---
title: "Producer and Director"
description: "Produce or direct stage, television, radio, video, or film productions for entertainment, information, or instruction. Responsible for creative…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/producer-and-director"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# Producer and Director

**Category:** Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media · **SOC code:** 27-2012 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 27-2012.00

Produce or direct stage, television, radio, video, or film productions for entertainment, information, or instruction. Responsible for creative decisions, such as interpretation of script, choice of actors or guests, set design, sound, special effects, and choreography.

Also advertised as: Artistic Director; Director; Executive Producer; Multimedia Producer; News Producer; Producer; Production Director; Radio Producer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $90,360 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $43.44/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $45,780 to $198,540, with the middle half between $62,670 and $134,800
- **Total US employment:** 143,120
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +4.9% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 12,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 36/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 143,120 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $45,780 |
| 25th | $62,670 |
| 50th (median) | $90,360 |
| 75th | $134,800 |
| 90th | $198,540 |
| Mean (average) | $113,300 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $129,790 | $117,224 | 34,110 |
| NJ | $119,840 | $110,142 | 2,970 |
| NY | $107,550 | $99,656 | 27,990 |
| DC | $104,270 | $94,876 | 2,640 |
| CT | $88,260 | $85,185 | 2,200 |
| OR | $87,460 | $84,616 | 1,640 |
| RI | $84,250 | $82,372 | 560 |
| WA | $81,550 | $76,206 | 2,270 |
| IL | $81,080 | $81,114 | 3,170 |
| MA | $80,970 | $76,562 | 3,440 |
| GA | $79,950 | $83,028 | 5,010 |
| FL | $79,920 | $77,282 | 7,160 |
| MD | $79,350 | $75,601 | 1,610 |
| NV | $78,480 | $78,496 | 1,630 |
| CO | $78,060 | $75,748 | 1,960 |

36 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 51 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/producer-and-director/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/producer-and-director.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 167,000 in the 2024–2034 base year to 175,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 8,300 jobs, or +4.9%. Faster than average: 4.9% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 12,800 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** Less than 5 years.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 56.7% |
| High School Diploma | 15.2% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 12.9% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 10.6% |
| Some College Courses | 4.6% |
| Master's Degree | 0.0% |

## What the work involves

- Research production topics using the internet, video archives, and other informational sources.
- Plan details such as framing, composition, camera movement, sound, and actor movement for each shot or scene.
- Study and research scripts to determine how they should be directed.
- Establish pace of programs and sequences of scenes according to time requirements and cast and set accessibility.
- Conduct meetings with staff to discuss production progress and to ensure production objectives are attained.
- Identify and approve equipment and elements required for productions, such as scenery, lights, props, costumes, choreography, and music.
- Direct live broadcasts, films and recordings, or non-broadcast programming for public entertainment or education.
- Review film, recordings, or rehearsals to ensure conformance to production and broadcast standards.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Management of Personnel Resources — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Communications and Media — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Telecommunications — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Administration and Management — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Artistic (A), Enterprising (E), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| A — Artistic | 6.14 |
| E — Enterprising | 5.78 |
| C — Conventional | 3.56 |
| S — Social | 3.12 |
| I — Investigative | 2.24 |
| R — Realistic | 2.13 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ENFP | 75.2 |
| ENFJ | 71.3 |
| ENTP | 68.4 |
| ESFP | 61.5 |
| ENTJ | 61.4 |

Best-fitting types: ENFP, ENFJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Media Technical Directors/Manager](https://nuecareer.com/careers/media-technical-directors-manager) — median $90,360
- [Media Programming Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/media-programming-director) — median $90,360
- [Film and Video Editor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/film-and-video-editor) — median $75,420
- [Art Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/art-director) — median $114,850
- [Talent Director](https://nuecareer.com/careers/talent-director) — median $90,360
- [Broadcast Announcer and Radio Disc Jockey](https://nuecareer.com/careers/broadcast-announcer-and-radio-disc-jockey) — median $47,340
- [Writer and Author](https://nuecareer.com/careers/writer-and-author) — median $76,910
- [Music Director and Composer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/music-director-and-composer) — median $73,710
- [News Analyst, Reporter, and Journalist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/news-analyst-reporter-and-journalist) — median $62,200
- [Editor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/editor) — median $77,920

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/producer-and-director