$1380

[Barnaby12345]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 6:43pm

On Playbill.com under job listings, it says that jobs for performers pay $1380 minimum. Is this per week? And do they usually pay more than this? Thanks!

[M J R]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 6:48pm

That is the minimum for the Production Contract - used for Broadway shows and Equity National Tours... An actor's agent can negotiate more for them - read the contracts section at actorsequity.org

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 7:07pm

Yes, it's per week. Pretty sweet, eh?

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 7:13pm

Most actors aren't employed the entire year as we all know. So what's the average annual salary of a broadway actor/dancer?
No wonder they live four to an apartment!
And all the wonderful singers that donate their time to charity concerts on Monday nights, do they at least get the exposure they need?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 7:51pm

I live with three roommates, work a 40-hour week, and don't get to sing and dance for a living, midtown. They know going into it that they're not going to work steadily.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 7:55pm

They may know, but they're all waiting for the 'big break'--I know my actor friends are, god bless them. They don't focus on the reality of irregular work for the next 40 years, or else they get very depressed.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 7:58pm

Ironically enough, I decided not to be an actor because it's "insecure." Meanwhile, I've had a ridiculous amount of jobs and periods of unemployment, and still don't make anywhere near what I would if I had been making Equity minimum the weeks I was employed. Sad, ain't it?

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 8:02pm

I think your story could be a sentence or two in Alanis Morrisette's song 'isn't it ironic.' I hope your job brings some degree of hapiness.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 8:04pm

I'm actually having a bit of a midlife crisis over the whole situation. Realizing that those wasted years could have been spent trying to get onstage, with no less "security" than I actually ended up having.

Boy can I bring a thread down!

[midtowngym]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 8:09pm

This board doubles as therapy quite often. EVERYONE our age has that crisis. I've been thinking lately--"my god, i'm gonna be sitting behind a desk pushing a pencil for at least ANOTHER 25 years. And thanks to G.W. Bush using my social security money to bomb iraq, i can never retire." NOW, who wants to join me as Splash Musical Mondays for a cocktail!

[sean martin]

Posted: 10/25/04 at 8:17pm

Hey, here's a bit of consolation, okay?

I didnt get into professional set design until I hit my early 40s; prior to that I worked in advertising as an illustrator and photoretoucher. Then I figured screw it, if I dont do it, it aint never gonna happen.

Six years later? I'm doing pretty darn well, with contracts on both sides of the Atlantic, and a teaching job coming up in January with a college that's been after me for almost a year.

Hang in there. You *can* make it happen.