How Many Costume Department Members Does Your Film Need?
The importance of the costumes department for a film or show is often overlooked or their realistic needs are underestimated and under-budgeted for. More times than not, costume departments are left scrambling to bring a creative vision to life due to lack of resources, time and labor support. The amount of costume department personnel you will need will directly be affected by the needs of your film.
The recommended minimum is as follows:
Costume Designer
Assistant Costume Designer
Costume Coordinator/Production Assistant
Wardrobe Supervisor
Set Costumer
Tailor
Have films and shows been made with smaller costume crews? Yes. There are films that can get away with 3 people and some over-hire, however they must be smaller films with minimal costume changes and of a contemporary nature versus period, sci-fi or fantasy which require larger amounts of alterations. In general, costume crews smaller than the one listed above are highly not recommended.
The long-term cost of not having a large enough crew is holding for costumes on set, returns not happening timely causing additional costs to the budget or missed returns, and a costume crew that is completely burnt out early in the shoot. The overall product you receive is subpar from what it would be if you have a bit more support
To understand what you will need for your crew, you first want to understand some of the general job descriptions of the above roles.
The Breaking Down of Roles
The Design Team:
Costume Designers are in charge of the overall aesthetic and character choices for every person or character that goes in front of the camera. They collaborate and coordinate color, texture, line quality, and the like with the Production, Hair, and Makeup Designers and Director of Photography while building story and character with the Director and Cast. Costume Designers put together research and fitting photo boards for Director and Producer approval. They tell the Wardrobe Supervisor which outfits go with each costume change. They oversee and approve all purchases, custom built costumes and rentals, fittings, costume notes such as alterations, dying and distressing, and managing the overall department budget. On smaller films and projects, they are often doing the shopping themselves where as with larger films, they will delegate the shopping to Assistants so they can be on set, oversee the costume builds in shops, design the upcoming episodes, and the like. Costume Designers are responsible for establishing new costumes on set each time there is a new outfit.
In general, you do not want your designer stuck on set all day watching monitor without support because nothing else will get done for the rest of the film. The only way this ever can possibly work is if you have months of prep with all the cast pre-fit in advance with only one outfit each and wardrobe truck for the designer to work off of. Otherwise, you run the risk of them not having time to get the things they need for the film or time to handle the costume notes and do returns which will ultimately cost you in the long run.
Assistant Costume Designers work underneath the Costume Designer to help with the design. This could assist with fittings, shopping options, managing the Costume Coordinator, bagging/organizing outfits to be sent to set, sorting purchases and returns, assisting with research and fitting board creation, and doing whatever else the Costume Designer needs of them.
Costume Coordinators work underneath the Costume Designer and Assistant Costume Designer(s) and Wardrobe Supervisor. Their job is to manage the day to day accounting and expenses for the Costume Department, manage Costume PAs, track assists, create and turn in cost reports to accounting, oversee shopping and rental returns, check in incoming shopping, oversee set runs and pickups/drop-offs, and order office lunches.
Costume Department Production Assistants, on the East Coast, do store returns, check shopping in and shopping returns out, they do store pick ups and runs, run items to and from the costume truck to the office, and assist with lunch. On the West Coast, PA are much more limited to what they can do—mostly getting coffee and picking up paperwork;
In general, the design team’s hours of operation are more set by the store hours than the shoot schedule since shopping and returns have to happen during normal business hours. However, when there are outfits/characters or background to be established, the Designers will shift their schedules to allow for those moments in the day.
The Set Team:
Wardrobe Supervisors are responsible for costume continuity, garment maintenance, and the maintaining of the Costume Designer’s creative vision. They set the actor’s dressing rooms per the instruction of the Costume Designer. They support the Costume Designer by breaking down the script and letting the design team know how many multiples they will need for stunts or weather conditions. They are also in charge of actor comfort such as warming wear, socks and undershirts, and underwear unless they are specialty for the costume, in which case that is the job of the design team to provide. Wardrobe Supervisors are also in charge of setting the line up for the next shoot day and recording all details about each costume piece within each outfit for pick ups, reshoots, and continuity throughout the shooting process. They are not allowed to make any creative design choices. Those choices solely reside with the Costume Designer. On smaller projects or when in a pinch, Wardrobe Supervisors can fix buttons, hem pants, and do other basic alterations, however, alterations are not their job.
Set Costumer reports to the Wardrobe Supervisor and maintains the creative design for the Costume Designer who will specify exact dressing/styling notes when the outfit is established. Set Costumers are in charge of taking full body photos of cast members with detail shots and monitor shots and noting how things are warn for continuity. They are the onset eyes and ears for the Wardrobe Supervisor and Costume Designer who are usually handling things off set. They make sure that clothing lays where it is supposed to and that the cast has was they need. In cold weather, they are in charge of putting warming coats on and off cast between takes or holding layers between takes during warm weather. They also have set kits to deal with any last minute needs such as a missing button, a rip, or keeping something in place. Set Costumers are the insurance on the money you spent to get the design. Without anyone watching the costumes on set, you run the risk of continuity errors that will pull the audience out of your story. On smaller projects or when in a pinch, Set Costumers can fix buttons, hem pants, and do other basic alterations, however, alterations are not their job.
Tailors are in charge of all custom built items done in house (sometimes external costume shops are hired for custom builds and designs) and costume alterations. A good tailor is integral to the quality of your film’s final look. They report to the Wardrobe Supervisor and take direction from the Costume Designer and Assistant Costume Designers. They tend to work out of the office, only coming to set when there is an onset fitting. The difference between good design and great design comes in the details and having clothing that correctly fits your cast and their specific body type needs.
