for Hiring Documentary Cinematographers

Below are best practices for producers and clients hiring cinematographers based in the San Francisco Bay Area, compiled by members of the Collective of Documentary Women Cinematographers, based on our experiences as cinematographers and filmmakers. Nothing in this document is intended to replace sound legal and employment advice from a qualified attorney or human resources specialist.

Choosing the right person for each job

Cinematography is a creative and technical discipline, and in documentary film, is also an extremely sensitive, intimate, subjective human endeavor.  We believe that who is behind the camera matters nearly as much as what is in front of it.  The choices cinematographers make, the interactions they have with you, your subjects and other crew, what/who/how they observe, frame, and capture your film all matter.  Of course, your choice in cinematographer should be driven by a combination of subject matter and subjects of your film, the cinematographer’s relevant background and life experiences, their technical and creative aptitude and relation to your vision, personal recommendations, your available resources, timing and availability, and ultimately your ability to work together to bring your vision to life.

Rates

  • Labor and gear rates are often negotiable based on the project; some cinematographers have varying rates for corporate, nonprofit, and independent productions, and rates may vary based on the cinematographer’s experience level and requirements of the production. We encourage producers and crew to have open and transparent discussions around budget and rates.
  • If a cinematographer will be expected to manage other crew (e.g. Director of Photography), or to perform additional duties such as running sound, lighting, data transfer/DIT, or managing remote participants/producer feeds, these should be discussed before reaching a work agreement. These decisions may affect the cinematographer’s rates and time needed (and therefore costs) of production.
  • Labor rates are based on a 10-hour work day (standard for the San Francisco Bay Area); gear rates are a flat rate per day. 
  • Overtime (OT) rates are calculated at 1.5x past 10 hours and 2x past 12 hours/day.
  • Half-day rates should not be taken as a given and are at the discretion of individual crew members (for example: someone could choose to accept 60-75% of a full day rate for ≤ 5 hours door-to-door). 
  • Travel day rates are negotiable but should never go below 50% of labor day rate. Delayed or canceled flights are typically subject to a kill fee (see below). 
  • A filming + travel day (when both production and travel occur on the same day) is typically billed at travel day rate plus OT rate for any hours worked on the travel day.
  • Kill fees: for confirmed shoots canceled within 48 hours of call time (or departure time in the event of travel), standard fees are 50% of labor and gear fees. For shoots canceled within 24 hours, 100% of labor and gear fees.
  • Deferred payments should include a timeline/deadline for payment.
  • All terms should be agreed upon in writing before the start of work.

Employee vs. Independent Contractor 

  • California’s AB5 law codified labor laws designed to protect employees.  Everyone working in California is considered an employee by default unless strict conditions are met allowing an “exemption” to the law.  If you are planning to hire any crew in California and are unfamiliar with this law, please be sure to educate yourself; the penalties for non-compliance can be severe. Please note that if the work is done in California, it doesn’t matter where the production company is located; employers still need to follow AB5 laws when it comes to classification of employees. See the AB5 resources we have gathered and please consult an attorney on these matters.
  • Some cinematographers prefer to work as employees; others have their own businesses and prefer to (or are open to) working as contractors via the Business to Business (B2B) exemption.

Insurance 

  • Please note that if you hire a cinematographer as an employee, then you are required to cover them with your insurance policy during production (General Liability and Worker’s Compensation, as required by law), and when applicable, to provide equipment coverage for the cinematographer’s equipment. Obtaining a “Producer’s Package” that incorporates all of these is usually the most cost-effective route.
  • When you are relying on the B2B exemption to AB5 and hiring a cinematographer’s company to perform the work, that company will likely carry its own insurance policy.
  • Especially when you are renting equipment from the cinematographer’s company, the cinematographer may require a Certificate of Insurance (COI) from you listing their company as an “additional insured” (for liability purposes) and/or “loss payee” (for property loss) prior to the shoot.  Many insurers can provide these on short notice, but if you are unfamiliar with your insurer’s turnaround time, be sure to ask about this in advance.
  • However insurance is handled for your production, be sure it is spelled out in the contract with your cinematographer.

