What Hollywood Actually Pays: 14 Guests Tell the Truth About Money
Kamala Avila-Salmon — Studio Budgets, Producer Pay & Executive Salaries
Kamala Avila-Salmon: Hi, I'm Kamala Avila-Salmon, and you're listening to the Sista Brunch Podcast.
I think what's most helpful is sharing what I've seen from the studio side when it comes to salary and compensation ranges.
There’s a project I championed while I was at Lionsgate that I’m now executive producing, and it’s coming out this year. I can’t share the release date yet, but working on it gave me a chance to really understand film budgets.
One thing studios expect is that the majority of the budget goes on screen. They separate costs into below-the-line and above-the-line expenses. Producers, directors, and actors fall into above-the-line costs.
From what I’ve seen, producers usually shouldn’t take more than 2–3% of the budget, maybe 5% at the highest. When projects came in over budget, producers were often one of the first areas studios looked at to cut costs.
Now, once you become a major producer, that changes. Big-name producers may get 5–7%, but that usually doesn’t happen early in your career.
So if you’re producing films in the $1–5 million range, expect closer to the 2–3% range. As budgets increase, you may be able to negotiate more.
From the studio executive side, salaries vary depending on the company, but there are levels: manager, director, executive director, VP, SVP, and EVP.
Creative development executives also tend to make more than marketing or distribution executives at the same level, similar to how engineering teams in tech often make more than marketing teams.
In my experience, once people start making over $100,000–$150,000, they’re usually at the director level or higher, depending on experience.
April Reign — Freelancing, Consulting & Media Futurism in Hollywood
April Reign: Hello, everyone. I’m April Reign, and you’re watching the Sista Brunch Podcast.
Fanshen Cox: You freelance and consult. What does that life look like financially for someone wanting to go that route in Hollywood?
Shawn Pipkin-West: Child, don’t do it.
April Reign: I know. But honestly, I left a safe six-figure career as a lawyer with benefits and health insurance to enter an industry where I had no experience.
Thankfully, I had a supportive family, community, and safety net.
Being a media futurist means always thinking about what’s next. I love Afrofuturism. I’m always searching for that portal to Wakanda.
When it comes to consulting, credibility matters just as much as money.
For example, I can speak at a college and make anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 for speaking and engaging with students. I also like to stay afterward, sit in on classes, and answer questions.
The work isn’t just about getting paid. Your reputation and credibility are everything.
Effie Brown — Producer Pay, Financial Struggles & Backend Reality
Effie Brown: Hey, I’m Effie Brown, and you’re listening to the Sista Brunch Podcast.
Typically, producers are supposed to get 5% of the budget split between producers, but I’ve rarely seen that reality for myself.
For Real Women Have Curves, I think I made around $75,000. But the real value of a film is sometimes what it does for your career afterward.
For Dear White People, I made very little. It was so low that I ended up doing Project Greenlight because my house was close to foreclosure and my car was about to be repossessed.
When they told me I could make $150,000 doing Project Greenlight, I immediately took it because I needed it financially.
I remember watching The Big Short and realizing I was one of those people who got talked into buying a house I probably shouldn’t have purchased at the time.
Luckily, I managed to keep my house, and honestly, that asset is one of the reasons I’m still producing today.
But I definitely underpaid myself on Dear White People, and I didn’t continue onto the Netflix show, which broke my heart.
Kai Bowe — Showrunning, Unscripted TV & Weekly Rates
Kai Bowe: Hi, I’m Kai Bowe, and you’re watching the Sista Brunch Podcast.
A lot of people don’t realize that showrunning and unscripted television can actually pay well.
Now, it’s not Hollywood actor or director money, and unscripted television doesn’t have a union, which changes things.
But people are often surprised by the rates.
Showrunners can make around $5,000 a week on the lower end, and even more once they’ve built experience and negotiating power.
Fanshen Cox: When you’re good and they want you, that’s when you can negotiate.
Kai Bowe: Exactly.
If you run your work through an S Corp, you also gain tax advantages and business write-offs that full-time employees may not have.
I actually encourage people pursuing scripted television to consider unscripted because there are consistent jobs availab
Karen Horne — Executive Salaries, Bonuses & Knowing Your Worth
Karen Horne: Hi, I’m Karen Horne, and you’re listening to the Sista Brunch Podcast.
When I left NBC, I was a Senior Vice President running a department. I later found out that a white male Vice President in another department was making over $100,000 more than I was.
At NBC, my salary was six figures, but living in California, it still didn’t feel amazing.
