While most film festivals are run by full-time CEOs who work year-round, they rely heavily on other types of workers (part-time and seasonal workers, independent contractors and volunteers) to fill various positions. According to new research by the Film Festival Alliance.
The Film Festival Employees, Workforce and Compensation Survey, released in Wednesday’s presentation, surveyed by the nonprofit 2022 Film Festival in its Wednesday presentation, said 78% said they were part-time employees. full-time, full-year as CEO and only 46%. It had directors of operations, 39% had a director of programming, 19% had a director of finance, and 9% had directors of hospitality in the position. The festivals surveyed averaged 8.2 full-time employees, 3.1 part-time employees, 10.4 seasonal employees and 7.9 independent contractors, with approximately 1.4 positions currently open. The report notes that 16% of all festivals surveyed were held entirely by volunteers.
„ფOr many roles, festivals are likely to take a different approach than full-time and year-round employees in that role,” research analyst Wood Smith said in a presentation Wednesday at ISR, a strategic consulting firm.
The survey, which included confidential responses from 111 people from 108 different organizations in January and February, reflected on how festivals paid their workers in the previous fiscal year, what types of workers were employed, and how they approached pay and career development. Although the names of festivals participating in the survey are confidential, festivals that are members and non-members of the Film Festival Alliance participated. Film Festival Alliance members are AFI Fest, Sundance Film Festival, DOC NYC and SeriesFest, among others.
As for specific independent contractors (who are hired by 82% of all festivals surveyed), about half of the festivals surveyed provided these individuals with housing or hospitality allowances while working at the festival. Festivals with annual revenue of $250,000 to $499,999 are most likely to provide scholarships or accommodation (67%), while festivals earning less than $100,000 annually are least likely (38%), followed by festivals with revenue of $1 million or more (46%). .
The survey found compensation for director-level employees and found that the majority of festivals where CEOs, CEOs, programming directors, development directors and marketing directors worked treated them as salaried workers. Festivals pay an average of at least $45,000 a year for full-time, year-round work. (When the survey included director positions that were also seasonal, part-time, and/or contracted, the average minimum wage was much lower, around $2,000 a year.) The survey added, “Although larger festivals pay more. Salaries, the link between festival income and salary, vary.” For example, festivals with annual revenue of over US$1 million pay an average of US$53,000 per year at the box office and festivals with annual revenue of less than US$1 million. 100,000. Year. Full-time program directors at festivals with annual incomes of $500,000 to $999,999 earn an average of $52,000 a year, while at festivals with annual incomes of less than $100,000 they earn about $83,000. (Displacement festivals did not receive displacement questions.)
CEO salaries varied, with the lowest being $14,300 per year and the highest being $450,000 per year. (Festivals that earn more than $1 million pay $45,000 to $450,000 a year.) Meanwhile, directors of operations earn $500 to $150,000 a year, while program directors earn $150,000 a year. $500 to $240,000 per year. Overall, the report found that festival organizations spent an average of 51% of their revenue on director salaries in the last fiscal year.
“It’s a common saying that nonprofits pay low salaries; Reasons vary: “We all invest in programs” and end with “We are effective”. “In our report, we found a mixed pay balance: generally the bigger the budget, the bigger the salaries, but not always,” Barbara Twist, the festival’s executive director, wrote in a research analysis. “We also see that some roles offer more secure employment (full-time, high pay), while others offer less (contractor + seasonal, low pay), with no clear link as to why these roles are considered more or less important. Organization. We hope this expanded interpretation of the survey data will provide questions and solutions that you can address in your organization as it looks to improve and grow.”
Several survey questions also examined human resource policies on a variety of employment issues. As for remote and in-person work, 51% of festivals said they gave all workers the “opportunity” to work remotely, while 15% said some workers had the opportunity to work onsite and 35% worked remotely. None of the festivals said they had fully returned to face-to-face work. More than half of festivals required employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, while 20% had no specific vaccination policies. The report also noted that while more than 98% of festivals surveyed said they had taken steps to improve diversity, equality and inclusion within their organizations, only 48% said they had “detailed procedures for discrimination” and/or prejudice at the venue of job. ” Forty-eight percent of organizations said their payroll information was public or available to employees upon request, while 36 percent said they did not have a payroll transparency policy.
As for employee career development, most film festivals (55%) said they conduct an annual performance review, but the report noted that “relatively few have defined career paths for employees”: 11% said they “have defined career plans for some.” Employees” and 6% said they had a “defined career plan for all employees”. The main factors that contribute to the increase in salaries in the organizations of this festival, according to the report, are “position of the organization” and “skills and replacement”, 48 percent of respondents and 37 percent of respondents name these elements as a decision to get up. .
“Relatively few festivals use industry or industry market data when thinking about raising and changing salaries,” Smith said in a presentation on Wednesday.
In his review, Twist added, “A great aspect of film festivals is that you often find passionate people working on them, especially in high-profile roles.” He added: “However, without proper professional development or legacy planning, festivals can experience either leadership stagnation (often referred to as “Founder Syndrome”) or a substantial pay gap between the CEO whose board sets them up and manages them. . Consider approving the organization’s budget and the lowest paid employee who reports to their manager to defend them in the budget, while the manager must also do their own budget defense. Twist noted that research showed that festival CEOs with a budget of less than $999,999 on average earn twice the highest full-time salary; In organizations with a budget of more than $1 million, CEOs earn an average of 3.5 times as much.
In the end, Twist wrote, “We are dealing with limited funds, bluntly. Historically, nonprofits have done a lot of work on a tight budget. “We can be proud of the work we’ve done under these conditions, but we don’t have to accept or maintain these conditions as we go along.” He added: “The festival community is a generous and supportive network. “We can work better together to solve many of these systemic problems, uplift those who are making progress, and offer assistance to those who are struggling to take the next steps.”
Launched in 2010, the Film Festival Alliance, with around 240 member organizations and individuals, supports film festivals and provides professional development opportunities for workers in the industry as a whole, seeks to create a “sustainable and inclusive environment for our industry”. lead them,” said his mission. The Alliance conducts regular surveys, before reading festival representatives about compensation, subsidies and awards received by filmmakers in 2021, asking organizers and the public about the state of film festivals in 2020, and conducting a survey on the salaries of film festival workers. film festival in 2019.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Emily Jhon is a product and service reviewer at Gossipify, known for her honest evaluations and thorough analysis. With a background in marketing and consumer research, she offers valuable insights to readers. She has been writing for Gossipify for several years and has a degree in Marketing and Consumer Research from the University of Oxford.
