View Full Version : How much to pay an assistant?


Nathan Quattrini
May 16th, 2009, 09:00 AM
What is the going rate for a wedding assistant for both video and still photo for a wedding (separate quotes)? Is it usually a day rate? Or by the hour? They would be hauling gear, labeling, charging batteries, setting up tripods etc, run of the mill stuff. Thanks for the input :)

Louis Maddalena
May 16th, 2009, 02:41 PM
I pay mine 150 for video. I don't do photo though. Thats for a day with a few hour break in between prep and the reception.

Dawn Brennan
May 17th, 2009, 08:56 AM
I usually pay between $100-150, depending on the number of hours. I don't technically pay hourly, but if its an extremely long day, I'll throw in a little more. My helpers carry equipment, set up tripods, ect and also shoot with the 2nd camera. I usually set up for them and make it as easy as possible... but they do a great job for me.

Nicholas de Kock
May 17th, 2009, 01:24 PM
$150 or more depending on the project. Take care of your assistant, they are usually your weakest link, I believe if you look after the people that work for you that you'll get excellence.

Alastair Brown
May 18th, 2009, 11:18 AM
I usually pay mine 10% of the package. I base that on the fact that he has a great eye for nice shots, knows what he is doing, is good company.

Travis Cossel
May 18th, 2009, 11:26 AM
I have yet to find an assistant I'm really happy with, so at the moment I pay them $100, with potential $25 and $50 bonuses based on the footage they shoot. You guys should really consider incorporating bonuses because it gives your assistant motivation to try a little harder.

Alastair Brown
May 18th, 2009, 11:48 AM
I have yet to find an assistant I'm really happy with, so at the moment I pay them $100, with potential $25 and $50 bonuses based on the footage they shoot. You guys should really consider incorporating bonuses because it gives your assistant motivation to try a little harder.

Does feeding them count?

Jason Robinson
May 18th, 2009, 03:58 PM
I give my assistant a back rub and take her out to dinner the next day. Hehehe. Yeah I shoot with my wife as assistant / Second Unit cam.

Nothing helps an assistant camera op remember common mistakes like me complaining all winter about our bad shots from the summer before. :-)

Although I haven't taken my advice yet and made her watch the raw footage from her cam. That is how I learned the most, so I might do that before this year's wedding season starts .... oh . . .wait... the start is this weekend! Gah!

Travis Cossel
May 18th, 2009, 04:24 PM
Does feeding them count?

Naw .. I find they work harder if you starve them. d;-)

Dawn Brennan
May 18th, 2009, 06:26 PM
I give my assistant a back rub and take her out to dinner the next day.

I was gonna ask if I could be your assistant... LOL!

Nicholas de Kock
May 19th, 2009, 01:18 AM
I give my assistant a back rub and take her out to dinner the next day. Hehehe. Yeah I shoot with my wife as assistant / Second Unit cam.

Jason my fiance was my assistant for a while after my regular left. Sometimes we "really" got on each others nerves, lol however now that she's not shooting with me anymore I miss having her with me. She knew nothing about camera work I pretty much gave her a camera and said shoot something, was fun. I now employ a full time editor to help with the editing and shooting, one thing I learn through editing my footage, I think it's important for an assistant to edit his/her own work if only syncing footage.

Noel Lising
May 19th, 2009, 07:37 AM
I pay $ 100-$150, he just need to unload lights, charge batteries, set-up tripod, man the camera for speeches ( so I can eat). Lately it's just me and the wife, have never used an assistant for 2 seasons now.

Blake Cavett
May 21st, 2009, 02:24 PM
I'm also in the 100 to 150 range... but more and more, I'm rarely letting my assistant shoot.
If anything, he carries the light(s) & tripod and watches me work.

Not a bad gig!

Ethan Cooper
May 21st, 2009, 08:17 PM
How long are your assistants working cause I'm paying $200 - $300 for 6 - 8 hours. Pay usually depends on my mood, how far in advance I get them, if they have to travel or not.

Am I over paying? I've considering going to an hourly rate.

Jason Robinson
May 21st, 2009, 08:36 PM
How long are your assistants working cause I'm paying $200 - $300 for 6 - 8 hours. Pay usually depends on my mood, how far in advance I get them, if they have to travel or not.

Am I over paying? I've considering going to an hourly rate.

