Salary as Audio/Boom operator

Hi Kendall,

$500 per week seems pretty low for any career requiring skills or knowledge of any degree, especially for a college graduate. That's not a whole lot more than you'd make at macdonalds.

I'd possibly consider that as a entry level apprentice wage and expect a steady increase after hire as experience is accrued. If someone only wants to pay you that upon hire, discuss up front how soon/often you'll be receiving a pay increase and how much it will be.

I really don't know what the going rate is, but if that's the standard wage for this stuff, I'd look for something else. Surely a college graduate can expect more than that. $25k a year is essentially at the poverty level.

Most illegal aliens from south of the border working as day laborers get $10 per hour with absolutely no skill or experience (other than knowing which end of the shovel to hold onto). If they have skills, they get more, and that's cash.

I see a lot of producers extremely willing to take advantage of people like you (and me) these days (which is why I consider it a hobby and not a profewssion). While I often get aggravated with the unions for getting too mafia like and sticking their nose too far into the political process, this is where they have a definite useful purpose.

Perhaps you have to go through this for a while as part of paying your dues in the industry, but if that's true, that's pretty steep dues.

Two things I'd do.

a) Read Ron Lindebooms articles on "Clients or Grinders" here at the COW

and

b) look into joing the union and seeing if you can't work at a decent wage through them.

Considering the obscene amount of profit that the suits make for filsm and television shows, surely they can afford to pay college graduates above the poverty level.

Just my .02
Mark Simpson

I totally agree that salary depends on a combination of location, experience, and the ability/willingness of the producers to pay the going rate.
It would not be outrageous to expect an experienced boom operator in NYC to make almost as much in one DAY what you were being paid per week.
I'm sure that the top boom operator in East Overshoe, Nebraska doesn't make that much, and neither does a guy straight out of college with no experience in NYC.
It also depends on who you are working for. I get a much different rate working on a syndicated talk show, for example, than I do when I work at Fox News Channel.
Peter

Non union sound mixers are getting $350 in most areas of the country, including flyover. Union adds about $100 to the cost. Boom operators get less, aproximately $250 for non union and $100 more for union. Most of the extra $100 goes to pension and hospital benefits.
This is for professional people paid by non ripoff producers. The only time I get ripoff type pricing demands from clients is when they call from NY or California. There is a strong downward influence on pricing by new people flooding the markets there, especially from the film schools. Kids want to get something on their resumes and will work at any rate for that opportunity. I've been called by an LA producer to supply a three man crew with camera, lights and sound for $500 for a day.
Don't forget that at as a freelancer making $500/week you won't work every week. You'll be lucky to fill half that. $500 X 26 weeks is $13,000! You want fries with that?
Just say no!

[Seth Bloombaum] "with a non-bogus producer or production company."


I think "that's" the key.

Mark Simpson

Hey,

I was a Sound Mixer in NYC for six years, and basically, you charge what you're worth. If you just got out of school, you're not worth much, but you have one paying job under your belt, so that's something.

Your next gig should either A) pay you a little more than the last gig or, B) give you some experience with a well-learned sound mixer or unusual sound-related task that you haven't done yet (like recording 30 pages of dialogue underneath the Manhattan Bridge with trains rumbling over your head every 60 seconds).

When the next jackass calls you up and wants you to work an 80-hour week for $500, you have to look at WHO you'll be working with, WHAT you'll be doing, and if you're still not sure about bending over for these people, then READ the script. A film that does well, even at festivals, looks good on your resume ASSUMING you want to be a Sound Mixer someday. It will NOT help you be a Director.

On the other hand, a paycheck is nice. I made a living working on films that were never released because I always demanded my rate. Most films that had "people" attached were trying to hire crew to work for essentially nothing. As a result, I've only worked on one film that was released theatrically (and it was crap).

When a Producer said he had someone who mix for less than me, I told him to hire the guy. I would generally be called upon to replace him within the first week of shooting. In fact, I worked an entire ten months by picking up work from these two mixers who always got fired. They're in the union now.

When one of Kevin Smith's little pump-asses called me to mix sound for Chasing Amy, and was offering $300/week, I asked if Kevin would be blowing me in between takes. Needless to say, I didn't mix that one.

Now I'm a Producer and my job is to get you to work for free, and quite frankly, those people who will work for free are very scary. They have to be watched, and they cost more money in post than they save in production. A lot of Producers refuse to learn this.

In short, it's a balance. What are you worth, and what's it worth to you, and what do you want to wind up doing? Are you paying your rent, or do you want to be a Sound Mixer?


--Matt

My uncle is a unionized boom operator. He makes 50k for three months of work. He s worked with Sodenberg and all the big directors and that seems to be the avergae pay in hollywood for a movie.

$50,000 for working 14 hours a day for 6 days a week for three months is about right. Both in the math for a feature and for what he deserves for doing that kind of grind.

[shooter] "working 14 hours a day for 6 days a week for three months is about right."


I kinda figured that might be the situation. That's why I qualified my comment.

Man oh man, my typos are getting bad! .. :-)

Mark Simpson