More than half of entertainment industry support workers who responded to the new survey earned $40,000 or less in 2021, and more than a quarter earned less than $30,000.
The number of respondents earning $50,000 or less increased from 2020 to 2021, from 79.11% in 2020 to 91.05% in 2021, according to the advocacy organization’s latest annual wages and working conditions survey # PayUpHollywood. Five hundred and twenty-three support workers, current or former studio assistants, production and development companies, talent agencies, and production and post-production departments participated in the latest report, open from Nov. 2021. January 1, 2022 and whose results were published on Thursday.
The research highlighted that, according to the California Housing Partnership’s 2021 Affordable Housing Needs Report for Los Angeles County, a renter would need to earn more than $79,524 a year to avoid “cost burden” or spend more than $79,524 a year. 30% of your annual housing income. costs. According to this metric, at least 95% of those surveyed would be considered expendable.
About 64 percent of respondents said they are required or “strongly incentivized” to pay direct costs, such as fees for cloud storage, dry cleaning, computers and streaming services. #PayUpHollywood says direct expenses, which were only partially reimbursed or not reimbursed, have increased due to some support workers working from home during 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. When it comes to general pay in particular, the report found that 49.03% of respondents said they were pressured to change their timecards because they worked insufficient hours.
To highlight the pay gap, the survey shows the salaries of Hollywood’s top executives and support workers at their companies in various infographics: for example, Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings earned $1.6 million a week, while one of the support staff who received the research and report worked on a project produced by Netflix that earned him $1,200 a week. Former Discovery CEO David Zaslav (now president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery) earned $725,000 a week, while a support employee for the Discovery project earned $1,600 a week.
“This year we wanted to bring you a different set of data,” said #PayUpHollywood co-founder Liz Alper in a statement. “The fallout from the pandemic has the potential to further decrease support staff pay in Hollywood. Today, Hollywood studios and corporations follow the “No money” narrative. We’ve posted the salaries of some of Hollywood’s best-known CEOs to illustrate our current dystopian reality: while the support team demands 25 cent raises, they are forced to work second jobs and absorb non-support costs. companies are earning more. never before.”
Three years after launching #PayUpHollywood as a grassroots movement in 2019, the group also announced on Thursday that they are partnering with Women in Film Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times reports that this partnership will give #PayUpHollywood the ability to raise money as a non-profit organization. “WIF is proud to support the important work #PayUpHollywood is doing to advocate for sustainable wages for our industry support team, many of whom are women,” said Kirsten Shaffer, executive director of Women in Film, in a statement. . “We know that women, and women of color in particular, have been hardest hit by the widening wealth gap in recent years. We hope that the results of this historic research will clarify this disparity so that it can be corrected.”
The latest #PayUpHollywood study suggests that to address financial hardship and improve support staff working conditions, employers can offer 3-5% annual salary increases, distribute anonymous workplace surveys, and conduct ” job evaluations”. Party. The survey also suggested that employers could offer to hire bigger jobs and compensate for work costs from home and “establish a salary precedent”, in other words, provide support workers with salaries and competitive benefits in comparison with work Industry.
#PayUpHollywood highlights in its report that participants are under downward pressure as the entertainment industry simultaneously talks about diversity and inclusion initiatives. Alper said in a statement: “Solutions to address issues of inclusion and equity in Hollywood must also be aware of the financial disparity the industry has created for those just starting out.”
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
