If your primary source of information is People magazine , you might think that everyone in Hollywood is filthy rich . But do n’t pack for Tinseltown just yet . It turns out the mean hourly remuneration for goggle box , video and film camera operator was just $ 32.50 in May 2020 ( the most recent statistics ) — only$5.43 morethan the hateful hourly salary for all occupations in the U.S. [ author : Bureau of Labor Statistics ] .
That ’s not to saymaking moviesisn’t lucrative . you’re able to make money in themovie business . We ’ve compile a few job descriptions for your resume , so steer over to the next varlet to read about the first of our 10 top - paying jobs in the film industry .
10: Producer
One of the vague titles in Hollywood , aproducercan be a author , an investor , an estimate man , a managing director or all of the above . In film , the point producer is cry the executive manufacturer and is creditworthy for each and every phase of filmmaking : pre - production , yield and post - production .
In pre - output , theproducerreads scripts and learn idea from writer , director and agents . After opt an idea , the manufacturer has to raise money to fund the project . One road is to get the patronage of a major movie studio . Another is to go independent and attempt backing from private investors .
Now the producer has to hire ascreenwriter , a director , output faculty , put director , graphics director , camera and lighting crews , and editor program .
It ’s the producer ’s chore to make certain that the projection stays within budget throughout production and place - product . A good producer not only make skilful films , but make money for the investors .
Like most jobs in the film industry , manufacturer work their style up . You might protrude as a production assistant or a playscript reader , learn how to spot a estimable musical theme and how to convey it to realization . Or you may just jump right in and hear by trial and erroneous belief , defecate lowly , downcast - budget films and working up to bigger ones .
According to May 2020 numbersfrom the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the average annual salary for a film manufacturer is $ 113,860 . For the 23,680 producer and directors work in the Los Angeles area , that bit jump to $ 135,160 . Remember , though , that producers rarely work on wage . Most take a slice of the film ’s earnings at the domestic and foreign box office , plus from DVD sales event , streaming video declaration and more . And those earnings move quickly into the millions .
9: Director
Directors oversee the esthetic sight of a moving picture . Directors are n’t unremarkably involved in the financial side of filmmaking , unless they ’re wearing multiple hat as a producer - director .
In pre - production , the director works closely with the screenwriter and theproducerto figure out the best way to visually represent the script and its themes . An experienced manager will have a preferable lean ofcinematographers , artistic creation directors , cameraman , casting directors and even actors . Even if the manufacturer does much of the literal hiring and fix scouting , it ’s the director who has the final say .
During filming , the director coach actors on the dependable way to take their lines and verbalize emotions . He or she work with the cameraman to check that that the action is being reliably and artistically recorded . And the director decide how many acquire are necessary before the gang can move on to the next pellet .
In post - product , the film director pose with the editor in chief to assemble the ruined film . He or she works with a composer and music director to make a sexual conquest and soundtrack that support the story . And in conclusion , after months or years of employment , the director has a finished picture .
To follow as a music director requires a persistence of visual sensation and the ability to collaborate with an extensive team to convey that vision to life . They also ask to have a deep understanding of film story and technique . Directors usually initiate with pocket-size , independent undertaking , sometimes as part of cinema school day programme .
TheBureau of Labor Statistics lumps producers and directors together , so the average annual salary of plastic film director in 2020 was also $ 113,860 . Like producers , director often negotiate for a cut of the film ’s earnings , so the top salaries can be considerably high , in the millions .
8: Screenwriter
There are several different ways for ascreenwriterto get involve with a film project . One way is to write a full scripton spec . The idea is to write the script first and then frequent it around to broker or producers who might hire you or buy the script for later exploitation .
Experienced screenwriters do n’t even have to spell the book . Through their agent , they can get appointment withproducersto pitch an idea for a script . The manufacturer can then settle whether to just buy the idea or hire the screenwriter to write a full script or a shortertreatment .
Some film writer are hired later in the outgrowth , after aproduceror director has developed an idea . The screenwriter might be asked to write an adaptation of an exist work , like a novel or a play , or evenpunch upanother screenwriter ’s script by tote up more jokes or more naturalistic dialogue . On declamatory studio films , it ’s not uncommon for several screenwriters to get credit for the same script .
Some screenwriters start as dramatist , journalists , novelists or other professional writer , while others go like a shot into committal to writing for film and television . It ’s a notoriously hard industriousness to break into , so it helps if you have connections .
The average pay of a author in the question word picture and video recording industries is $ 106,340 , but it ’s not rare for a top - level screenwriter to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars , or even millions , for a unmarried handwriting [ source : Bureau of Labor Statistics ] .
