Hire crew for your shoot
Camera operators, gaffers, sound recordists, DITs, drone pilots. Post the role, your postcode and your rate — members within 30km get pinged, and the first to accept takes the job. The same flow that already moves gear around the UK.
Straight answer: crew is the newest part of Picturental and the number of people signed up is still small. Gear is the busy side. Post anyway — that is how the crew side fills up — but do it with time to spare rather than an hour before the call.
Roles people ask for
You describe the role in your own words when you post, so this is a starting point rather than a menu.
Camera
- Cinematographer / DoP
- Camera operator
- Focus puller (1st AC)
- 2nd AC
- DIT
- Steadicam operator
- Drone operator
Lighting & grip
- Gaffer
- Best boy
- Electrician / spark
- Grip
- Rigger
Sound
- Sound recordist
- Boom operator
- Sound assistant
Production & post
- Producer
- Line producer
- 1st AD
- Production assistant
- Script supervisor
- Location manager
- Casting director
- Colourist
- Costume designer
- Wardrobe supervisor
- Hair & make-up
How it works
- 1
Post the role
What you need, where the shoot is, the dates and the rate you are offering.
- 2
Nearby members get pinged
Everyone online within 30km of your postcode is notified in real time.
- 3
First to accept takes it
The job locks to them, you both get each other's details, and you rate each other afterwards.
Need kit as well as people? Browse gear to hire or read how Instant Match works.
Questions
- Can I hire crew through Picturental?
- Yes. Crew is one of the categories in Instant Match, the on-demand side of Picturental. You post the role, your postcode and your budget, and members within 30km get pinged. The first to accept takes the job.
- Which roles can I ask for?
- Anything on a normal call sheet — camera operator, focus puller, DIT, gaffer, spark, grip, sound recordist, boom operator, drone operator, 1st AD, script supervisor, colourist, hair and make-up. You describe the role in your own words, so you are not limited to a fixed list.
- How new is this?
- Very. Gear hire is the established side of the site; crew matching runs on the same machinery but is much newer, and the number of crew signed up is still small. If nobody nearby is online when you post, you will not get a match — it is worth posting early and giving it time rather than expecting an instant answer.
- What does it cost to hire crew?
- You set the rate when you post the request, so you are not bidding blind. Picturental adds its fee on top of that rate at checkout rather than taking it out of what the crew member is paid.
- Where in the UK does it work?
- Anywhere, but it is proximity-based: a request pings members within 30km of the postcode you give. That works best in and around the cities where members are concentrated — London, Manchester, Bristol, Brighton, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
- I'm crew — how do I get work here?
- Sign up, complete the ID check, and go online from your dashboard. You will be pinged when someone nearby posts a role you could take. It costs nothing to be listed, and you can go offline whenever you are on a job.