When I moved to Warner Media, though, my salary became significantly higher. With bonuses included, I was making well over half a million dollars.
When Discovery acquired the company, I received three bonuses in one year.
Instead of spending it all, I put a lot of it into savings because that’s what’s helping me survive now.
Today, I work as a coaching consultant. I calculated my consulting rate based on what my executive salary would break down to hourly.
When I shared my rate with a production company president, she told me I wasn’t charging enough.
She said people with far less experience were charging more than me.
At the time, I didn’t fully understand my value. Now I do, and I realize part of the issue was not recognizing my worth.
Georgia Fort — Journalism & Funding
Georgia Fort: Hey, everybody. I’m independent journalist Georgia Fort, and you’re watching the Sista Brunch Podcast.
I think the journalism industry is struggling because it tried too hard to become a business and operate like television. In that process, it lost the trust of its audience.
And if you don’t have an audience, advertisers won’t invest. It becomes a lose-lose situation.
My hope is that journalism returns to what it’s supposed to be: a public good and a public service.
That means communities need to rally around journalism and invest in it, or philanthropic organizations need to make bold investments to support democracy.
Like many newsrooms across the country, we faced financial struggles too. But one thing that worked for us was launching a television show.
Season one cost around $150,000 to produce, and we involved our audience in helping fund it. We ran a crowdfunding campaign, received support from local foundations, and got creative with sponsorships.
Small businesses ran ads in the show, and we even produced about 95% of the commercials ourselves.
We also followed a strategy inspired by Byron Allen and bought the airtime ourselves.
We did end up over budget, but that was okay because we originally planned for two seasons from the beginning.
A mentor once told me, “If you’re going to launch a show, budget for two seasons because people will think you failed if you don’t have a second one.”
So before we even started season one, I made sure we had enough money for season two as well.
Even though we went over budget, we were able to pull funds from season two and then pause production long enough to rebuild the budget.
Felicia D. Henderson — Independent Producing
Felicia D. Henderson: Hi, I’m Felicia D. Henderson, and you’re watching the Sista Brunch Podcast.
I wrote the project, directed it, and produced it, so there really wasn’t a salary for me.
I learned a lot from the process, but one reason I don’t talk much about the budget is because I had investors who heavily supported the project.
Two investors alone financed about 98% of it. One investor covered around 80%, another brought us close to 98%, and then several more investors helped finish the rest.
I also relied on a lot of favors throughout the process.
As someone who normally never asks people for anything, the experience really helped me grow.
Aaliyah Williams — Documentary Funding
Aaliyah Williams: Hi, this is Aaliyah Williams, and thank you for watching the Sista Brunch Podcast.
Fanshen Cox: Are you comfortable telling us about kind of the range where that budget was when she first came to you?
Aaliyah Williams: No, I'm not.
Fanshen Cox: Okay.
Aaliyah Williams: But what I will say is shout out to Lady and Bird Pictures.
Kamilah and her team were with Lagueria for years before she received her funding in terms of helping her with her prospectus, helping her with her initial pitches.
Jyoti Sarda, I think is her last name, is a woman who believed in Lagueria from the beginning and gave her the first amount of money for her to do an initial sizzle shoot.
It was a long journey for Lagueria to craft what her idea was gonna be.
Going through that process with documentary funding is a whole thing.
And then when 2020 hit and there was this push for extending an arm to underrepresented voices in a lot of different ways, there was a man, Milan Chakraborty-
Oh my God, Milan, forgive me for butchering your last name-
But he connected Lagueria to Linlay Productions.
That is Grace and Sumalee, who really believed in the project and gave Lagueria her full budget.
And I can say that it was under a million.
Fanshen Cox: Okay.
Aaliyah Williams: And we worked the hell out of that budget.
Asha Chai-Chang — Cost of Living & Career Building
Asha Chai-Chang: Hi, I'm Asha Chai Chang, and you're listening to the Sista Brunch Podcast.
So first, I worked on getting my expenses really low, and that was through relationships.
Like talking to people and being like, “Hey, find me a place that's about this much. I don't wanna pay more than…”
Like, I had a certain amount.
And so my goal was to make at least two to three times my cost of living per week.
And in that case, I meant living somewhere I didn't think of.
That's why people go North Carolina, Virginia. They kinda laugh, “Oh, Virginia?”
I was like, “Yeah, because what I'm gonna do from here is make that project, spoiler alert, that would take me to California to then be able to build up the right reputation and make that pitch to Netflix and say, ‘Can I get the money?’”
Well, in this case, Latino Film Institute. Shout out to them.
