Film crew hire/New York/Art director
Hire an art director in New York. Everything in the frame that isn’t a person or a light.
Art directors and art departments for commercials, brand films, fireside chats and music videos across New York. They design the look of the set, dress the location, and run the props, graphics and builds that fill the frame, from a Midtown boardroom to a loft in Chelsea. From $750 a day, paid to the art 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, Paolo Chiabrando, Kumpan Electric and Tomasz Anusiewicz
The role
What an art director does on your shoot
An art director is responsible for everything in the frame that isn’t a person or a light: the set, the dressing, the props and the graphics. They take the look agreed with the director and the DP, design it, budget it, and run the prop people, set dressers and carpenters who make it real.
On a corporate film that might mean turning a conference room into a set that looks like the company at its best. On a commercial it can be a set built from scratch on a stage in Brooklyn or Long Island City.
In New York it’s usually someone else’s building, and the art director works to its rules as well as the brief: what can go on the walls, whether the floors need protecting, which hours the freight elevator runs, and what has to be gone before the night cleaners come in.
- A look designed. Mood boards, references and plans, agreed before anything is bought or built.
- Every prop chosen. Sourced, rented, bought or made, with nothing in shot you can’t clear.
- Locations dressed. A real place changed just enough for the camera, and put back at wrap.
- A budget that holds. Spend tracked, rentals returned, receipts kept.
What’s included
What the day rate covers
In the day rate
- A 10-hour day, plus a meal break
- Designing the set and the dressing to the brief
- Sourcing props, furniture and graphics
- Running the props, set dressing and build team
- Dressing on the day, and changes between set-ups
- The art budget, tracked and accounted for
On top, each on its own line
- Our 10% booking fee, on the whole quote
- Payroll and insurance for the job, at cost
- The art budget: props, rentals, materials and graphics, at cost
- Prep and wrap days, which most jobs need
- Prop people, set dressers and carpenters, as the brief needs
- 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 an art director for your own New York production, or have us take the whole film on.
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 an art director, call to wrap
A boardroom on a high floor in Midtown, turned into a set for a two-camera leadership film and put back by the evening. Times are an example; the call sheet sets the real ones.
- Prep The week before Reference agreed with the director and DP, furniture and plants rented, books and graphics bought, and the building’s rules read: freight elevator hours, floor protection, nothing on the walls.
- 07:00 Load in Props up the freight elevator on carts, floor protection down, and the room photographed before anything moves.
- 08:00 Dress The boardroom table out to the corridor, two chairs and a side table in, a plant and a lamp for depth, and the logos on the screens covered.
- 09:00 Camera check The DP lines up the first shot: a lamp moved, a picture swapped, a label on a bottle turned round.
- 09:30 Standby A props person on set for continuity, and the second set-up dressed in the corner while the crew shoots the first.
- 13:00 Lunch and turnaround The set turned for the afternoon’s B-roll: the table back in, dressed as a meeting.
- 17:30 Strike Everything out, the room put back exactly as it was from the morning’s photos, and the rentals loaded for return.
Which art department
Which art department do you need?
From one person with a van of props to a full department.
Art director Designs and runs the look From $750 a day
Designs the set and the dressing, budgets it and runs the team. On a union commercial the art director is USA 829, at $1,721 a day before fringes.
Best for commercials, brand films, fireside chats and music videos.
Prop stylist Finds and buys everything on screen Quoted on the brief
Sources, buys and rents props and dressing to the art director’s list, and knows which prop houses in the city have it.
Best on any shoot with a dressed set, and on tabletop and product work.
Set dressers and standby props On set, every take Quoted on the brief
Dress the set, look after the props during the shoot, reset between takes and keep continuity.
Best on drama, commercials and any shoot with props that get used.
Set builders Carpentry, paint and construction Quoted on the brief
Build, paint and strike sets to the art director’s drawings. See set builders in New York.
Best when the location can’t do it alone.
Armourer Prop and replica weapons Quoted on the brief
A film armourer looks after anything on set that looks like a firearm. Prop weapons on City property need a permit from the Mayor’s Office, whatever else the shoot looks like.
Best on any shoot with a prop weapon. See filming permits in New York.
What it’s for
What people book an art director for in New York
Leadership films in Midtown
A conference room or a boardroom on a high floor turned into an interview set for the day, and put back by the evening.
Fireside chats and panels
Chairs, a table and a background dressed for a conversation between three or four people, in a loft rented by the day.
