Do you want an excellent intro to Economics?

[MotherNaturesRevenge]

me and a friend were just discussing how ridiculious the profession of acting is as far as the pay...sure you're entertaining me, but fuck man i could do that every night with my friends and i'm not making jack shit ha ha.

Gotta disagree...I'm a theatre major specializing in performance..and for every Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts who are out there getting paid millions of dollars, there's about a billion people who are getting paid little to nothing, and sometimes nothing, just to try to get their name out there as a performer, both in theatre and film.
Trying to get a full-time job as an actor is really fucking hard, because it's not consistent work. Usually people are working like one or two regular jobs just so they can go on auditions on the weekends.

If you don't like paying for a grossly overpriced movie ticket, get Netflix. Go to the dollar movies like I do and bring your own snacks. Or gasp, go see some live theatre--community and college productions are pretty damn cheap.

oh i know all about this. i worked at a performing arts theater @ the age of 17 in my hometown. i guess i just didn't take that into consideration when i said it because those people...people with integrity and not jut a pretty face were not who i was talking about.

[hell_kitten]

me and a friend were just discussing how ridiculious the profession of acting is as far as the pay...sure you're entertaining me, but fuck man i could do that every night with my friends and i'm not making jack shit ha ha.

Gotta disagree...I'm a theatre major specializing in performance..and for every Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts who are out there getting paid millions of dollars, there's about a billion people who are getting paid little to nothing, and sometimes nothing, just to try to get their name out there as a performer, both in theatre and film.
Trying to get a full-time job as an actor is really fucking hard, because it's not consistent work. Usually people are working like one or two regular jobs just so they can go on auditions on the weekends.

If you don't like paying for a grossly overpriced movie ticket, get Netflix. Go to the dollar movies like I do and bring your own snacks. Or gasp, go see some live theatre--community and college productions are pretty damn cheap.

I totally agree. And, if you think about it, the public is responsible for actors getting paid so much. If a film makes $100 million, then why shouldn't the actors get a good chunk of that? It's not the actor's fault that movies are such a big industry, and with all that money being made, it wouldn't be fair for them to get what would be considered a reasonable amount for the work that they've done.

[TheWorstIdea]

the public is responsible for actors getting paid so much.

Yeah, if people didn't spend so much money paying for movies, buying the DVD, buying merchandise and all of the other crap that goes along with the movie industry, I suspect it would be a different story.

But when you hear reports about how much a movie made, it's usually the gross income (ie. what it brought in without subtracting what it cost to make). So it sounds amazing to read about a movie that "grossed $10 million," but that's $10M minus the several million it cost to make (and obviously minus the ridiculous paycheques that one or two people will bring home). My issue isn't how much the entertainment industry itself generates, it's about how that money is distributed. Even on a feature film, a tech or assistant isn't necessarily going to be making much money. It's a case of a few people getting very rich and the rest of the people scrambling for the leftovers.

[Max]

I don't know how this thread morphed into a discussion about how much hollywood actors get paid, but I'll say this on that topic:
I worked in Hollywood, and made ridiculous amounts of money doing so. However the lifestyle required was sucking the life right out of me. Working 17-20 hours a day for 8 weeks straight, followed up by 2 weeks off, followed by two more weeks of 12 hour days, followed up by unemployment for 3 months was soul destroying. I don't wonder why drugs are so plentiful, because that's the only way I could see coping with that lifestyle. So, item #1 to consider when thinking about hollywood salaries is that these people have given up a normal life inorder to have that lifestyle. Item #2 is that the salary rarely goes to an individual, who blows it on cookies and prada. 99 times out of 100 they've practically got a corporation under them lawyers, agents, physical trainers, cooks, makeup artists, etc, etc, etc all get their cut. So, great you got paid a million bucks for four lines in a crapty action movie. 90% of that goes to your people. That's still 100 large for 4 lines. 4 lines that took a week to get done. So, 100 g's for a week still sounds pretty exotic, yeah? But, hey, here comes Mr. taxman, and that's now 60 G. Then, you've gotta pay expenses. Can't be seen in people magazine in kirkland polos and payless shoes, so you're investing in looks. Pretty quickly, you're back at the grindstone. Item #3 is that we're talking about how many people, earning how much? Let's say we're talking about 1000 people earning 10 million, each, per year. Even at that, we're talking what? One seventh? One tenth of the money that's involved in real estate? One twentieth of the defense industry? You see what I'm getting at?

