The only thing a PA is missing is the Y – Anonymous
How much does a Production Assistant get paid? — seems to be a recurring question, so I’ll answer it: NOT MUCH!
PAs don’t get paid hourly. A PA gets paid on a “per-day” day rate, based on a 12 hour day. Day rates depend on the type of show you’re working on. On average, in Los Angeles, the PA day rate is around $125 a day. A day rate is good, because if you work 6 hours instead of 12, you will still get paid for a full day. Those days are rare, and you will more likely be working over 12 hours, most of the time. For more information on how a day rate works, check out TAPAs post on the subject.
Commercials and Music Video’s tend to pay more than Movies and TV, but you don’t work as long. I’ve been a PA on a couple photo shoots that pay a day rate of $250, but the shoots only last 1-2 days. I’ve also worked as a PA on a couple commercials that pay a day rate of $200, but those shoots were only a few days long as well. If you’re on a movie or TV show, you could be getting paid $125 a day for a few months. This is what I am currently trying to do… and it’s a pain in the ass.
You’ll find that most industry jobs don’t do “pay by the hour”. It’s either by the day, week, or job.
Ask any questions in the comments section, and I’ll be glad to answer them to the best of my ability.
[UPDATE]
So I just recently worked on a feature and figured out a little more on how we’re paid.
On this feature I was making $112 a day, with a guaranteed 12 hour day. So even if I only worked 10 hours instead of 12, I would still get paid for the full 12 hours.
Now on paper this breaks down to $8/hr for the first 8 hours. After 8 hours you get time and a half for the next 4 hours. So I’d be getting paid $8/hr for 8 hours and $12/hr for 4 hours. That makes the $112/12 day rate. Anything I work after 12 hours is double time, which would be $16 an hour.
Now on this feature I was working 6 day weeks. So my “6th day” rate is time and a half for every hour. So I would make $12/hr for the first 12 hours and then $16/hr for anything after 12.
I also got one $7 meal penalty per day. Basically you have to be fed 6 hours after your call time. Because I am a PA, I always have a pre-call. Which means If the call time for crew is at 8am, I’ll probably have a call time for 7am. When we break for lunch at 2pm, it’s been 7 hours of work for me before lunch… which means I get a meal penalty. It’s not much… but on a 6 day week that’s $42 extra in the bank.