Updated: October 12, 2026
Hair, makeup and wardrobe on a Miami video shoot: hiring the HMU and styling team
On a corporate interview, a brand spot or a music video, the people who decide how the talent looks on camera are the hair and makeup artist and the wardrobe stylist. They are also the crew positions most often left off a Miami budget, on the theory that the CEO can comb his own hair and the model will bring her own clothes. Then the CEO shines under the key light for forty minutes of interview, the white shirt moirés on camera, and the producer learns in the edit what a day rate would have prevented. This guide explains what the HMU and wardrobe roles cover, how to hire them in Miami, what they cost and what the kit fee is for, and the specific problems that humidity, sun and sweat create for anyone who has to look the same at 4 pm as at 8 am.
Who does what
- Hair and makeup artist (HMU): One person on most commercial and corporate shoots, covering both. Prepares talent before camera, maintains the look between takes (blotting, touch-ups, flyaways), and adjusts for lighting changes. On beauty, fashion and larger narrative shoots, hair and makeup are separate people, and a key with an assistant for multiple talent.
- Wardrobe stylist: Sources or selects clothing, fits the talent before the shoot day, manages the changes on set, steams and repairs, and keeps continuity between set-ups. On a corporate shoot the stylist may simply advise the executives what to bring and check it on the day; on a brand spot the stylist pulls options from stores and showrooms and returns them afterwards.
- Grooming: The term for light HMU on male executives and non-professional talent: powder, hair, a shave line. Still a skilled job; still needs a person.
On a small shoot with one or two speakers, a single HMU artist who also checks wardrobe is the usual hire. Once there are more than three on-camera people, or any product where the look is the point, the roles split.
Hiring in Miami
Miami has a deep pool of HMU and styling talent because of the fashion, music video and Spanish-language television work in the city. That is good for availability and less good for matching: an artist who does editorial beauty for a swimwear catalogue is not automatically the right person for a bank's executive interviews, and vice versa. When hiring, look at the artist's work in the genre you are shooting, and ask specifically about video: makeup for a still photograph is heavier and reads differently under continuous light and 4K resolution. Ask whether they have worked with the camera and lighting you are using, and whether they have done a full day of touch-ups outdoors in summer.
Sources: production company rosters, the local crew directories, referrals from the DP or the producer, and agency representation for the top tier. Book the same way you book any crew, with a deal memo covering the rate, the day length, the kit fee, and who pays for wardrobe purchases; the structure is in our note on deal memos for freelance crew.
Rates, kit fees and what they cover
| Role | Typical Miami day (10 hours) | Kit fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| HMU artist, corporate and commercial | Mid-range crew day rate, in line with a camera assistant or a gaffer | Yes, daily; covers products, tools and disposables | Higher for talent counts over four; assistant needed above six |
| Key makeup or key hair, beauty and fashion | Upper crew tier | Yes, higher for specialty products | Separate hair and makeup keys on beauty work |
| Wardrobe stylist | Mid-range, plus prep and return days at a reduced rate | Sometimes, for steamer and kit | Pull budget and returns are separate line items |
| Grooming, half day | Half-day rate where the artist agrees; many charge a full day for the availability | Yes | For a two-hour executive shoot the full day is normal |
The kit fee is not a tip. It pays for the products used on the talent, which for hygiene are single-use or per-person (mascara wands, sponges, lip products), and for the tools and consumables. A stylist's pull budget is the money spent buying or renting clothing options, usually returned after the shoot with a restocking cost. Both go on the budget as their own lines, and both are the client's cost. The general rules for crew time and overtime are in our guide to overtime, turnaround and the ten-hour day; HMU starts before everyone else, so their day often begins an hour before general call and the rate should reflect that.
The Miami problems: humidity, sun, sweat
Everything an HMU artist does is undone faster in Miami than in almost any other market. Foundation slides at 90 percent humidity, hair that was set in an air-conditioned hotel room frizzes in the two minutes between the van and the location, and an executive walking from the parking garage to the rooftop arrives sweating through a shirt. What an experienced local artist does about it:
- Uses long-wear, sweat-resistant products and a setting spray as standard, and matches the base to how the skin looks after twenty minutes outside, not at 7 am in the make-up chair.
- Asks for a shaded, air-conditioned or at least fan-cooled touch-up station within thirty seconds of the set, with a mirror and light; this is a producer responsibility, and the basecamp plan should include it.
- Requests that talent arrive with clean, dry hair and no product, and keeps them out of the sun until they are needed; the first AD schedules accordingly.
- Brings blotting film in quantity and a small battery fan, and blots between every take on an outdoor day.
- Advises wardrobe on fabrics: linen wrinkles, silk shows sweat, dark cotton shows salt, fine stripes and checks moiré on camera. Pale blue, mid-tones and matte textures behave. Bring two of every shirt.
The same heat that affects the talent affects the crew; set safety on hot days is covered in our note on set safety in Miami heat.
Working with non-professional talent
Corporate shoots put executives, employees and customers on camera, and most have never sat in a makeup chair. The HMU artist's job includes making that comfortable: explaining what the powder is for, keeping it light, and reassuring the man who insists he does not need anything that the camera disagrees. Producers should brief the client in advance that grooming is part of the day and is standard for everyone, and should schedule ten minutes per person before their slot. A stylist's email a week before the shoot, telling the speakers what to wear and what to avoid, prevents most wardrobe problems for a few minutes of work.
HMU and wardrobe on shoots we produce
We budget hair, makeup and wardrobe on every shoot with on-camera talent, including a single executive interview, and we hire artists from a Miami roster matched to the genre and the conditions of the day. The deal memo covers rate, early call, kit fee and pull budget, and basecamp planning includes a cooled touch-up station near set. For corporate clients we send a wardrobe note to every speaker a week ahead and schedule grooming time per person into the call sheet. If your shoot has people on camera, the HMU line is on our estimate by default, and we can show you on the reel what it does to the picture. The rest of how we crew a Miami shoot is on the about page; start with the contact page.