Actor
Canadian Jim Carrey earns more than $20 million per movie. But you’ll never be Jim Carrey. There, I said it. But you can be a supporting actor or a stand-in. The union ACTRA works hard to improve pay, but Canuck actors earned an average of $15,000 last year. Don’t expect to buy a house.

CGI
Every film has some digital fakery nowadays, even if it’s just erasing the boom from the shot. At the high end, film sets can be all digital, and Robert Zemeckis’s Beowulf replaced actors’ bodies altogether. Soon Bogart and Elvis will be starring in brand-new movies, with you directing from the keyboard.

Cinematographer
A supreme camera operator, you work with the director and lighting technicians to create the film’s look. Up with writers, directors, producers and editors for creating the film’s total impact.

Commercials, music videos and industrial films
Calgary’s White Iron, for example, does commercials, CGI, music videos, production consultation, post-production, industrial films and documentaries. They’re a one-stop shop that’s sold work to CTV, CBC, ABC, NBC, ESPN and major specialty channels. Grab your buddies and start your own, or apprentice with an existing outfit.

Continuity
You watch very, very closely. All the time. For things like a button being open in one shot and closed in the next. If you’ve got an eye for detail (or are regularly accused of being anal retentive), you’ve got this cold.

Costumes and wardrobe
Can you sew? Can you find cheap clothes? Got a fashion imagination? From rags to the runway, you make actors and extras look just right.

Craft services
That’s catering to you and me, although caterers only work dinners. Do your job right and you’ll be the most-loved person on set.

Director
Not as out of reach as you might think. Work your way up from production assistant (see “peon”) to third, second and then assistant director, and who knows?

Driver
Actors, equipment, directors, technicians – it all gets driven by someone. You. And you get to be a freaking Teamster.

Editor
Now that any kid with a computer can edit digital video, you can apprentice with home movies before you start chopping commercials, industrial films or retro ’80s music videos.

Grip
Unload it, haul it, attach it, assemble it or take it down, ya grip ya.

Hairstyling and makeup
Your parents didn’t want you taking cosmetology, but now you’re coiffing the stars. Talk about social networking.

Peon (pronounced “PA”)
Production assistant. First on set and last to leave, you gofer and handle safety, traffic and garbage. If you survive, you move up to less filthy gofering, while making contacts and discovering job opportunities and clocking $130 to $180 per 14-hour day (plus overtime).

Producer
Assistants to the producer are basically secretaries, maybe earning $20 an hour. But associate producers (pushing paper, money and  arrangements) could grab $3,000 to $4,000 per month. Producers get a percentage of the budget based on a complicated formula, which you can negotiate.

Production co-ordinator
Logistics management, setting up base camp, ordering equipment, hiring office crew, handling immigration, travel and legal matters. You manage all paper distribution (all memos, script revisions, contracts, everything) for everyone (networks, production companies, lawyers, governments), liaising with all other departments. Stress, detail, no glamour, and if you screw up, it’s your ass on the lawn. Most PCs are women. Base pay is $1,700 per week, but once you’ve got a rep, you can negotiate for more.

Sound technician
Holding the boom stick, mixing sound on a console, even creating sound effects. Unless we go back to silent pics, you’ll always have work in sound.

Special effects and special makeup effects
Like explosions? Making people look really old? Manufacturing weather or monsters? If you’re good at faking things, this is a good career.

Writer
They don’t write themselves. How much you can earn is complicated, so check the Writers Guild of Canada for rates, which include percentages of the production budget (http://www.wgc.ca/ ). Read – and write – as many screenplays and teleplays as you can; most people will need to write dozens of scripts to learn the craft before selling anything.

Models for opening photo: Jacob Gajek, Kendall Gajek, Todd Gajek, Victoria Clark, Samantha Ypma, Kalen Mawson, Lila McNair, Amanda Pieters, Robyn Ferguson, Geoff Cwiklewich. With photo assistance by Eric Duffy. Thanks to the pool family too.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 11th, 2008 at 6:36 pm and is filed under Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Comment

1. Salena Vanandel says:

   May 13, 2010 at 10:36 am

   Thanks for the great blog entry on working from home. I appreciate it. Thank you!