Film crew hire/Art director
Hire an art director, anywhere in the UK. Everything in the frame that isn’t a person or a light.
Art directors and art departments for adverts, brand films, music videos and drama anywhere in the UK, booked from London. They design the look of the set, dress the location, and run the props, graphics and builds that fill the frame, then put it all back at wrap. £675–878 a day on the APA/Bectu card, paid to the art 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
- 2,800+ freelance crew on our books, across the UK
Photos: Paolo Chiabrando, Here Now Films, Kumpan Electric and Hal Gatewood
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 DOP, design it, budget it, and run the props buyers, dressers and builders who make it real.
On a brand film that might mean dressing an office so it looks like the company on its best day. On an advert it can be a set built from scratch on a stage. On an interview it’s often an hour’s work that changes the whole frame: a background cleared, the logos covered, a lamp in the right place.
Across the UK the job is usually a real place with its own rules: a floor in an office tower, a listed hall, a National Trust house that wants a contract signed before filming. The art director works to the building’s rules as well as the brief, and to the council’s when the dressing spills onto the street. Props come from wherever makes sense once the van and the returns are counted: the London prop houses in Park Royal and Hayes, Stockyard North in Trafford Park, or the shops in the city you’re shooting in.
- A look designed. Mood boards, references and drawings, agreed before anything is bought or built.
- Every prop chosen. Sourced, hired, 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 as it was at wrap.
- A budget that holds. Spend tracked, hires returned on time, nothing lost.
What’s included
What the day rate covers
In the day rate
- An 11-hour day, including an hour for lunch
- Designing the set and the dressing to the brief
- Running the props, dressing and build team
- Sourcing props, furniture and graphics
- 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 and 2% insurance, on the whole quote
- The art budget: props, hires, materials and graphics, at cost
- Prep, dressing and strike days, which most jobs need, each quoted as a day
- Props buyers, dressers and set builders, as the brief needs
- The props van, couriers and any parking bay suspensions, at cost
- Travel, mileage and hotels when the shoot is away from the crew member’s home city, at cost
How our rates work, overtime and the APA/Bectu card: film crew rates in the UK.
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 production, anywhere in the UK, or have us take the whole film on.
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 an art director, call to wrap
Dressing a terraced house in Leeds as a family home for a brand film. Times are an example; the call sheet sets the real ones.
- Prep The week before Reference agreed with the director, furniture hired and bought locally, graphics printed, and the van and crew on the street cleared with Leeds City Council’s highways team, priced by crew size from £84.20 + VAT (checked October 2026).
- 06:30 Dress The van unloaded. The owner’s things photographed and packed away, and the house dressed to the design, room by room.
- 08:30 Camera check The DOP lines up the first shot: a lamp moved, a picture swapped, a brand on a cereal box turned to the wall.
- 09:00 Standby A props person on set for continuity, and the next room dressed ahead of the crew.
- 13:00 Lunch Food on set replaced, and the kitchen reset for the afternoon.
- 15:00 Turnaround Living room to bedroom: furniture swapped while the crew shoot the hall.
- 18:30 Strike Everything out, the owner’s things back exactly where they were from the morning’s photos, and the hires loaded for return.
Which kind
Which art department do you need?
From one person with a van of props to a full department. Card rates are per 11-hour day.
Art director Designs and runs the look Card £675–878
Designs the set and the dressing, budgets it, and runs the team.
Best for adverts, brand films, music videos and drama.
Props buyer Finds and buys everything on screen Card £493–585
Sources, buys and hires props and dressing to the art director’s list.
Best on any shoot with a dressed set, and on a shoot away from London, where buying locally can beat a van from a London prop house.
Standby props and dressers On set, every take Quoted on the brief
Look after the props on set, reset between takes and keep continuity.
Best on drama and any shoot with props that get used.
Set builders Carpentry, paint and construction Card £341–512
Build, paint and strike sets and pieces to the art director’s drawings. See film set builder hire UK.
Best when the location can’t do it alone.
What it’s for
What people book an art director for across the UK
Adverts and brand films
A home, a shop or an office dressed as the brand’s world, from a terrace in Leeds to a farmhouse in Cornwall.
Interview and podcast sets
A meeting room in the City, in Spinningfields or off Colmore Row, turned into an interview set or a podcast studio for the day.
Music videos
A look built in a warehouse or on a stage, from east London to Glasgow.
Product films
Tabletop and cove sets styled to the product, on a studio cove.
Heritage and period
Period dressing in listed buildings and National Trust houses, on the owner’s terms.
Recent work
Art directors on our jobs
Crew hire · Canary Wharf, London · October 2024
A podcast set on the 48th floor
When the client’s own office fell through, Magnet Media, a New York agency, moved its podcast shoot to Level 48 of One Canada Square. We booked an art director the day before, with Magnet’s sign-off, to dress the set for three cameras and cover the logos in shot. Four Shure SM7B microphones sat on black arms on the desk for the look of a podcast; the sound came from lavs and a boom. Call was 06:00 at the loading bay, and by one o’clock both episodes were shot and the set was packed down.
Our own production · Canada, Norway, Cornwall and Portugal · 2026
One art director, four countries
For AI for Empowerment, our own 35mm campaign for Cohere, one art director ran the look across four countries, the Lizard in Cornwall among them, with local props buyers and assistants in each. In Canada that meant a cabin: temporary wood panelling, moss on the roof, a fire pit, and the inside propped.
