Local 600 Drone Operators in Austin, Texas

If your show is union, your aerial unit has to be too. That is not a preference, it is a condition of hiring.

Texas runs a mix of union and non-union production, so the honest answer in Austin is that it depends on the show. We can crew either, and the useful thing for a producer here is not having to find two vendors to cover both cases.

CineDrones supplies Local 600 crews for union productions and non-union crews where the show allows it. We know how the aerial unit fits into the camera department on a union call sheet, how the day is accounted for, and what production accounting needs from us. It is the least glamorous part of the job and the part that most often decides whether a vendor gets hired twice.

Crewing in Austin

Austin's crew base has deepened considerably but is still smaller than the coastal markets, which means booking further out and bringing your own redundancy. It also means the crews here tend to be generalists in the best sense.

The Austin production market

Austin has grown from a festival town into a working production market, with Austin Studios anchoring a crew base that has deepened considerably. Texas incentives keep pulling features and series in, and aerial demand has followed.

We shoot downtown, the river, the Hill Country, and the Texas landscape — and we travel. CineDrones works nationwide, so if your production is basing in Austin and shooting somewhere else entirely, that is a normal week for us.

What a Austin booking includes

Local 600 crews for union productions
Non-union crews where the agreement allows
Aerial unit slotted into the camera department properly
Paperwork production accounting will accept
Studio-approved safety documentation

The same toolkit on union and non-union days — the crewing changes, the capability does not.

Selected credits

Our aerial units have worked on Ozark, Jack Ryan, Bosch, Mayans M.C., SEAL Team, NCIS: New Orleans, Fear the Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Modern Family, 9-1-1, Goliath, The Resident, Raising Dion, Castle Rock, Doctor Sleep and Chef's Table, for Netflix, Amazon, Apple, HBO, Hulu, Showtime, Sony, CBS, AMC, MTV and Bravo. See the work →

Local 600 Drone Operators in Austin — questions we get

Are your Austin drone crews Local 600?

We supply Local 600 crews for productions that require them and non-union crews where the show allows. You do not need to source two vendors to cover both cases.

How does the aerial unit fit on a union call sheet?

As part of the camera department, with the classifications and accounting your UPM expects. It is the least interesting part of the job and the part that most often decides whether a vendor gets a second call.