The Five Factors that Affect Your Costume and Wardrobe Departments Sizes:
There are four factors that affect the size of your Costume and Wardrobe Departments:
Cast Size
Number of Script Days
Genre (period, sci-fi, fantasy, heightened reality or contemporary)
Stunts
Prep Time
The minimum recommendation listed above is for shows with smaller cast sizes (18 principles or less), minimal costume changes (2-3 script days), minimal background (20 or less with no changes), 3 weeks of prep, 6+ week shoot where characters establish throughout the film, and set during contemporary times—i.e. stoppable in stores.
How do each factor affect your number of crew? As soon as you go into period, sci-fi or fantasy, your crew list grows or your prep timeline shortens your costume and wardrobe crew grows.
Cast Size will affect the sheer volume of clothing and information needed. Each cast member gets reached out to by Costumes and has to be talked with about their character and what they are wearing by the designer. The larger the cast size, the more clothing required to cover their bodies and to create characters. For every 8 characters in a film, it’s good practice to add an additional Assistant Costume Designer who can solely focus on shopping fitting options for the Costume Designer.
The Suggested Rule:
For every 8 principle characters, add an additional Assistant Costume Designer and Set Costumer, 3 Additional Tailoring Days.
For every 15 background, add an additional Assistant Costume Designer if their clothing is being shopped, 5 Tailoring Days for alterations, and a Background Set Costumer
If you have large background cast numbers (20+ average per shoot day), it’s recommended to have a Background Wardrobe Supervisor
Number of Script Days can have a huge effect on the overall workload for the Costume and Wardrobe Departments. If a script has 10 principles and 8 script days, each principle has an average of 5 looks over the 8 script days, that’s roughly 50 outfits. So, while it seems like a small film with only 10 principles, it’s actually a good deal of shopping, alterations, and returns. Each outfit requires 5 options per piece to ensure you get what you need in the fitting. The more looks the more labor is required.
The Suggested Rule:
For every 15 outfits add an additional Assistant Costume Designer to focus on shopping and sourcing and 5 Tailoring Days.
If cast members change wardrobe more than once on a shoot day, add an additional costumer for every 5 outfits to help steam, set and wrap costumes throughout the day for maximum efficiency.
Genre in design terms means the type of world: sci-fi, fantasy, period, heightened reality, or contemporary. The moment you go into any other genre outside of contemporary, your crew size grows. Period, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Heightened Realities require more alterations, longer lead times, and often custom builds.
Suggested Rule:
If you are shooting a Period, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Heightened Reality film/show, add the following to your minimum crew list: An additional tailor, two more Set Costumers, an additional Assistant Costume Designer, and an Additional PA. You will also need fittings for all background to ensure everything fits properly.
Stunts always add more labor and time for a crew because they involve multiples of a costume which requires more alterations. So, a character may only have one change, however they are doing a stunt so both the stunt and the stunt double will require alterations times however many multiples are required for the stunt.
Suggested Rule:
For every stunt, budget 1 additional tailoring day for multiple alterations, unless it’s suiting or a period/fantasy/sci-fi costume, in which case budget 2 additional tailoring days.
Prep Time is one of the harder areas to create a rule for as it also depends on the complexity of the design, if there are custom builds, and how many characters and outfits establish at once. The less time you have to prep, the more hands are needed to bring a film or show to life. This is one of the reasons why tv show crews are so large.
Suggested Rule:
If you have last minute casting (2 work days or less before shooting on a contemporary project or 5 work days or less on a period/sci-fi/fantasy project) you will need the following: An additional Assistant Costume Designer to help pull/purchase costume pieces and an additional tailor.
If you have a large amount of costumes that need to be steamed and prepped for set, then you will want to add additional Costumers to help the onset team be properly prepped.
Note on last minute casting: next day casting can compromise your film’s design and is wholly unfair to your cast and design team. Odds are with the last minute casting, your Costume Design Team (along with Hair and Make-Up) will not have the resources you need to bring your creative world to life. It adds a heavy layer of unnecessary stress and should be avoided at all costs. If you are doing a period film, it’s very likely that you won’t have the right size clothes you need and overnighting options from a rental house will most likely be impossible.
Calculating Crew Needs Out:
Let’s say you are shooting a fantasy feature with 10 principle characters and 20 background cast members, 6 script days, with 4 weeks of prep. If each principle has an average of 3 changes and each background character has 5 changes, then the number of outfits is as follows: 30 principle costumes and 100 background costumes. Based on the rules set out above your costume crew would look like this:
Costume Designer x 1
Assistant Costume Designers x 8
Costume Coordinator x 1
Costume PA x 3
Wardrobe Supervisor x 1
Principle Set Costumers x 3
Background Wardrobe Supervisor x 1
Background Set Costumers x 3
Tailors x 4
These numbers can sometimes scare producers and filmmakers. Understandable. That said, it’s important to know what your Costume and Wardrobe Departments need to be set up for success. Otherwise you end up expecting things of them that just aren’t humanly possible or you end up paying for them over time. Plus, you will then have a clearer sense of the finances you will need to bring your film or show to life. With each project having its own needs, you will want to have a conversation with the Costume Designer and Wardrobe Supervisor about the labor they see needing. They may see things in the script you don’t that will require more work.
Learn More about budgeting for design with the Budgeting for your Film Design Workshop
The Budgeting for Your Film Design Workshop walks you through all the factors that affect our overall design costs from labor to materials. Get the nitty gritty numbers and tools to budget correctly.