Ashlee Hypolite — Free Training & Community Colleges
Ashlee Hypolite: Hi, Sista Brunch fam. My name is Ashley Hipolit, and you are watching Sista Brunch Podcast.
Yeah, so depending on the pathway, and like I said, we're negotiating with the community college, so this may look different, but our actual training through Hollywood CPR is free.
Fanshen Cox: I'm just saying, do we hear this?
Ashlee Hypolite: Yeah.
Fanshen Cox: I mean, that's amazing.
Ashlee Hypolite: Yeah. And when we do work with the community college, if you're able to enroll full time, and if you do exhibit financial need, the community college is also a really flexible way to kinda get some of those costs alleviated.
So that's why the community college partnerships are so important to us, as opposed to private institutions that we could partner with.
Amazing. So we try to make it as affordable or free, and we wanna keep it that way.
Diana Williams — Entrepreneurship in Film
Diana Williams: Hi, I’m Diana Williams, and you’re watching Sista Brunch.
The finances in this industry are honestly a myth sometimes because everything has changed.
The industry today is completely different from what it was in 2019. Structurally, financially, creatively — everything has shifted.
The rise of the creator economy changed the landscape entirely.
So I started asking myself, “Who do I want to be in this industry now?”
There’s a huge opportunity to become an entrepreneur, founder, or creator-led business owner.
Independent films are essentially startups. Even Hollywood films operate like startups.
You secure financing, build a budget, hire people, create the product, and form an LLC.
Fanshen Cox: You are an entrepreneur.
Diana Williams: Exactly. Making a film is entrepreneurship.
At Kinetic, every project and every piece of IP operates as its own business.
We think carefully about how budgets flow through each project so we can continue making stories that connect with audiences.
That’s why I stay in this industry. I love storytelling and creating something people can enjoy.
The financial side becomes about balancing the creative needs with the business side so the work can actually reach audiences.
Kelly Harris — Location Department Pay
Kelly Harris: Hi, I’m Kelly Harris, and you’re watching Sista Brunch Podcast.
These numbers are approximate, but entry-level location department workers can make around $2,000 a week.
Because we’re part of the Teamsters union, there are additional benefits like car rentals and box rentals included.
In New York, location managers are part of the DGA, which is interesting because some assistants still aren’t unionized.
Key assistant location managers can make around $2,500 a week, while location managers often start closer to $4,000 depending on the project and scale.
From there, rates become negotiable.
Fanshen Cox: As you move into supervising positions, you gain more room to negotiate and don’t have to accept the first offer.
Kelly Harris: Absolutely. It comes down to understanding your value.
The people hiring you already know what you’re worth. Their job is to save money, so you have to advocate for yourself.
Marie Douglas — Composer Rates & Contracts
Marie Douglas: There really isn’t a system that fully protects composers.
There are many different paths composers can take. You can work in film, television, commercials, and licensing.
Licensing music can actually be very lucrative.
A lot of my work is composer-for-hire work, and contracts are what protect me in those situations.
Fanshen Cox: What factors into your pricing?
Marie Douglas: The biggest factor is the project’s budget and what the client actually needs.
If someone’s expectations are far bigger than what they’re willing to pay, it’s usually not going to work out.
For feature films, I always ask about the film’s overall budget first.
I’ve seen people try to pay composers only $2,000–$5,000 on million-dollar films, and that’s simply not enough.
Music has value. If a film has a million-dollar budget, around $10,000 or more should reasonably go toward music.
Rraine Hanson — Art Department & Minimum Rates
Rraine Hanson: Hello, my name is Rraine Hanson, and you’re listening to the Sista Brunch Podcast.
If you want to work in the art department, production assisting is a great way to test different areas and figure out what you enjoy.
There’s the office side with floor plans, graphic design, and software work, but there’s also shopping, building, prop work, and scenic painting.
I personally enjoy being on set, so I focus more on set dressing and props. On smaller projects, I also handle production design.
I’ve worked almost every role in the department at some point.
But the work is hard, and I think it’s important to know your minimum rate and boundaries.
I’ll sometimes accept a flat rate for a short film because I understand how independent productions work, especially as a director myself.
But I also know my bottom line.
I wouldn’t work as a production designer on a short film for less than $1,000.
That’s my minimum because I know how much time, preparation, and creative energy those projects require.
A lot of the time you’re prepping alone, and maybe you only get one PA helping on set.
It’s intense work that can easily take two or three weeks.
If I can’t pay my rent from it, then it’s not worth exhausting myself over it.