wages question

[Joevfx]

I had a question about junior position wages. I just finished my initial 3 month training and am eligable to talk about a pay increase. I am just out of school and really have no clue what to ask for. I dont want to ask for something that is to high, I dont really care much about the money cause i love what im doing anyway , i just want to be able to eat and sleep under a decent roof and pay back teh oh so fun student loans. I am basically a roto artist and am goin through my inferno artist training. Any suggestions from the Vets? thanks in advance

[Aruna]

No replies yet? I would have thought so. Anyway. Here's what I was making when I was straight out of school. I feel comfortable about telling you because the company has since folded. Mind you, this was six years ago, in Vancouver. I was also an inferno/flame artist in training. I was interning (for free) for about three months, before they felt confident enough that they could give me a production shot (previously I was using their source plates to practice on to mimic what the client wanted). After I did a couple shots, and had proven myself, the raises started coming every six months. Anyway. The meat of this post is to say that I was paid hourly. Most FFI artists are. I started at $9 CDN. What's that in $USD? Something godawfully low, especially at that exchange rate.. I was living with my gf at the time in a $600/month house. So $300 for rent, and sharing all utilities and you name it. It was doable. That wage increased exponentially over the next three years, continuously improving.

Anyway, since you're in the Bay area, I don't think $9/hr will cut it. Maybe 12-15? You'd definitely have to find a roommate or still live at home until that increases. Geez. I don't even think that answered your question, but hopefully others might pipe up about pay vs. experience in the bay. It's a touchy subject, of course.

[Joevfx]

No that was fine. i dont get why its a touchy subject though, i mean as long as the company or artists names arent involved. i find it really hard anywhere to see what entry level people in our field are making except for the union chart at the ILM site. thats kinda weird. i mean i know people shoudlnt get into the field just for money, but people do have to live. But thanks for the info it helped out.

[hiphopcr]

I don't know why it's so touchy either, but I've become increasingly quiet when it comes to wages talk since none of my fellow artists never talk about it. On many boards you'll get either sarcasm, annoyed replies, or the admin will remove the thread.

Anyhow, a quote a got when I was first starting out is that vfx artists make $1000-$2000 a week. I believe this was regarding freelance artists with a few years of experience.

My first paying job (after six months of free interning) started out at the lower end of that figure. For me it moves up about every six months like Aruna mentioned. Good luck!

[Joevfx]

yeah i see it could get weird to tlak about it, but thats any job. Its just hard for a student i think. Like that was the biggest question everyone didnt have an answer to, how much they expect to make. But thatnks for the replys everyone, i dotn want to get people in trouble.

[hiphopcr]

Students who are paying thousands to study and are planning to dedicate their life's work to vfx deserve to have at least a rough figure of how much they can make. Too bad there's not a more reliable resource :(

[Joevfx]

yeah true. One of my teachers was actually gonna bring in his pay stub for our class to break everythign down for us and also teach us how to save, so we werent living paycheck to paycheck, but then he never got around to it, kind of a bummer.

[hiphopcr]

I could definitely use that class on how not to live paycheck to paycheck! :)

[Joevfx]

yeah haha, tell me about it.

[SalaTar]

ask 25$ an hour

[Joevfx]

really? that sounds a bit high

[Aruna]

That does sound high.. Good luck getting that.

edit: I should add that that seems high as a junior just starting out.