Before you book
Things to know
The day
- 11 hours, including an hour for lunch: ten working hours.
- Overtime by the hour at the APA card’s rate for the role, agreed with you before it happens.
- At least 11 hours between wrap and the next day’s call.
- On the APA terms, an art director’s prep, recce, build and strike days all count as full working days (checked October 2026).
The art budget
- Props, hires and materials at cost, each on its own line.
- Ask each prop house how it charges: by the day or by the week.
- A props van that doesn’t meet a clean air zone pays its charge: £9 a day in Bristol and Bath, £10 in Sheffield, £12.50 in London’s ULEZ (checked October 2026).
Weapons and fire on set
Paying and changes
- Nothing to pay until you confirm the art 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.
- Moving the date? Tell us as soon as you know.
- Cancellation terms are on every quote.
What our insurance covers
- Employers’ liability for the art 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 £675 a day
The APA/Bectu card range for an art director. One day at the bottom of it:
| Art director, 11 hours | £675 |
| Booking fee, 10% | £67.50 |
| Insurance, 2% | £13.50 |
| One day, before the art budget | £756 + VAT |
The 2% is employers’ liability for the art director we book, and cover on kit we hire in. Insurance for a UK shoot
You won’t pay anything until you confirm the art director.
- 50% by card at booking, 50% on the final rushes
- Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours
- Every line on the quote before anything is booked
Or call us on 07412 543822.
Reviews
What clients say about our crews
Straight from our Google Business Profile.
Book an art director, anywhere in the UK.
Tell us the location or the set, the look, and what needs dressing, building or propping. Our team reads every brief within 2 working hours. Or call us on 07412 543822.
Check availability
The whole crew
Every role across the UK, booked the same way
One brief, one quote, every role on its own line. Our UK day rates, paid to the crew member in full:
Production 06
- Director From £500
- Producer From £450
- Production manager £504–627
- 2nd AD £355–448
- Production assistant £400
- Runner £245
Camera 09
- DOP From £850
- Camera operator £529–656
- Lighting camera operator £529–656
- Videographer £529–656
- Focus puller (1st AC) £461–575
- Clapper loader (2nd AC) £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 This page £675–878
- Set builders £341–512
Post-production 01
- Editor From £350
How our rates work: crew rates across the UK. In one city? London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Cornwall have their own role pages.
Production support
Everything around the crew
The art department runs into kit, permits, vans and insurance, so here’s how each works on a UK shoot.
01
Crew rates in the UK
Day rates for every role, the APA/Bectu card, overtime and what a day covers.
02
Kit and equipment hire
Rental houses across the UK, wet hire and dry hire, and the crew’s own kit.
03
Insurance for a UK shoot
Employers’ liability, public liability, kit cover, and what can leave you uninsured.
Questions
Hiring an art director in the UK: questions
How much does an art director cost in the UK?
The APA/Bectu card puts an art director at £675–878 for an 11-hour day, including an hour for lunch, and we pay that in full. On top go our 10% booking fee and 2% insurance, so a day starts at £756 + VAT. The art budget, for props, hires and materials, is at cost, and so is travel when the art director works away from home. The rate is the same in every city we crew.
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.
How are prep and strike days paid?
The APA’s recommended terms for commercials count every day an art director works as a full working day: prep, recce, build and strike as well as the shoot (APA crew terms, checked October 2026). We quote each one as its own line, so you see what the dressing costs before anything is booked.
How long is the day, and what about overtime?
A day is 11 hours, ten of them working and one for lunch. After that, overtime is paid by the hour at the APA card’s rate for the role: 1.5×, 1.25× or single time on an hourly rate of a tenth of the day rate, graded by day rate, and we agree it with you before it happens. Between wrap and the next call there are at least 11 hours. Film crew rates in the UK
Where do the props come from?
Wherever makes sense once the van and the returns are counted. London’s prop houses are out in Park Royal, Hayes and Cricklewood; Stockyard North in Trafford Park is one of the biggest outside London; and plenty is bought in the city you’re shooting in. Every hire is its own line on the quote. The city guides list the houses: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and Cornwall.
Can we use replica weapons on a UK shoot?
Yes, with the police told first. HSE’s guidance is a specialist armourer, and the police told in advance if a weapon could be seen or heard in public (HSE). Film offices add their own rules: in London the Met Police Film Unit issues a reference number before a prop gun appears, and in the West Midlands Production Central WM wants firearms and offensive weapons discussed in advance, with an armourer on set.
Can you dress a National Trust house or a listed building?
Yes, on the owner’s terms. The National Trust asks for a contract signed by both sides for commercial filming, with location fees; English Heritage and Historic Royal Palaces take filming requests through their own teams (checked October 2026). We photograph everything first, dress for the camera, and put it back as it was. See filming locations and permits in the UK.
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 adverts and brand films, one person does both.
More on crew across the UK
- Film crew hire UK
- Film crew rates in the UK
- Art director hire in London
- Art director hire in Manchester
- Art director hire in Birmingham
- Art director hire in Bristol
- Art director hire in Cornwall
- Art director hire in New York
- Film set builder hire UK
- Costume designer and stylist hire UK
- How we select our crew
- Our crew hire case studies