How do Film Directors get paid?

Stan T.Leave a Comment

Answered by:
Joey Malinski
Director
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Film Director’s pay varies greatly, as it’s kind of like being “Talent”, so if you are a NAME (Christopher Nolan or James Gunn) you can make millions. However, there are minimums when dealing with unions, so roughly 20k a week on a high budget feature, and about 15k/weekly for a low-budget feature (sub 3 Million).

For Commercial Directors, you are looking at 1500/day minimum, but they also range greatly.

What does the pay structure usually look like? Do directors get a profit share on the film or are they usually on a fixed weekly salary?

Yeah, union directors has a fixed weekly salary minimum, like in the NFL, there’s a minimum, but then there’s Patrick Mahomes. Most directors are somewhere in between.

It’s just like Actors too, sometimes they get the minimum, other times like Scarlett Johansson, you are getting a percentage of the box office, and you sue cause no ones going to the movies and it’s on streaming.


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