This is topic How Much Do You Pay Your Staff? in forum Ground Level at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 10-20-2000, 05:24 PM:
We asked the ticket price question so I thought I would ask this one.Santa Rosa has an overheated economy that suffers from being too close to San Francisco.
We start our staff at $6.00 per hour and then throw quarters at them if they behave.
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 10-20-2000, 05:47 PM:
Interesting question. Here's what I've been paid at theatres (keep in mind taht I've never worked in a theatre full-time; this is just a hobby for me):
$7/hour - single-screen - projectionist, bank-drop guy, light cleaning of auditorium/lobby at night, fix-it guy for anything that required electricity, etc. ($7 was _not_ enough for this...anyone who has to deal with boxoffice reports and bank-drops like I was doing deserves more than that...this was not smart, especially since management was doing really sloppy accounting work and a few missing dollars could have easily gone unnoticed...fortunately for them, I was honest unlike one of their other employees)
$12.50/hour - multiplex - projectionist - probably a reasonable pay rate for a major metropolitan area and decent theatre
$15/hour - single-screen - emergency fill-in projectionist - this was probably too much for working in a fun little carbon-arc booth, but I've only done this on rare occasions where they couldn't find anyone else and would have had to have closed down the theatre otherwise...my commute sucked, though (2 hours each way in moderate traffic)
Personally, I'd think that most people who work in movie theaters aren't doing it for the money (esp. when Wal-Mart is paying $9.25/hour), but because it's more fun than working at McDonalds or someplace like that. The benefits (free movies, posters, etc.) are better, too. On the other hand, it's tough to get quality people and that is something that is especially important in an all-cash business. I'd say that $6/hour is probably fair for a starting wage for concessions/box/etc. if it's a fun theatre to work in. I would think that the gigaplexes should pay slightly more (though they probably don't). Wages for other employees (projectionist, manager, ushers, etc.) probably depend more on the market conditions...I guess the important thing is to pay something above minimum wage to anyone who needs to handle cash...
Posted by Ian Price (Member # 14) on 10-20-2000, 05:52 PM:
Oops, let me clarify.Federal Minimum Wage in the US is $5.15 per hour, currently.
We pay or starting floor staff $6.00 per hour, to start.
It is belived that the minimum wage a person needs to earn in the Bay area in order to live idependantly is $17.00 per hour. Under this theory, we aren't even paying ourselves as owners enough to live in the Bay Area
I am interested in what other countries minimum wage is and what their starting floor staff makes.
Posted by John Scott (Member # 520) on 10-20-2000, 07:34 PM:
We start off at minimum wage, and give a raise after 90 days and then annually, and we seem to have no problem finding staff.As someone else mentioned, people work at the theatre because they love the job, not because of the pay.
Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 10-20-2000, 08:06 PM:
Minimum wage in Ontario, Canada for over-18 is $6.85 (about $4.60US). I suspect most theatre staffers here make that or less ($6.15) if they're kids. Don't let that shock you, things are generally a little cheaper up here right now, different economy. I've noticed that alot of consumer goods over the border has the same numeric price. We ain't buyin' though, cuz a greenback is $1.50 Canadian pesos! You could squeak by on minimum here in the rural parts (if you got 40hrs.), but up in the "Smoke" (Toronto), no way. (Not derogatory, people around here always called T.O. the "big smoke", many even commute and work there.)
Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 10-20-2000, 10:05 PM:
I could not make a decent wage working in any of the local theaters here. $6 an hour? Gaag. I'm making a little better than that, and even though the car is paid for, I still have to feed it, and pay house payments, utilities, and TAXES, not to mention feed myself. There is little left over for entertainment, etc. I dont even have my satellite turned on anymore. The cost of everything is getting crazy, yet the bottom line employees are still getting as little as possible. I am just thankful that my house payments are just a tad lower than rent on a house. I couldn't make it. I tend to stay home alot, because I really cant afford to do much of anything else.The main job that I have runs 35-45 hours a week. It's hard to cram another job in there, too.
Here in Western NC, the job market is getting full, and the employers know it. Old high-paying jobs are going away and low paying replacements are coming in to take up the slack. I am worrying about our future here.
Posted by Gracia L. Babbidge (Member # 582) on 10-21-2000, 12:20 AM:
Hmm... theaters around here don't tend to pay as well as other places of employment can. (L.L. Bean is one that comes to mind for paying better. 
) For the most part, starting wage at theaters around is the same as minimum wage with one chain, and a little bit higher with another. (I don't want to name names and point fingers, but I will say that the former, as a general rule doesn't treat their staff as well as the latter!)The first theater I was at, I started at $4.75/hour, which was minium wage at the time. After I had been there about six months, minimum wage went up to $5.15, and all the floorstaff that were at the theater earning minimum got raises to $5.25/hour. At that point I was solely a concessions attendant, box office attendant, and usher. Right after that raise was when I learned to be a projectionist.