Commercials and brand films
An apartment, a store or an office dressed to look like the brand’s world, from a Brooklyn brownstone to a Tribeca loft.
Product and tabletop
Surfaces, backgrounds and props styled to the product on a stage in Long Island City or Brooklyn.
Overseas productions
A visiting team with a director and a DP who need the props sourced in New York before they land.
Recent work
Art department on our jobs, in New York
Our work · Upper East Side, New York · September 2026
Nevis × Focus, an announcement film
One afternoon in a panelled library on the Upper East Side, for Nevis and Focus Financial Partners: three half-hour interviews with Mark Swan, Adam Birenbaum and Justin Ferri, then the room reset for a three-way conversation on five cameras. The library came empty, so everything on screen was brought in. A New York crew shot it twelve days after the first email, and our own team cut it, five cuts in eight days, then graded and mixed it.
Our work · Chelsea, New York · April 2026
A set for a three-way conversation
For AlTi × Nevis we filmed The Future of AI in Wealth Management, a multi-camera fireside chat, on 16 April 2026, in a daylight loft on West 24th Street in Chelsea booked for the day. Nancy Curtin of AlTi hosted Phil Dundas, AlTi’s CTO, and Mark Swan, CEO of Nevis. The props were sourced in New York, and the set was dressed for three people in conversation: three armchairs round a low glass table, plants, and a slatted screen behind.
How we crew it · New York
Dressing a building with rules
Most New York dressing happens in someone else’s building, and the building sets the terms: a COI naming it before load-in, protection on the floors, freight elevator slots booked in advance, nothing fixed to the walls. We get the rules from building management at the scout, put them on the call sheet, and plan the dressing and the strike around them.
Before you book
Things to know
The day
- 10 hours, plus a meal break.
- Any overtime is agreed with you before it happens.
- Prep, dressing and strike days are quoted separately.
The art budget
- Props, rentals and materials at cost, each on its own line, with receipts.
- Ask each prop house how it charges: by the day, or by the week with a minimum.
- Floor protection and a COI naming the location are standard asks in New York: get the location’s requirements before you book it.
Paying and changes
- Nothing to pay until you confirm the art 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 art 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.
$750 a day
Union scale in New York (USA 829): $1,721 a day for an art director, before fringes.
| Day rate, 10 hours | $750 |
| Booking fee, 10% | $75 |
| One day, before payroll, the art budget and travel | $825 |
Every art 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 art 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 an art director in New York.
Tell us the location or the stage, the look, and what needs dressing, building or propping. 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 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 This page $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 an art director in New York: questions
How much does an art director cost in New York?
Our art directors in New York start at $750 for a 10-hour day, and the art director is paid all of it. Union scale for an art director (USA 829) is $1,721 a day, before fringes. On top go our 10% booking fee, so one day comes to $825, before payroll and insurance (at cost, on the quote), the art budget and travel. Props, rentals and materials go on the quote at cost, each on its own line.
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.
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.
Where do New York art departments find props?
From prop houses and rental houses across Manhattan, Brooklyn and Long Island City, and from any store that sells the right thing. The props on our fireside chat in Chelsea were sourced in New York. Prop houses charge in different ways, by the day or by the week, so ask each one before you build the budget; a prep day spent pulling usually costs less than a rental that runs on. Everything goes on the quote at cost.
Can we use prop weapons on a New York shoot?
Yes, with a film permit. The Mayor’s Office requires a permit for prop weapons, whatever else the shoot looks like, and the same goes for prop vehicles, stunts and actors in police uniform. The permit costs $500 for each 14-day period, with at least $1,000,000 of general liability naming the City of New York (checked October 2026), and brings free police assistance. A film armourer looks after anything that looks like a firearm. See filming permits in New York.
Can you dress a Midtown office for a shoot?
Yes, to the building’s rules. Most New York buildings want a certificate of insurance naming them as additional insured before load-in, often with high limits, and a high limit can mean an umbrella policy that costs real money: about $2,000 per million on one of our jobs. Then come freight elevator slots, floor protection and nothing fixed to the walls. Ask for the building’s requirements before you book the floor, and the art director plans the dressing and the strike around them.
Art director or production designer?
On a big production, the production designer sets the look and the art director runs the department that delivers it. On most commercials, brand films and fireside chats, one person does both, and the title on the call sheet matters less than the brief. Tell us what the frame needs, and we’ll book the right size of department, from one art director with a van to a full crew.