The 2004 Salary and Attitudes Survey – Part II

"I’m in this for the long haul."

"There’s steady pay in corporate work."

"I put in a lot of hours-but it’s worth it."

"Shrinking corporate budgets mean even less take-home pay for me."

"Did you say my HMO-or HBO-was on the phone?!"

The independent is in it for the love of the craft, indicating that the work itself is the most satisfying part of the job.

We realize that there are more titles in the content-creation industry than can be listed on a single page. For example, we’ve all seen producers’ business cards with clever titles like "editing wizard" and "multimedia evangelist." Sure, they drip with dot-com-ness, but these titles still exist.

For the purposes of our survey, we presented five title designations, and each respondent categorized himself or herself as an:

Because there are different levels of experience-not to mention, varying geographical areas and other factors that influence compensation-for editors, producers and so on, our charts and graphs provide salary ranges that take such influences into account.

LaunchPad Media

Boston

Q: What are you planning to do in the year ahead to increase your company’s revenue, and, in turn, your salary or your team’s salaries?

A: We’re taking this on from two different angles. First, we are embracing new technology; within the next three to six months, we’ll be updating our edit suites to include HD. This helps open additional channels of production and post-production, including documentary and advertising projects. We’re also purchasing a Panasonic DVX100. We’ve shot with several DVCAM and MiniDV cameras: Sonys, Canons, etc. We really like the versatility of the DVX100, particularity its ability to shoot in different modes. This lets us offer our clients something different. In the end, it’s all about perception: if a client says, "Hey, they can make my testimonial video really look like a documentary," that’s a win for us.

Second, we’ve identified markets that we believe are actively doing projects and will continue to do projects. We’re targeting those areas with postcards, mailers, targeted demo reels, and by attending meet-and-greet events in that space. I think the worst is behind us in terms of the economy, and we’re positioning ourselves for the rebound.

Q: What’s the hardest part about being an independent facility/producer in terms of job satisfaction and annual compensation?

A: Learning not to skimp on your production, which can sometimes be a real challenge. When you’re both a business owner and the house producer-and those two roles are almost opposites-the producer wants to spend money to create the best possible project artistically and technically. You’re putting time, effort and your heart into a project and you want it to be the best possible. Conversely, the business owner’s instinct is to keep as much of the budget in-house, to save a little here and there so you can live to fight another day. Our approach is to budget for maximum advantage to our clients’ projects-in other words, to spend a little more for stock footage and take another day to work on graphics, rather than just "take the money and run." We know a savvy client will recognize good work and come back again. It’s the old adage: It takes money to make money.

D2 Creative

Somerset, New Jersey

Q: What are you planning to do in the year ahead to increase your company’s revenue, and, in turn, your salary or your team’s salaries?

A: The name of the game is sales. You just have to go out there, find the business and bring it in. Over the past few years, we have concentrated on the health-care/pharmaceutical industry because, in our area of northern New Jersey, that was the one industry that was least affected by the economic downturn that began in 2001. In my former company’s case [ Shachtman was the founder and president of Invision Media Communications from 1982 to 2003], we closed and brought our key clients and employees to a former competitor who had been acquired by a large software company five years ago. The combined resources and capabilities of the two companies, in both video and multimedia, have created a more complete and compelling story that has enabled us to attract large projects more readily.

Q: What’s the hardest part about running an independent facility in terms of job satisfaction and annual compensation?

A: Our main problem at Invision centered on our mix of full-time vs. freelance employees. When the economy went south, we did not want to throw people out on the street, but our business slid dramatically. We tried unpaid furloughs, salary reductions (starting with management) and minimal layoffs, but still could not keep up, and morale dropped anyway. In retrospect, we should have moved more quickly to a freelance model.

Salary ranges according to title, by percentage of respondents

Salary ranges according to title and U.S. region, by percentage of respondents

Salary ranges according to title and U.S. region, by percentage of respondents

Del Padre Visual Productions East Longmeadow, Massachusetts

Q: What are you planning to do in the year ahead to increase your company’s revenue, and, in turn, your salary or your team’s salaries?

A: Productivity will be a key issue for us in 2004. Although we are seeing an upturn in the economy, most clients are still very focused on cost and still want a serious return on their investment. We are constantly working on building routines to accomplish tasks rather than doing them manually. We’re also focusing more on the early stages of project development to protect critical development hours from being used up during alterations. And, of course, we’re reaching out to those clients that are looking for high-end results within reasonable budgets-that means reasonable for both the client and the developer. There is a middle ground!

Q: What’s the hardest part about being an independent facility/producer in terms of job satisfaction and annual compensation?

A: Having a smooth, even flow of work is tough to maintain. One of the things it forces you to do is choose your projects wisely. For example, we recently were given the opportunity to quote on a sizable, but extremely economical Web project. The catch was that we only had two days to produce a fully researched quote that we would have confidence in-based on less than adequate information. Rather than lose two days of deadline-riddled work, we took a gulp and passed on the proposal. It just wasn’t feasible. Generally, once a project is given a green light, the client is looking for timelines and mock-ups. The key is to be in a position to get projects underway, without jeopardizing the pipeline.

member, Houston Association of Black Journalists

Q: What are you planning to do in the year ahead to increase your revenue, and in turn, your own salary?

A: A massive DVD mailer marketing plan to potential clients in Houston, larger investment in animation, royalty-free music and stock footage.

Salary ranges according to title and U.S. region, by percentage of respondents

Salary ranges according to age group, by percentage of respondents

Salary ranges according to age group, by percentage of respondents

Salary ranges according to age group, by percentage of respondents

Q: What’s the hardest part about being an independent producer in terms of job satisfaction and annual compensation?

A: There are two areas. The hardest part is getting paid by networks-on time! Believe it or not, 45 to 60 days is crazy and worse than government and education clients.

The second is getting companies to understand the pricing structure. I find many small companies that have never invested in TV advertising or video marketing campaigns, see video cameras as something that is cheap. A small quote of $800 a day scares the hell out of them. Hourly editing rates on top of photog labor rates is even more terrifying. But most print and radio advertising can be much more expensive than TV.

Freelancing on a part-time and full-time basis is great. Despite slow pay on network gigs, it is fun and I can’t see myself doing anything else.

Annually, the compensation is great as a second income. If you plan on being a full-time network photog or DP, then you need to take out a loan to cover your first year, so you can survive, eat and pay bills. You also need the right gear; BetaSP ( Ikegami) Pkg, Lowell or Arri kit with a few C-stands, reflectors, Sennheiser Boom & Shotgun and a wireless mic system. It also wouldn’t help to have a Suburban, so producers can ride with you to various locations (comfortably).