[caseystilletto]

I'm sorry for steering the thread into trivial-land

Every profession has it's pros and cons...I want to teach, and I get a lot of flack from other theatre because I don't want to go to New York and scrounge in poverty while trying to "make it big" in the theatre scene there.

Anyhoo..I totally agree on credit card companies preying on college students...I heard a news story on NPR a few weeks ago discussing this--they target these students because most of them have parents to provide the cash if they mess up using the cards. So shady.

[MotherNaturesRevenge]

sorry my ignorant comment steered the thread off topic ha ha

[Max]

No reason for anyone to be sorry. I'm sure if it were a different forum, the topic would have drifted to baseball players. I'm not opposed to thread drift. I just don't have all that much to say about what people get paid, because I don't think about that, all that much. What I think about daily, hourly, is what can I do to help folks. Yeah, yeah, I know, Canonize me, already, but I'm not bucking for sainthood. It's just my way, my tao, if you will. So, feel free to discuss hollywoodland, it's fine by me. I'm just pointing out that, though, of course, our self-referential media talks about the celebrity thing all the time, celebs are really a side issue. A bigger part of why we're in a bit of a pickle is that we're not really in all that much of a pickle, we're just being forced to adapt. Part of that adaptation will be the necessity of learning some economics, especially as it concerns monetization. People have to realize what's going on, and start acting upon facts, not fantasies. The fact is, we've been relying upon giving each other big macs and haircuts, and neglecting things that actually create wealth. I mean, capitalist, communist, or apathetic, I don't think anybody can argue that service industries create anything, yet that's where the majority of us hang our hats, right? Likewise the Arts. Hey, I love music, and I like movies, same as everybody else, but it's entertainment and edification, it's not a backbone to a healthy economy. So, the DIY stuff? More healthy than most of us realize. But, unless folks are more in tune with some economic concepts, it's a bit too easy to fall into the typical american trap: work in a service industry, consume way too much, save way too little, and have no clue as to why you never get ahead.

[caseystilletto]

But, unless folks are more in tune with some economic concepts, it's a bit too easy to fall into the typical american trap: work in a service industry, consume way too much, save way too little, and have no clue as to why you never get ahead.

This is so true...saved this quote, thanks Max.

[TheWorstIdea]

A bigger part of why we're in a bit of a pickle is that we're not really in all that much of a pickle, we're just being forced to adapt. Part of that adaptation will be the necessity of learning some economics, especially as it concerns monetization. People have to realize what's going on, and start acting upon facts, not fantasies.

Yes, and to understand that over-consumption isn't going to increase your quality of life, at all. It's like people who buy enormous "status" houses, only to become mortgage-broke, or worse. Or people who buy designer everything and end up with no money to take care of their basic needs (or massive credit card debt). I met someone from France who purposefully lived in a smaller place and bought less so they could take a few months of vacation time off every year to visit family and friends. That philosophy sounds pretty fucking amazing to me.

[MotherNaturesRevenge]

A bigger part of why we're in a bit of a pickle is that we're not really in all that much of a pickle, we're just being forced to adapt. Part of that adaptation will be the necessity of learning some economics, especially as it concerns monetization. People have to realize what's going on, and start acting upon facts, not fantasies.

Yes, and to understand that over-consumption isn't going to increase your quality of life, at all. It's like people who buy enormous "status" houses, only to become mortgage-broke, or worse. Or people who buy designer everything and end up with no money to take care of their basic needs (or massive credit card debt). I met someone from France who purposefully lived in a smaller place and bought less so they could take a few months of vacation time off every year to visit family and friends. That philosophy sounds pretty fucking amazing to me.

it's about experiences not things...it's about quality not quantity..it's about making use and not abusing.