A question about salary, as usual.

[Andrew Kimery]

Every place is different and being staff will typically get your a lower hourly rate than freelance because you should be getting health insurance, paid time off, etc.,. It’s been a while since I’ve done AE work but I would say $1,000/wk is on the low end and $1700-1800wk is the high end (this is based on 10hr days and 5-6 days a week). This was my experience in LA 4-5yrs ago working on some reality TV shows as well as a good sized post house that did mainly behind-the-scenes content for major films.

And, honestly, how long you’ve worked there doesn’t factor into how much you make as much as how needed you are and what kind of revenue the company is generating. A company barely breaking even year after year isn’t going to be able to pay out as much as a company swimming in profit.

-Andrew

3.2GHz 8-core, FCP 6.0.4, 10.5.5
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[Lauren Brenner]

Yeah, I understand how important one is to the company is an enormous factor in how much one should be paid. But I was just looking for a ballpark figure. Something to put things in perspective. Basically, I’ll be going in to ask for a raise soon (3rd year here, recession petering out). Right now I’m only making around 650.00 a week, which seems low to me. I assist both Avid and Final Cut (very well I might add). I’m technically savvy when it comes to how our systems and network are run, I know every professional workflow available right now (film to HD to 4k), and my problem solving skills are top notch when technical bugs arise. Not to mention I’m fast as hell doing all the assistant work.

[Richard Herd]

Don’t ignore other markets. Not only could you make more income, but the cost of living is less.

[Lauren Brenner]

Right now I’m living in Los Angeles. Obviously this is probably another important factor.

Richard, what are you referring to when you say that I should be open to other markets?

[Shane Ross]

Wait…$650 a week, in Los Angeles, while having worked at a place for 3 years?! Sorry, that is pretty darn low. $1000 is the LOW end as Andrew said. You should be making $1200/$1500 average. But that is average. What kind of productions does the company do to pay that little? Wow.

$1000 was my pay 8 years ago…non union. Union it was $1200.

$650 seems low. But don’t now go walking up to the boss and say “Hey, I heard people saying I should get $1000-$1200 a week!” Do that and you might lose your job, and in this market, they’ll be able to replace you like THAT! You might have to gently ask for more.

$650…the mind reels…

Shane

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[Grinner Hester]

IMO, a staffer of the same post house for 3 years should not be assisting anymore. It’s time to get promoted to editor or move on to a place that hires you as one and pays you as one.
The average freelance rate in LA is $750/day. If going on staff somewhere, I’d say ask for 60k, based on your market and experience. You should be able to break the six figure mark in a few more years, depending on your skill set and initiative.

[Mark Suszko]

LA is part of the problem, in that it is super-saturated with talent, in a down market, and new competition is stepping off the plane and bus every day to join the search for a job in show business… Anybody can be replaced, and you can always find someone to do your job for less than you get now.

This puts the boss in a very strong position to dictate terms. If you can’t budge him on salary, see if you can get some more of the “intangibles”, like the ability to come in and use the gear for your own stuff in the off hours, to get commissions for bringing in new clients, or to get them to pay your entry fees for contests and awards competitions, or to buy you training, better insurance, subsidize your gas, etc. Things they can perhaps use as a tax-write-off, but that offset the crummy salary.

There is an opportunity cost in letting you go: you’re already up to speed on what they do and how they like it done, and it is a time suck to go thru the replacement and re-training with a new guy, if you quit over salary differences. But they will do that, if it is cheap enough to endure the inconvenience. I come from a world that no longer exists; one where you find a good fit with an employer and basically stay there till you retire. Its not that way any more; this generation can expect to change entire careers… not jobs, mind you, but entire careers – several times in their working lifetime. To hold a job anywhere more than a decade today makes you sound weird and without ambition, when in my day, working anywhere less than a decade made you look like a job-hopping slacker of some sort. Also, freelancing these days is much more respectable than it used to be; working for yourself is seen as being entrepreneurial, not just the best you could do because you were otherwise unemployable. So maybe in this environment, the low pay is nature’s way of telling you it is time to grow or get out, and try to get hired somewhere else, or change careers.

Failing that, well, LA and New York are not the entire world. Especially in the internet age. You may have to move outside of LA, to find work at the pay scale you want.

Or, create your own job and pay yourself. Find clients way outside of LA that you can service remotely, over the net, which lets you leverage the skills and talents in such abundance around you as sub-contractors that work for YOU, instead of competitors for your current job.

Negotiation rules 1 & 2: first guy to name an actual number, loses, and, you have to make them believe you’re willing to walk away from the deal if it isn’t good enough. If they don’t believe that, if YOU don’t believe that, they really own you.

Good luck.

[Alan Okey]

[Mark Suszko] “To hold a job anywhere more than a decade today makes you sound weird and without ambition, when in my day, working anywhere less than a decade made you look like a job-hopping slacker of some sort.”

That’s a very perceptive observation.

Unscrupulous employers have helped bring about that transformation by constantly downsizing (or “rightsizing,” in corporate-speak), reducing benefits and gutting or eliminating pensions. Their focus is exclusively on generating short-term profits, with no clear vision or strategy for sustainable growth.

Today’s workers are rightly suspicious, or at least cautious of their employers and don’t blindly trust in them to act in their own best interests. Employers reap what they sow. If you treat your workforce poorly, you will limit yourself to cheap transient labor with no pretense of loyalty. It’s the smart employer who can keep talent on board by treating employees fairly and with dignity. There is no guarantee that if you invest in an employee and treat them fairly that they will never leave you, but not doing so guarantees that you will lose them and relegate yourself to a revolving door of disgruntled employees. The sad part is, many companies just don’t care. As long as their shareholders are happy, they couldn’t care less about the well-being of their workforce.

[Lauren Brenner]

Thanks everyone, this is extremely helpful. Best advice I’ve gotten so far. I’ve definitely built a reel while being here, and I’ve taken advantage of the access to equipment. If I end up leaving, I’ll miss all that the most.

I think this really put lots of things into perspective.

[Mark Suszko]

Alan I can relate to your post, because I saw this trend you describe basically kill my dad in the late 80’s/ early 90’s, when one side of the social contract up and quit without notice.