Pre-production

  • We encourage production to include the cinematographer in discussions around aesthetics, gear, additional crew, and workflow. Although these hours will be paid work, they can be invaluable to your production and identify problem areas before they occur; they can save you money, increase the cohesion and collaboration of your team, make your production run much smoother, and increase the overall quality of the output.
  • Scouting and pre-production days are paid work days, at an agreed-upon rate. Some cinematographers will agree to bill hourly for pre-production meetings and shoot preparation; others typically work at their day rate or a percentage of their day rate.
  • Rental pick-ups/returns are typically billed at hourly rates unless otherwise negotiated.
  • Direct flights are preferred whenever possible for minimizing travel time and the likelihood of lost or delayed luggage; although a direct flight may cost a few hundred dollars more, a multi-leg flight will add travel-hours to your cost, and a single lost or delayed bag or missed connection can derail a shoot for days at a significant financial cost.
  • For airline travel, production should plan for crew members to help with transporting gear to, from, and at the airport. High-value gear and lithium batteries need to travel as carry-on luggage, so crew members traveling with the DP should be ready to use their carry-on luggage allowance for gear.
  • Please survey your crew in pre-production to accommodate any dietary restrictions, accessibility, or lactation accommodations.

Production

  • Protecting your data: Production should have a plan for data transfer and backup to be conducted by a crew member other than the cinematographer during the production day and/or after production hours. When it is expected that the cinematographer will also perform this duty, those hours are added to their workday and may be billed at OT rates. 
  • Breaks and meals: If you want the best out of your crew, please keep in mind that their labor is physically and mentally taxing and can be hard on the body. A meal break at least every 5 hours, and breaks for snacks, bathroom and water every 2-3 hours, are considered a minimum standard. Please incorporate these breaks into your production schedule in advance, and protect those breaks.  Tired, thirsty, undernourished crew members on a set with expensive gear are likely to make mistakes that affect your production, and can be a liability.  For call times earlier than 8:00am, breakfast and coffee should be provided.  
  • Lactation accommodation: Breastfeeding parents may also need breaks to pump milk, even if they are traveling and disposing of it during the shoot. In many states, like California, these breaks and a private space are required by law. This private space should not be a restroom and must have a door that locks and power, and refrigeration for milk storage must also be made available. 
  • Restrooms: Public bathrooms for outdoor shoots can be tough to find, especially during the pandemic. Please plan accordingly and identify bathrooms in advance of production in order to avoid shoot delays.
  • Physical security: Plan for the safety of crew who are filming in public, and plan for the secure storage of gear during the production day, particularly when transiting between locations. Production outdoors and in public places has become increasingly risky for crew, and it is no longer safe nor appropriate for an untrained PA to safely “watch” a van full of expensive gear. Carjackings, gunpoint robberies, and worse have all been reported for small and large crews alike, in our cities and on our highways, in broad daylight and even while rolling for a news story (about, of all things, increased crime). As the hiring entity, safety and security is ultimately your responsibility. Cinematographers are particularly vulnerable, as they are often the ones in possession of the most expensive gear, with their focus completely on their work, looking through a viewfinder and unable to keep watch on their surroundings.  At minimum, a second crew member should be keeping watch for the cinematographer; and the hiring entity should explicitly state that human beings are always to be protected over gear.  Depending on the setting and circumstances of your production, consider whether hiring private security is appropriate.
  • Mental health considerations: Documentary productions often tackle sensitive or traumatic subject matters, and production itself can be stressful; it is essential that the health and safety of your subjects and crew are considered when planning your production. Although you cannot always predict what may happen or what might be said during filming, it is essential that you hire the right people, prepare yourself and any producers, directors or interviewers who may interact with your subjects or crew, have the difficult conversations needed to prepare your team for a variety of possibilities, and prepare as a filmmaker and employer to minimize trauma and harm and to respond to any concern or crisis that might emerge as a result of participation in your film. In some cases, filmmakers are choosing to hire mental health professionals to be available to subjects and crew before, during, and/or after production for this reason. Consider these articles and resources:

