The 2004 Salary and Attitudes Survey – Part I

We’ve all heard-certainly more than once-that it’s not really important how much money you make, but how much you love what you do. But does money really not matter?

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.

Salary ranges according to title, by percentage of respondents

Only two respondents-one a designer, and the other, a technician-identified themselves as 20 and under. Not entirely surprising for their ages, both also make less than $30,000 a year.

Salary ranges according to age group, by percentage of respondents

Salaries according to title and market served, by percentage of respondents

In many professions, with business media production being no exception, there will always be a perception by non-management staffers that they work harder or longer than management while making less pay. True enough, those in the executive/management category tend to make more money, but according to our survey results, more money comes from more hours.

Of those working 20 to 40 hours per week, the largest groups of producers make $31,000 to $50,000 per year. Moving up to 41 to 50 hours, the salaries range from $41,000 to $60,000. Working more than 60 hours, however, the salary ranges can jump to $71,000 to $90,000 or even more.

The stereotype of the producer routinely pulling all-nighters seems to be just that: a stereotype. Only 3.5 percent of you work more than 60 hours a week. That’s not to say you’re working half-days, either: More than half of you put in between 41 and 50 hours behind the camera, editing bay or wherever you happen to work.

What one producer loves about a job might be what another producer hates. This might explain why, when asked to describe their levels of job satisfaction, producers/directors and executives/managers were the top respondents for both "very satisfied" and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, "not at all satisfied." (Producers were the most satisfied, with executives trailing just behind.)

Now that we know who’s most and least satisfied, what groups are most active in their quests to leave their employers and go to another? The top two job hunters are the producer/director (37.3 percent) and, tied for second, the engineer/technician and executive/manager (15.4 percent). These groups have actively looked for other opportunities in the past year.

In-house producers’ salaries overall haven’t changed much in the last three years, most likely because of pay freezes and a difficult economy overall. When a company or large organization needs to cut costs, that may include annual raises. In our last salary survey, in 2001, the largest portion of respondents (38.8 percent) made between $40,000 and $60,000. Today, the largest portion of respondents (42.2 percent) is in the same range. Unfortunately, the cost of living hasn’t stayed the same, but that’s a whole other subject!