How Much Do London Shake Compositors Earn?

[user_deleted]

Hi,

I was wondering how much London film compositors (using Shake) earn? I'm in my 2nd year at a Soho facility and beginning to have major doubts about the viability of compositing as a long term career.

I'm not asking people to divulge how much they earn, just what they think the average in London is. For example, in year one and say after five years experience, and how much you hope to be earning after 10 years.

The more I analyse it the more it worries me. The entire Soho film post industry is based on a UK government tax break, which could be whipped away at any time. Secondly, the industry size is increasing very quickly, diluting wages rapidly (especially when new comp'ers will work for

[user_deleted]

sadly, you're not very wrong. the tax breaks were taken away for a bit and the entire industry hiccuped. however, i've seen salaries vary from the low of 26k/28K for tv to 45k/50k for film, and that's for somebody with previous experience in film. Now i've heard of more, and i don't see why not, you'd have to be very, very good to warrant it mind.

[user_deleted]

how many years experience do these people have? are they lead comp'ers with 10 years or so? Or are they 5+ years?

[user_deleted]

However, if you use compositing to springboard yourself into other things (onset VFX supervision for instance) there is an ever growing pool of money to be tapped into.

[user_deleted]

Becoming a VFX Supervisor is certainly the likely career goal, but how much can one expect to make on the way there?

How much would a film compositor with 5 years experince make, for examplle? If someone could help me out here it'd be much appreciated, I'm having a bit of a career crisis and don't know where to turn! It's great to do something you love but in the end one has to think about raising a family etc.

[user_deleted]

its been a few years since i worked in london but i understand that you can charge 200 pound per day as an experienced mid-level compositor. Senior compositors can negotiate for more as they contribute more than others to the project. How much you can negotiate depends on what you can contribute in excess to other team members.

Dont rely on this information, things might have changed in the last few years.

[user_deleted]

Mike, is this for a freelance (a few months) or full-time/staff ?

[user_deleted]

In my experience, all shake compositors working in film in london are freelance. However they tend to work on 3-5 month jobs.

[user_deleted]

200 a day doesn't seem like a lot if you consider that news editors earn 25 pounds a hour in London.

[user_deleted]

I earn nowhere NEAR 200 pounds a day, although I only have 18 months film experience. When I hit 2 years what do u guys reckon i should ask for?

[user_deleted]

where are you working?

[user_deleted]

I work at a big Soho facility doing film compositing.

I earn nowhere NEAR 200 pounds a day, although I only have 18 months film experience. When I hit 2 years what do u guys reckon i should ask for?

[user_deleted]

Can you take on shots at the same level as everyone elso on the team? Do you complete them as fast? Are the results as good?

If so I would ask for 200 a day (unless pay has dropped in the last few years in which case I wouldnt know).

[deke-kincaid]

QUOTE(soho_compositor @ 05/12/06, 12:44 PM) [snapback]237082[/snapback]
I earn nowhere NEAR 200 pounds a day, although I only have 18 months film experience. When I hit 2 years what do u guys reckon i should ask for?

[user_deleted]

I assume that you dont have a full time job if you work for one of the big facilities.

Why not do your next gig somewhere else and name a price which you think reflects your ability and experience? If you really like the place where you are currently you can always return after one or two gigs in other places and say "they were paying me XXX, I wont exept less here".