SALARIES IN THE MOVIES
So much propaganda and press-agentry has been at work during the last
few years that no one knows what to believe of the movies. There appears
to be a sort of attenuated smoke cloud thrown up about all connected
with the artistic, and, more particularly, the financial side of the
movies. And naturally the first question to be asked by one who is
considering entering this field as a vocation is "What do they pay? Is
it all true? Is there money in the movies?"
The leading stars of the screen get anywhere from one thousand to ten
thousand dollars a week. There are only two or three stars, however, who
get as high as ten thousand. The majority range between one and three
thousand.
A few stars are paid a percentage of the profits of the picture. One or
two others are paid a lump sum for a picture, rather than a weekly
salary, and in one case this lump sum comes to eighty thousand dollars.
A good leading man or leading woman gets four or five hundred dollars a
week--some much more. First rate character people, or "heavies," get
from three to five hundred a week, or, if called on to play by the day,
get anywhere from fifty to a hundred dollars.
The smaller parts bring salaries ranging from fifty to two hundred
dollars. "Bits," such as the butler who opens the door, which involve a
small bit of individual acting, although really merely atmospheric work,
bring ten dollars a day or thereabouts. Extras for the crowd scenes get
about five dollars a day.
The salaries of directors range all the way from ten thousand dollars a
week, which is the emolument of one great artist, down to the hundred
and fifty a week of the fly-by-night concerns. The average director in a
large company gets anywhere from five hundred to a thousand dollars a
week, especially as at present there is a great shortage of good
directors.
Scenario writers are paid according to the type of work they do. If they
write original stories they may get from one thousand to twenty thousand
dollars for them. Of course, the published works of notable authors or
the stage hits of famous playwrights bring more.
Writers doing the adaptations or "continuities" of the stories of others
are more often paid by the week. The big scenario writers get salaries
ranging up to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, for this is fast
becoming the most important work of the entire industry. The lesser
lights seldom receive less than twenty thousand dollars a year.
Cameramen get from one hundred to three hundred dollars a week. Art
directors receive several hundred dollars a week, but few companies have
as yet realized the necessity of employing specialists in scenic art.
A good five-reel feature picture to-day costs about sixty thousand
dollars to produce. If a famous star is employed, the cost of the
picture goes to a hundred thousand dollars, or even a hundred and fifty.
"'Way Down East," Griffith's latest production, cost just under a
million dollars to produce.
The profits of the picture come out of its run, which may last seven or
eight years, and even longer in Europe. A one hundred thousand dollar
picture may eventually make half a million dollars for it's backers,
but, of course, they have a long wait for their money. On the other
hand, the risk is stupendous, for the picture may be a flat failure.
One cheering fact, attested by all motion picture magnates, is that,
whatever may be the case in other industries, salaries are not going to
drop in the movies. On the contrary, the movies are growing bigger and
bigger and the demand is greater than ever before. There is money in the
movies now, and there will be even more in the next few years.