let's talk: local hires

Sarah Cayce
Feb 4
2 min read

I talk about local hires a lot in my consultations with actors, so I wanted to write about it, friends. What does being a local hire mean? Are you willing to work as a local hire? What does that mean? So many folks have questions about working as a local hire, so let's break it down:

what is a "local hire"

Local hire means you've been hired to work in a specific shooting location (like Chicago or Rantoul) while agreeing to pay for your own travel to the location, housing, and getting to and from set. Like a resident of that area, you wouldn't receive any per diem or travel money, and production wouldn't be responsible for housing you. Pulling averages from Chicago travel rates today, here's an example of what a single day of shoot with two days of travel looks like:

Travel Cost per Out-of-Town Talent: $1,597.72
- Flights - $694
- Ground Transport - $120 ($40/day x 3 days)
- Per Diem - $70 ($35/day x 2 non-filming days)
- Hotel - $470 ($235/night x 2 nights)
- Chicago Taxes @ 18%: $243.72

why would someone work as a local hire?

There are lots of reasons that folks want to travel to work. Sometimes they love a script, or the director, or have always wanted to play a certain kind of role - and sometimes, it's just for the money. If you have people to stay with, and you won't lose money, working as a local hire is a great way to add to your resumé, reel, and experience (sometimes in lessons like what your boundaries will be the next time you travel for work...)

Saying you'll save production about $1,600 is a massive incentive for them to choose you. Sometimes, whoever books the job is just the closest to the set. Some projects have budgets tight enough that they need to save as much as they can in travel to actually make the movie.

film incentives and working locally

The biggest reason that most casting offices ask if you're a local hire is so that the productions we're casting can get money back with each state's film incentive. When you tell us you're a local hire, we usually follow up the question with what is your state of residency. If you aren't a resident of the state in which you're shooting, you won't qualify. Make sure you're really honest about your residency, as it could be the difference in thousands of dollars in a tax incentive on the back-end of production.

Look, if you can get to and from set easily, have a place to stay, and don't mind paying your own way, there are lots of reasons to work as a local hire. If you're not applicable to their film incentive, you won't qualify, so make sure you're clear upon booking, but have fun working out of town when the project is right.

Have fun out there!

-Sarah