I don't know, if I could pay someone $200 and simply not worry about them at all and know that I would get great footage, correctly white balanced, with out the worry about the assistant's camera zooming / moving at the same time as me, that the assistant would get creative shots on their own, would work well with the guests, and would make my edit job easy..... then I'd consider paying $200 for an 8hr assistant.

There is only one person I would trust to get that kind of footage for me (Travis C. right here on DVi).

The other problem is schedules (since he operates his own wedding vid business) and that I really need that extra $200 now more than ever.

Travis Cossel
May 21st, 2009, 10:27 PM
Thanks, Jason!

Ethan, you have to factor skill AND time with an assistant (as Jason pointed out). I still have to go through every wedding with the plan that my assistants won't get what I need them to. They just aren't that skilled. So for me, it doesn't make sense to pay them more than $10/hr.

If your assistants are getting you exactly what you want, then $200-300 is probably about right. If they aren't, and you have to baby-sit them and cover their shots with your own, then I think you're probably over-paying. This is where a bonus system works nicely.

Jim Snow
May 21st, 2009, 10:29 PM
"Assistant" can mean a lot of things. Do you just want someone to carry and setup your equipment because you have a bad back? Or do you want a decent second camera operator? Or do you a really good shooter with all his own pro equipment? There are assistants and then there are ASSISTANTS.

Jason Robinson
May 21st, 2009, 10:46 PM
"Assistant" can mean a lot of things. Do you just want someone to carry and setup your equipment because you have a bad back? Or do you want a decent second camera operator? Or do you a really good shooter with all his own pro equipment? There are assistants and then there are ASSISTANTS.

That is true. Some times my wife functions as between the level of a PA and that of a second unit op. Which is very handy. For the ceremony she is 2nd unit op, but when it comes to reception, prep, etc, she greatly helps out in the bustle of activity by tracking where B&G are, holding the MultiRig while I use the glidecam (or vice versa) and other "where is the ...." type tasks.

Very handy to have both an assistant (aka PA) that can also think like a second unit op and operate semi-autonomously.

Dany Badaoui
May 22nd, 2009, 06:24 PM
on this note, how much do you pay a second camera man with all of his own gear including wireless mic's, multirig pro, tripod + XHA1?

by the hour or day rates?

i have just been approached to do some work for somebody and what they offered me was kind of offending considering i have my own setup.

Jason Robinson
May 23rd, 2009, 12:33 AM
Jason my fiance was my assistant for a while after my regular left. Sometimes we "really" got on each others nerves, lol however now that she's not shooting with me anymore I miss having her with me. She knew nothing about camera work I pretty much gave her a camera and said shoot something, was fun. I now employ a full time editor to help with the editing and shooting, one thing I learn through editing my footage, I think it's important for an assistant to edit his/her own work if only syncing footage.

oh we sure do end up grating on each other a bit, but we are also two firstborns. :-) I am a bit more "intense" in my focus so that does cause problems. But my wife is becoming a real good camera op (not technically though; she doesnt' know how to use manual controls, etc) but she is good at finding good shots. Now if I can just get her to look at me before moving so I know to not touch my cam so there is a cutaway cam. This is why for my double header this weekend I'm actually rolling with 4 cams. Always two cutaways. :-)

And I absolutely agree that a cam op should also edit their footage, or be forced to sit in on the edit session so they can see the problems they create and how to avoid it next time.

Jason Robinson
May 23rd, 2009, 12:40 AM
on this note, how much do you pay a second camera man with all of his own gear including wireless mic's, multirig pro, tripod + XHA1?

by the hour or day rates?

i have just been approached to do some work for somebody and what they offered me was kind of offending considering i have my own setup.

in that case I bet the price offered was less than $200USD, in which case, depending on how long they want you to shoot, it is an offensive amount. If I show up to shoot for someone else (unless it is a local DVI member and I'm helping out in a crisis) then that would be my price for the first two hours with $75 / hr after that Minumum. I mean, you are talking about ~$4k in gear alone! Now experience ofr the shooter would need to be taken into account. For example, if some guy went out and blew through $5k and got himself a sweet single cam setup but had never shot a wedding, I would tell him "I use your gear, you stay out of the way and learn." :-) if the hired shooter was a pro, or even had >10 weddings under their belt then the rate must be more, especially since that is almost an entire shooting operation right there (only missing the extra cams).

Oleg Kalyan
May 26th, 2009, 01:21 AM
I pay around $350 if the assistant also shoots a video, becomes a second cameraman at times.

Around $250 300 if he help with different stuff, no shooting involved.

talking about complete wedding day. 12 hours.