6: Actor
Actors form the link between thedirector ’s vision , thescreenwriter ’s parole and the audience . Being an doer requires an cognizance and ascendence of one ’s movements and look that can take age of formal training . The most successful actors , however , await like they ’re not acting at all . They dwell the thinker and bodies of their characters completely .
If you suppose most actors make a ton of money , think again . According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , the average hourly wage of an player was $ 21.88 in 2020 . Members of the Screen Actor ’s Guild ( SAG ) working on a film with a budget greater than $ 2 million are guaranteed a minimum ( aka as scale of measurement ) of $ 1,030 per day , or $ 3,575 per week . That ’s not too shabby . But if the movie ’s budget is $ 250,000 or less , the guaranteed day-to-day charge per unit drops to $ 206 [ source : Wrapbook ] . Of naturally , the top fistful of histrion can dominate salaries as high as $ 20 million for a single film . But there are n’t many of those .
5: Art Director
The art manager work out with the director and the producers to sketch out a detailed vision of the sets , locations and environment for the flick . Then it ’s the art designer ’s responsibility to convey that vision to the screen . The artwork director supervise a vast squad of draftsman , set designers , set decorators , prop masters and set building managers to create a amply realized mankind for the actors to inhabit .
prowess directors have to be both effective managers and creative creative person , bringing a fictitious world to life within the constraint of thefilm ’s budget . Because the job requires such highly specialized skills , there are only 3,580 artwork directors process in the entire cinema and video industry . But since quality prowess directors are in such high-pitched demand , they command a mingy one-year wage of $ 141,480 [ author : Bureau of Labor Statistics ] .
4: Cinematographer/Director of Photography
A film could have the most talentedscreenwriterin Hollywood , the most Laputan director and the hot actors , but what ultimately weigh is the look-alike on the screen . If all of that genius does n’t get fascinate faithfully on film , then the projection is a fizzle . That ’s why the unspoilt filmmakers indue in a top - tiercinematographer .
The persona of the cameraman is to translate the director ’s vision and the screenwriter ’s story onto moving picture or video recording . A cameraman must have a keen esthetic eye , and a mastery of the engineering science and proficiency of camerawork . The cinematographer and director of photography ( DP ) are not always the same person . On bigger films , the cameraman is solely responsible for shot composition and provision , while the stateless person manage the photographic camera and lighting crews . The DP is responsible for choose the camera , lenses , booms and other equipment necessary to get the shot .
The Bureau of Labor Statistics does n’t break away down salary for member of the filming crew , but it lists the annual mean value earnings for film and video camera operator in the motion picture and video industries as $ 80,920 in 2020 [ source : Bureau of Labor Statistics ] . Top - story cinematographers and director of picture taking can earn much more .
3: Multimedia Artist and Animator
Take a quick facial expression at the five highest - grossing movies of all time :
What do they have in vulgar ? take off with Titanic in 1997 , the most successful films in the human race are all shot in digitally enhanced , reckoner - animatedworlds . brio and digital force studios like Disney - owned Pixar and George Lucas ' Industrial Light and Magic ( ILM ) hire teams of talented artists and animators to create in full earn characters and elaborate options from dent .
Artists and energiser are employed throughout the pre - production and production process . Traditional artists and cartoonist are often employ to chalk out out initial idea for the looking at of different characters and setting . Sculptors are also brought in to create the first 3D clay model of the eccentric , which can then be scanned into digital form for the animators . figurer animators are the practical puppeteers who fastidiously contribute a fiber ’s emotions and negotiation to life frame by punctilious build .
The annual miserly earnings for particular effects artists and vitalizer in the film and video industry was $ 105,670 [ source : Bureau of Labor Statistics ] .
2: Talent Agent
You ’ll never see a endowment agent on the cover of Vanity Fair or Forbes , but these behind - the - scene dealmakers are some of the best - pay professionals in the motion picture industry .
natural endowment agents for the top thespian , directors and producer in Hollywood are concentrated at a fistful of agencies like CAA , United Artists and ICM . gift agents typically receive 10 per centum of their node ’s earnings under a specific contract for a cinema project [ source : Masterclass ] . If your node pulls in 10 or even C of millions of dollars a year , then you ’re sitting fairly . TheBureau of Labor Statistics estimatesthat in 2020 , the one-year mean pay for a talent agent was $ 94,750 .
1: Entertainment Lawyer
Lawyers work in the movement picture diligence make up a minuscule percentage of all attorney ( just 0.09 per centum ) . But they are some of the highest - paid attorney out there . The annual mean remuneration is $ 218,360,according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , more than the beggarly annual salary for any other motion-picture show industriousness job .