After another few months at that theater, I got promoted to a supervisory position, and got a raise to $6.00/hour. A piddlance for the responisibilities that go along with the position!
It was a year and a half later, and after a transfer to another location, and going through several hellish months at that other location, before I saw another raise. 
Too long of a space there, and too small of a raise. 
It was only another $0.30/hour.
Things got better when I started working for another chain entirely. 
I got hired at $7.00/hour for being an almost-full-time projectionist, no floor duties! 
Then going full time meant going on slavery....er, make that salary! And that works out to being a little over $8.00/hour.
Yeah, I still don't have the best paying job, but I get paid decently for a job that I usually enjoy. 
~The Purple-Tressed Booth B*tch
------------------
In some cultures, what I do is considered normal.
Posted by Paul Rich (Member # 243) on 10-21-2000, 09:40 PM:
Floor, Box, and Concessions start at $5.40/hour and never get raises. Carmike doesn't give raises.Heck, even some supervisors, such as myself, still only make $5.40. Supervisor pay is $6.50. I'm not sure about booth pay, though.
No one can say I do this job for the money.
Posted by Tom Kroening (Member # 201) on 10-22-2000, 02:03 PM:
At my old theatre i was started off at 5.15 as an usher, and i left making 5.50 as the head projectionist. I started working for this theatre at 6.50 training as a manager at a 20 plex for two weeks, then was making 7 bux for basically being the unofficial booth manager at an 18 plex. And they wonder why im quitting. I think floor staff starts at minimum and works their way up (either every 6 months or every year). Them being teenagers and living at home it doesnt matter that much. Yes im only 18, but im not living at home. I guess they didn't understand my clearly enough when i told them i can afford to live here a few months ago. I was offered salary but it was basically a joke. I mean if you are going to make an offer, at least offer something above the poverty line. *sigh*
Posted by Lance C. McFetridge (Member # 95) on 10-23-2000, 03:27 PM:
My projectionists make $9.00/hr. Plus I throw them some cash when they go on vacations and such. Both are in their early 20's. Concession staff when starting make 5.40/ hr with raises yearly. Concession managers make 6.75 right now and will be up for a raise after the first of the year. Plus I kick in pizzas weekly and two kick - ass parties for them all every year. They screen every movie, and if you can believe it, have had sleep-overs in the theatre and a marathon of movies that night. Oh to be young again.....
lance
Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 10-23-2000, 06:23 PM:
Lance not only do you have the classyiest show around and the cleanest but you are a model employer
Maybe there is a liberal spirit afterall in PennYann
Posted by Rick Fowler (Member # 605) on 11-08-2000, 01:19 PM:
well we are a 20-plex and start floor staff at $6.25hr you should base it on your local market if you have problems keeping staff most likely your not paying enough. that was our problem Richmond is a workers market (more jobs than people) so the majority of the staff we get are first-time workers 16-17yo. yes your gonna have those few people that love the biz but the bulk of your staff doesn't. but if you trade passes with other local business' you can get some great stuff to reward your better workers with. ------------------
Regal Booth Certifier
Posted by Rob Brooks (Member # 186) on 11-09-2000, 02:40 PM:
Well, I'm thankful I'm in a union town. Projectionist pay with no out of booth responsibility is about $23. per hour for 6-8 plex's. $26-$30 per hour for 9 screens and over. Pension and health benefits are included in the job. ------------------
Rob
Posted by Kevin Crawford (Member # 469) on 11-14-2000, 11:07 AM:
I make the middle teens plus benefits. But that is due to the Union. Otherwise they would pay me as little as possible.The floor staff makes $6.25 an hour, soon to go up to $6.75. Makes me mad that they get raises like that, and the company balks at a pittance raise for me, or more hours. I swear one day they'll be sorry. Oh they will be sorry. Wait a minute, they already are. They have to go to court to see how many of their assets they get to keep.
Posted by Carl King (Member # 398) on 11-15-2000, 01:37 PM:
I've been a projectionist for 32 yrs and make a good living. My career in this industry started when I was a toddler and went to the theatre with my Dad, the manager. I used to follow staff around thinking I was being a big help.
When I was 16 I went on the payroll as an usher at minimum wage. At the time it was C$.80 per hour. My oh my how far we have come.
Posted by Erik Schill (Member # 675) on 11-25-2000, 06:17 PM:
we start everyone off at 5.25, then give raises RARELY and when we do it's usually 0.10. 1 out of every 50 get a 0.25 raise now and then, but most get nothing ever, then they quit after 2 years. I started off at 5.25 in June of 98, then got a 0.25 raise, then got promoted to concession supervisor and got a 0.50 raise, then I started doing booth a year ago and got a 0.25 raise for that, then I got another 0.10 raise the other day cause I said I'd quit if I didn't, working 40 hours a week upstairs and on the floor and making 6.35 just doesn't seem to great, but I like the job