a signatory production DGA scale applies, with fringes on top.
Best for scripted work with a cast, a stage in Brooklyn or Long Island City, and a Mayor’s Office permit for the street.
A director for your crew You bring the director, we crew the shoot Crew hire
When the director is yours, flown in or already in town, we build the New York crew and kit round them and they direct. That’s how an agency’s one-day shoot in New York ran in October 2025: the client flew in its director and DP, and we booked everyone else locally.
Best for agencies and productions from abroad with a director already attached.
Us making the film We’re the producer of record Production quote
If you want the whole film made, we produce it: a New York director, New York crews, booked and run by our producers, and our own post team on the edit, grade and sound. Quoted as a production, in dollars: New York productions start at $20,000.
Best when there’s no production team on your side. See video production in New York.
What it’s for
What people book a director for in New York
Leadership and customer films
Interview days in Midtown and the Financial District, with contributors who have half an hour between meetings.
Agency shoots, white-label
A New York director for an agency’s client, working under the agency’s name.
Productions from abroad
A director on the ground for a team that can’t send its own, or would rather not fly one in.
Branded documentary
Contributors filmed where they work and live, from a Bronx kitchen to a workshop in Queens.
Commercials with a cast
A script, an AD team, a stage in Brooklyn or Long Island City, and the street on a Mayor’s Office permit.
Recent work
Directors on New York shoots, and how we crew them
Crew hire · New York · October 2025
A New York crew round a director flown in
An agency’s one-day shoot in New York, for a client who flew in its own director and DP. We booked the rest of the unit in New York: a producer and an assistant producer, a camera operator, a sound recordist, a gaffer, hair and make-up and a stills photographer. The director directed. Our job was making sure everything round them was ready when they walked in.
How we crew it · New York
Matching a director to the brief
We start with the film, not the diary. An interview film for a finance client wants a director who can sit an executive down and get a straight answer in 20 minutes. A branded documentary wants one who can find the story in a Queens workshop with a camera in hand. An advert wants a commercials director with an AD team.
Before you book
Things to know
The day
- 10 hours, plus a meal break.
- Any overtime is agreed with you before it happens.
- Prep, recces and edit days are quoted separately.
Permits and locations
- Private property: the owner’s permission in writing, and the certificate of insurance (COI) they ask for, naming them.
- City sidewalks and parks: hand-held or on a tripod, with no exclusive use and no parked production vehicles, needs no permit. Anything more goes to the Mayor’s Office (checked October 2026).
- A park shoot that needs a permit starts with a Parks Film Shoot Request, at least five business days ahead.
Paying and changes
- Nothing to pay until you confirm the director.
- 50% when you book, 50% on receipt of the final rushes.
- Every line on the quote: day rate, booking fee, payroll and insurance, kit, travel.
- Cancellation terms are on every quote.
Employment and insurance
- Every director we book is employed for the job, on payroll, with New York workers’ compensation.
- Certificates of insurance (COIs) for your location or permit, naming whoever needs naming, on request.
- On a crew hire the location, its COI, the permit and your own general liability stay with you. When we’re the producer of record, the production carries them.
- In New York, Here Now Films books its crews through established New York production companies, so every crew member is employed, on payroll and fully insured for the job.
From $1,500 a day
Union scale in New York: $1,841 a day for a DGA commercial director, before fringes.
| Day rate, 10 hours | $1,500 |
| Booking fee, 10% | $150 |
| One day, before payroll, kit and travel | $1,650 |
Every director we book in New York is employed and insured for the job. Payroll and insurance are their own line on the quote. What that covers
You won’t pay anything until you confirm the director.
- Every crew member employed and insured for the job
- 50% at booking, 50% on the final rushes
- Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours
Or call us on +44 7412 543822.
Reviews
What clients say about our crews
Straight from our Google Business Profile.
Book a director in New York.
Tell us what the film is for, who’s in it, where you’d like to shoot, and whether you need a crew as well. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Or call us on +44 7412 543822.
Check availability
The whole crew
Every role in New York, booked the same way
One brief, one quote in dollars, every role on its own line. Our day rates in New York, paid to the crew member in full:
Production 06
- Director This page From $1,500
- Producer From $750
- Production manager $650
- 2nd AD $600
- Production assistant $250
- Runner $250
Camera 07
- DP From $1,200
- Camera operator $750
- 1st AC $700
- 2nd AC $550
- Steadicam operator From $1,500
- Gimbal operator $750
- Drone operator From $1,000
Data and playback 02
- DIT $750
- Video playback $650
Sound 01
- Sound mixer $850
Hair, make-up and costume 02
- Hair and make-up $650
- Costume $700
Art department 02
- Art director $750
- Set builders $550
Post-production 01
- Editor From $600
How our rates work: crew rates in New York. Or start from a set-up: interview crews and units in New York.
Questions
Hiring a director in New York: questions
How much does a director cost in New York?
Our New York directors start at $1,500 for a 10-hour day, and the director is paid all of it. DGA scale for a commercial director is $1,841 a day, before fringes, and applies when your production is signatory. On top goes our 10% booking fee, so one day comes to $1,650, before payroll and insurance (at cost, on the quote), kit and travel. Prep, recces and edit days are quoted on the brief.
Who employs the crew, and are they insured?
Every crew member we book in New York is employed for the job and fully insured: payroll, New York workers’ compensation, and certificates of insurance for your location or permit. Payroll and insurance show as their own line on the quote, at cost. On a crew hire, the location, its COI and the permit stay with you, because you’re the producer of record. If you’d rather we were, it’s quoted as a full production.
Who directs a New York shoot you crew?
The director on a New York shoot we crew is a freelance New York director we book for the job, or your own. We don’t fly directors in from our side: the director on set lives and works in New York, and so does the crew. Our producers plan the shoot with you, book everyone and manage the job from the brief to delivery, and our own post team can cut, grade and mix the film afterwards if you want it to. Some clients bring a director and DP of their own, and we crew round them.
Can you crew a New York shoot for a director flying in?
Yes: we build the crew, book the kit and the location, and your director directs. That’s how an agency’s one-day shoot in New York ran in October 2025, with the client’s own director and DP flown in. JFK, Newark and LaGuardia all serve the city, and if the camera package is coming from abroad, an ATA Carnet covers its temporary import into the US. If you’d rather contract one company for the whole job, we become the producer of record and quote it as a production. See shooting in New York from abroad.
Are your New York crews union or non-union?
Non-union by default, on corporate, branded and documentary work. If your production is signatory to a union agreement, or you need union crew for a commercial, we quote at scale: the IATSE/AICP commercial agreement for camera and make-up, Local 52 for grip, electric and sound, USA 829 for the art department, and the DGA for directors and ADs. Scale is wages only: fringes and payroll go on top.
Do we need a film permit in New York?
Not if the crew is hand-held or on a tripod, takes no exclusive use of a street or park, and parks no production vehicles. Equipment beyond that, parked production vehicles or exclusive use need a permit from the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment: $500 for each 14-day period, with at least $1,000,000 of general liability naming the City of New York (checked October 2026). The Film Office processes most permits 48 to 72 business hours before the shoot. More in filming permits in New York.
How far ahead should I book a director in New York?
As early as you can, because the prep is where the film gets decided. Our latest New York shoot, Nevis × Focus, was filmed twelve days after the first email. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. The dates that bind are often the City’s: the Film Office processes most permits 48 to 72 business hours before the shoot, Times Square needs seven business days, a park at least five, and an NYPD drone permit 30 days (checked October 2026).