Covid Safety

  • Cinematographers’ individual rates may increase during the pandemic. This reflects the additional workload on lean sets and health and safety risks. 
  • Please note that whenever possible, shorter shoots are recommended at this time, as wearing masks all day while carrying heavy equipment is physically exhausting and COVID protocols may be mentally and physically taxing. To this end, more frequent breaks may be requested by your crew to ensure greater sustainability and productivity during this time. 
  • Individual cinematographers may be willing to undertake additional tasks beyond cinematography, and compensation should reflect the additional workload. For example, a cinematographer may be willing to work without an assistant, sound person, or lighting crew when the compensation appropriately reflects this expectation, and when this expectation is clearly communicated. 
  • If your project requires a director or producer to attend the production remotely (by Zoom or another service), the cinematographer may require an assistant to assist in the workload. The absence of a director or producer places additional burden on the cinematographer to troubleshoot any technical challenges that arise by remote attendance, in addition to interacting with the talent and preparing for the filming.
  • Given the wearing of masks, sweat and fog issues may occur. Please allow for any additional time on set that this may require.
  • The hiring entity must provide the cinematographer with clear guidelines around their Covid safety protocols. Please provide the following information when enquiring about cinematographer’s availability during the ongoing pandemic:
    • What is your mask policy?
    • Will production provide PPE to talent and crew during travel and production?
    • What is your Covid testing policy on set for talent and crew? When and how frequently will rapid testing be conducted, and how accessible are PCR tests in the event of symptoms or suspected exposure?
    • What is your quarantine policy for talent and crew arriving from out of town? 
    • Will everyone on set be vaccinated (and boosted)?
    • Will there be adequate airflow on set?
    • What is the meal plan? Will crew be eating outside and with adequate distancing?
    • Will temperature checks be performed on everyone on set?
    • Will talent wear masks when not on camera? 
    • Will there be a Covid compliance officer on your shoot(s)?
    • Are there any times when you need to film in a crowd?
    • What is the protocol if someone on set learns of a possible exposure? Will production pause for testing of all close contacts?
    • Is the production prepared to pay the costs of any quarantine (hotel, per diem) on site in the event of a crew exposure or illness?
    • For multi-day shoots on location, what is your expectation of crew and talent off hours?  (For example, are crew and talent asked to refrain from being indoors, unmasked at restaurants or bars or with persons outside of their household for the duration of the shoot to minimize exposure?)

Post-Production & Pick-ups

  • We encourage production to include the DP/cinematographer in discussions and work around aesthetics, especially pickup shoots, color grading, and stock footage purchases during the editing process. 
  • For pickup shoots, it is beneficial to hire the primary DP/cinematographer to maintain a consistent look. If that person is unavailable, consider consulting them to recommend (or assist in the selection of) someone with similar experience and equipment. In this way, camera settings and aesthetic choices can be made that simplify post-production and avoid unnecessary expenses. 
  • Daily rates should be paid for this time and production should work with the DP to give them sufficient notice for which dates will work for both DP and other crew. 

Copyright

  • You own the material you have hired a cinematographer to capture, but most cinematographers request that they be allowed to use an excerpt of the footage for their reels, which is the primary means by which they obtain employment.  Please build this into your contracts for cinematographers. If this is not possible, or if such excerpts must be limited to certain distributor terms, please state this explicitly before the job begins. 

Credits

  • A cinematographer, if working as sole cinematographer, whether supervising other crew or not, should generally be credited as “Director of Photography.” This credit is also often used for a primary cinematographer (the one who performed most of the work) in the case of multiple contributors.
  • If there are multiple cinematographers on the project (such as in different geographic locations or on different days), the recommendation is to list the names in alphabetical order as “Cinematography” or “Cinematographers.”
  • If a cinematographer is hired for second unit camera work, the recommendation is to credit them with either “Cinematographer” for their geographic unit or as “Additional Cinematography.” 
  • If a cinematographer is hired solely to camera operate and is being directed by another cinematographer and/or the Director of Photography, they should be credited as “Camera Operator.”

Expenses & Reimbursements

  • If you are hiring a cinematographer as an employee, you are responsible for collecting a W4 form before the cinematographer begins work, and for providing a W2 and any 1099 (for equipment/rental fees) at tax time.
  • Equipment and kit rental fees are generally itemized on separate invoices. 
  • Expenses (travel, parking, gas, meals etc) and expendables (tape, gels, batteries) will also generally be itemized separately as reimbursements, but these do not require tax forms. Be sure to communicate any restrictions on reimbursements and the appropriate procedure in advance of any expenditures on behalf of your production.
  • Please note that when you request that both services and rental fees/expenses are put on a W2, the cinematographer is unable to deduct their business expenses. For this reason, many cinematographers charge higher rates for combined labor and rental employment agreements.

Billing & Payment

  • Cinematographers hired as employees are typically paid through a payroll service provider; please ensure that your crew members have detailed instructions for accessing the system before work starts to ensure timely payment after work is performed, and share the payroll cycle (e.g. biweekly, monthly on a certain date) and expected pay date(s) with them.
  • Cinematographers hired as independent contractors will submit invoices for their services. A typical invoice will itemize the labor and gear, with rates for each line as specified in the contract.
  • Invoices should include payment terms as specified in the contract, including any applicable late fees. Typical payment terms are net 30 from the date of the invoice.
  • Most cinematographers charge late fees ranging from 1.5 to 3% for invoices that have not been paid by their due date.