If you run a construction firm in London, you’ve probably noticed something over the last few years. Good tradespeople are getting harder to keep. Carpenters, riggers, painters, scaffold erectors… they’re all in short supply. The usual reasons get thrown around: retirement, fewer apprentices, Brexit. But that’s only part of it. A growing number of skilled workers are walking away from traditional construction sites for something most people wouldn’t guess: film and television production.
Studios across London and the South East have been expanding at pace, and every one of them needs sets built, torn down and rebuilt on tight turnarounds. That kind of work calls for exactly the hands-on trade skills that construction firms have spent years building up. So where are these workers going, what does the work actually involve, and what does it mean for the rest of the industry?
Which Trades Are Film Productions Hiring?
The trades that film sets need overlap a lot with mainstream construction. Carpenters are top of the list. Set construction involves timber framing, cladding and finishing work that’s honestly not that far off from a fit-out job. The deadlines are just tighter and there’s a lot more paint involved.
Scaffold erectors are getting picked up too, especially for large-scale studio builds and outdoor location shoots where temporary structures need to go up quickly and come down even quicker. Riggers handle everything from flying scenery to suspending lighting rigs, and the load-calculation skills they’ve picked up on construction sites carry straight over.
Painters and decorators tend to slot in easily as well. Film sets need fast, high-quality finishes across big surface areas. Being able to match textures, age a surface or replicate materials convincingly is a real craft, and productions will pay well for it.
What Does a Day on a Film Set Actually Look Like?
The pace is completely different. Construction sites typically run on programmes that stretch over weeks or months, but a film set build might last anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks. You’ll show up, work flat out to get the set ready for shooting, then strip it all down and move on.
The work gets broken into stages and managed by a construction coordinator or someone in the art department. You’ll still follow drawings, but they’re more likely to come from a production designer than an architect. Tolerances are different too. A wall on a film set doesn’t need to pass building regs, but it absolutely needs to look right on camera. That brings its own kind of pressure.
Day rates tend to sit around what you’d get in construction, sometimes better. Experienced carpenters and riggers on bigger productions can pull in £250 to £350 a day, and that can go higher with overtime or unsociable hours. The catch is that the work is project-based. Gaps between jobs are common, particularly outside peak production months.
How Set Builds Differ from Construction Projects
On a building site, you’re putting up something permanent. On a film set, you’re building something that looks permanent but might only stand for a week. That changes how you work in pretty much every way.
Materials are lighter. MDF, plywood and polystyrene come up far more often than brick and block. Speed matters more than longevity, and you’ll regularly get asked to build structures that can be partially taken apart between takes so cameras can get in. It’s a different kind of problem-solving, and tradespeople who like varied, fast-moving work tend to pick it up quickly.
Health and safety standards are still strict, but the environment isn’t as tightly regulated as a typical construction site. You won’t always find a principal contractor managing things the way you’d expect under CDM, though the bigger studios and productions do follow formal safety protocols.
Beyond Set Builds: The Film Production Support Chain
Set construction gets the most attention, but there’s a whole support chain running behind every production that also pulls in construction-adjacent skills. Equipment, props, costumes and set pieces all need to be moved between studios, locations and warehouses, often at very short notice.
As productions have scaled up, the support work around them has too. Film logistics in London now covers transport, storage and last-minute coordination between locations, and the people doing it need many of the same skills you’d find on a building site. Workers who’ve spent time handling heavy, awkward or fragile items on construction sites are a natural fit for this type of logistics work, where careful handling and tight scheduling are part of every job.
Storage is another growing area. Productions need secure space for sets and props between filming blocks, and warehouse roles involving inventory management, loading and site coordination all suit people with a construction background.
Is This a Loss for Construction, or a Healthy Shift?
From a construction employer’s point of view, losing skilled workers to film isn’t exactly welcome news. But it’s not as simple as a one-way drain either. A lot of tradespeople move between the two industries depending on what’s available. A carpenter might spend three months on a Netflix build at Shepperton, then come back to residential fit-outs once the production wraps.
That flexibility works for a lot of people, especially those who’ve had enough of long-term site work or who just want more variety in their week. And for younger workers coming into the trades, knowing their skills can open doors beyond traditional construction is a real motivator.
For the construction sector, the real risk isn’t losing people for good. It’s failing to compete on day rates, working conditions and the kind of variety that keeps people interested. Film productions have raised expectations for what skilled tradespeople can ask for, and construction firms that want to hold on to good people will need to match that.
What Construction Firms Can Take Away from This
The crossover between construction and film is a good reminder that trade skills go further than they often get credit for. Carpentry, rigging, scaffolding and painting are all wanted well beyond building sites, and that demand is only going to increase as London’s studio capacity keeps expanding.
If you’re a tradesperson thinking about giving film work a go, the barrier to entry is lower than you’d think. Word of mouth, reaching out directly to set construction companies and being willing to work flexible hours will get you in. And if you’re an employer watching your best people leave for Pinewood, the answer probably isn’t to grip tighter. It’s to make sure what you’re offering is strong enough to compete.
