Costume supervisor skills

Overview of the role

Costume supervisors work with the costume designer to create a budget based on the designer’s vision of the whole production gained from information obtained from script and schedule, which will also contain staffing costs. The costume supervisor will then aide with the crewing of the department, along with organising the setup of the department ensuring there is enough space to enable the department to function efficiently. Working to the costume designer’s vision, they coordinate the work of the department, work out what clothes and accessories need to be made, hired or bought, what staff are needed and where. They also supervise all departmental tasks to ensure all work is done to schedule and budget. They manage the costume crew and the rates that are paid. The supervisor manages the budget on behalf of the designer and the department, handling all logistical requirements for a smooth run and ensures all financial matters are concluded. When filming is over, they supervise any cleaning and repairing of costumes and, on completion, oversee the packing and listing of both principal and crowd costume.

Download the PDF version of this skills checklist here: Costume Supervisor Skills Checklist.

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Core responsibilities

These core responsibilities are provided as a guide and are not exhaustive. The exact responsibilities in a particular job will vary depending on the scale / budget band / genre of the production.

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Skills

Check out role specific skills, transferable skills and attributes for the role of costume supervisor skills.