Find Media and Production Subcontractors in Australia

Home » Find Subcontractors » Media and production

Early access open

Production runs almost entirely on contracted crew. Almost none of it is licensed, with two exceptions that carry real legal weight: anything that flies and anything that gets rigged above people.

This page covers what gets subcontracted in this sector, the credentials worth confirming, and how a job runs on Workforce Marketplace. Early access is open.

What gets subcontracted

The work most often subcontracted covers:

Camera, sound and lighting crew on a day or project basis
Drone and aerial cinematography
Grip, rigging and set construction
Post production: editing, colour, sound design and visual effects
Producers, directors and production management
Studio and location services, including catering and transport
Livestream and broadcast operation

Credentials that matter here

The credentials that genuinely apply are:

CASA Remote Pilot Licence (RePL) for any commercial drone work, plus an Air Operator Certificate where the operation requires one. The sub-2kg excluded category does not cover most commercial production
CASA ASIC for operations near controlled aerodromes
High Risk Work Licence, Rigging and Dogging for overhead rigging and lifting on set
High Risk Work Licence, EWP and Working at Heights for lighting positions
Electrician’s Licence for temporary power and distribution, plus test and tag on all equipment
White Card for shoots on construction and industrial sites
Public liability and equipment insurance, and confirmation the policy covers hired-in gear

Drone operators are the common gap. Commercial aerial work requires a licensed remote pilot operating under an appropriate approval, and a production company carries exposure if it engages someone flying outside that. Ask for the RePL and the operator certificate rather than accepting that the drone is small.

What to confirm before work starts

An active ABN. Where a supplier does not quote one, you are generally required to withhold 47 per cent of the payment and remit it to the ATO. Their GST registration also tells you whether the price should carry it.

That the credential is held by the entity you are contracting with. A person can hold a qualification while the business you are paying holds nothing. Check the name on the document against the name on the invoice.

Insurance appropriate to the scope. Public liability is the common one. Depending on the work you may also need professional indemnity, and workers compensation if they carry their own staff.

That the engagement is genuinely a contract for services. Since the Fair Work amendments the test looks at the real substance of the relationship rather than the label on the paperwork, and getting it wrong creates back-pay, superannuation and payroll tax exposure. Contractor vs employee in Australia sets out how it now works.

Writing a scope that gets comparable quotes

Production quotes need the shoot conditions fixed. State the shoot days and hours and what constitutes overtime, whether crew rates include their own equipment or it is hired separately, who carries insurance on hired gear, what the weather and postponement terms are, what the deliverables and formats are in post, how many rounds of changes are included, and who owns the footage and the rushes as distinct from the final cut.

How it works on Workforce Marketplace

Post the scope with the payment structure it actually uses, whether that is fixed price, hourly, daily, quoted or split into milestones for staged work. Subcontractors apply, and you compare them side by side rather than chasing callbacks.

Every account is ABN-verified at sign-up. Beyond that, subcontractors can submit licences, certifications and insurance for verification, which we review rather than grant automatically. Their profile shows the status against each credential without showing the document, the licence number or the ABN. Verification is opt-in, so a profile may hold credentials that have not been submitted, and it reflects the document as at the date it was reviewed rather than standing indefinitely.

Applying for work costs nothing and there are no leads to buy. Payment runs through Stripe, and Workforce Marketplace never stores your card or bank details.