Earning a living making movies is tough. The fickle and fluctuating film industry employment landscape is notorious for its tiresome boom/bust, hurry-up-and-wait realities and slippery salary standards.
Once the shine wears off, making movies becomes of a job. And like any job, it’s good to be familiar with the overall future of your chosen path. We tend to rely on rumors, rosy trade publications and our own circle of confident colleagues to get a pulse on the state of employment in our respective fields. We may know what is going on in the Bay Area but what about the larger employment trends and predictions?
Have a look at what The Bureau of Labor Statistics thinks. This Federal agency gathers and crunches employment data and develops quick and easy reports and predictions to inform and educate job seekers. And this includes filmmakers, DPs, editors, actors, producers and more.
VIA
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor.
BLS data must satisfy a number of criteria, including relevance to current social and economic issues, timeliness in reflecting today’s rapidly changing economic conditions, accuracy and consistently high statistical quality, and impartiality in both subject matter and presentation.
What struck me first was that the summaries really don’t make any effort to shine up the industry - make it more appealing. They are pretty straightforward and objective. Take the “Working Conditions”.
Directors and producers often work under stress as they try to meet schedules, stay within budget, and resolve personnel and production problems. Actors, producers, directors, cinematographers, and camera operators face the anxiety of rejection and intermittent employment. Writers and editors must deal with criticism and demands to restructure and rewrite their work many times until the producer and director are finally satisfied. All writers must be able to withstand such criticism and disappointment, but freelance writers work under the added pressure of always looking for new jobs.
Or this one from the Actors, Producers and Directors sub-section.
“Actors endure long periods of unemployment, intense competition for roles, and frequent rejections in auditions.”
Ouch. Just give it to me straight, doc. Heck, while your there, be sure to check the future of a job you may very well have if you choose to make filmmaking your schtick.
A sobering chart for job seekers. While a bit dated, certainly helps to show where your next gig may be coming from.
In 2006, there were about 357,000 wage and salary jobs in the motion picture and video industries. Most of the workers were in motion picture and video production. They are involved in casting, acting, directing, editing, film processing, and motion picture and videotape reproduction. Ten percent of people in the film industry were self-employed, selling their services to anyone who needs them and often working on productions for many different companies during the year. Although six major studios produce most of the motion pictures released in the United States, many small companies are used as contractors throughout the process. Most motion picture and video establishments employ fewer than 5 workers (chart 1).
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