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Online Editors Salary.
I know this is asked a lot about offline editors but I never see it asked of online editors.
Does anyone know what the salary would be like in LA, at a medium size place, working on material for major studios and broadcast?any advice appreciated.
I noticed that the closest thing to an online editor on the Editors guild site is a video tape editor…hm
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14 Replies
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I talked to a friend of mine who said they are making a little more than 65k a year in a similar situation to what you are describing. To me, that sounds a little low to be making living in LA, but if you are doing what you love…
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So basically he’s being paid what a union assistant editor is supposed to be paid minimum per year?
What system is he using?
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Yep. Seems so. Normally, I think he’d be asking for more (I know he made more at a different job when I worked with him several years ago.) I guess he’s just glad to be working these days.
-Tim
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Hey Rick, curious about what box you’re fininshing on, and what your skillset is.Conforming, compositing, color grading, tracking, etc?… I’m sure that would affect salary.
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In NYC it’s in the 100k range. but it all depends on your skill set
and clients. and by online I assume you mean finishing work.Scott Cumbo
Editor
Broadway Video, NYC -
My skill set is all of the above. However at this shop they are using FCP, Color, After Effects, etc.
Also, there is a department which does graphics, something that I think some finishers do themselves? We do very little color grading as picture is usually already graded at a lab. The work ends up being mostly conforming and layoffs. -
They probably have a graphics department because it’s just another service that they provide. But if you are finishing spots / trailers / etc, all graphics are provided by the creative vendor who designed them. All you do is plop them in.
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average is around 90k/yr in that area. Hard to make a living on that in LA but there are many editors standing in line for it.
You’ll find the average daily rate for a series editor is $750 as a contractor. The 90k is rounded down for what is mistaken too often as security. I’d do that freelance thing at the day rate if I were you.
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A series online editor? And by hard to make a living do you mean because of competition?
Basically online editors do just plop stuff in, however where I am, we make sure levels are correct, stabilize, treat slow motion effects, create versions, track.. etc.. no major Color grading or motion graphic/vfx stuff.. which is what I imagine brings it up to the 90k/year range?
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I know of no place that pays 90k to plop stuff in. Thats what interns are for. Online editors ensure the show is ready for air. That means everything under that umbrella from levels to the master itself. A good offline means nothing if the guy after them just auto assembles it. This is why online editors usually make more than offline editors. More spacificly, this is why good editors make good money… they simply do not seperate the two… they make a show.
It’s hard to making a living at 90k in LA because of the cost of living, not because of the motivating factior of competition. A single guy could live fine on that but those of us who are the bread-winners of a family have to make our way above average pay somehow. I’d have to take a second job in that market at that income.
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