How Much Money Do You Get For Acting

Unless you make it big, the median salary you could expect as an actor is $50,529 a year.

Want to make money in Hollywood?Sadly, the odds of becoming a movie star are about 1 in 1,190,000, according to the "The Book of Odds."

But your chances are much better for finding work behind the camera, and even if these jobs don't pay millions, you can still earn a decent living.

So much do people working in the business really get paid?The Hollywood Reporter recently rounded up a list of salaries typically earned by a variety of employees working on small- and big-budget movies.

We've combinedTHR's data with other research on the subject—including some numbers from salary research sitePayscale.com, and aVanity Fair videoshowing how much each person makes in a theoretical$200 million budget film—to get a good sense of how much different people make working on a movie.

Here's what you can truly expect to make if you break into Hollywood.

Actor

The Hollywood Reporterestimates that A-list movie stars routinely make $15 million to $20 million for top roles in big-budget films.Secondary lead actors in a movie such as "The Force Awakens"earned an estimated$1.5 million to $4.5 million.Meanwhile, lesser-known actors like Gal Gadot in "Wonder Woman"or Henry Cavill in "Man of Steel"might only get $150,000 to $300,000 even though they were starring in their movies.

According toPayscale, the median salary for an actor or actress in general—in plays, TV, and the movies, without regard to the size of the role—is far, far less: $50,529 per year.

Makeup Artist

The typical makeup artist working in the film industry earns about $48 an hour, or roughly $75,000 a year, perThe Hollywood Reporter.But a makeup artist working on a big-budget movie will make $124,000, or perhaps more.The median wage for a makeup artist in or out of the movie business is only $17.79 per hour, according toPayscale.com data.

Camera Operator

A camera operator's median earnings in the TV or film business are justunder $50,000a year.If you're working on a big-budget movie, though, you'll earn up to $154,000 a year.

Screenwriter

The latest Writers Guild agreement requires that film screenwriters be paid at least $72,600 for an original script, and $63,500 for an adaptation, butHollywood Reportersays that top talent such as Aaron Sorkin routinely pull in $3 to $5 million per script.The median annual salary for ascreenwriter is $72,414.

Producer

Payscalereports that the median annual salary for a producer in TV and films is just $66,121.However, the typical Hollywood film producer earns$750,000to$1 millionper movie, though first-time producers might make only $250,000.Producers behind monster box office hits can pull in tens of millions.

Boom Operator

The person whose job it is to hold the microphone above actors' heads but out of the camera frame—a.k.a.the boom operator—makes about $37,000 for working on low-budget films, $72,000 for typical studio films, and up to $120,625 for big-budget movies, according toHollywood Reporterestimates.

Director

Directors overseeing their first big-budget films make around $500,000, according toHollywood Reporter.But if you direct a big-time hit, your earnings can soar.Patty Jenkins was reportedly paid$1 million for "Wonder Woman", and after it proved to be thesecond-biggest movie of 2017(thus far), she agreed todirect the sequelfor $8 million to $9 million.

Key Grip

The job of a grip is to build and oversee all the equipment needed to support cameras and lighting, including dollies, tripods, cranes, and such.The key grip, who is charge of all grip duties on the set, makes an estimated$113,920 on a big-budget film, and perhaps$25 to $35 an hourfor work on TV shows and low-budget films, according toHollywood Reporter.

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