How Much Do Stage Managers Make? | brokeGIRLrich
Salaries are a pretty closely guarded secret for most people – although clearly not me, since I’ve been posting my salary for the better part of a year. I can understand wanting to do so anonymously, but it would really be helpful for people interested in going into the arts to be able to get a better idea of what they’ll actually be making.
When I used to tell people I was majoring in theater, older professionals would respond with “don’t.” What does that even mean? Were they starving to death? Were they working 120 hour weeks to pay their rent? Were they even working? We mostly just see two extremes in the arts – the starving artists a la Rent or the multimillionaire success stories.
The fact is, jobs in the arts exist in such a wide variety of areas and professionalism that there are plenty of ways to turn your theater degrees into a career while still using it to actually stage manage (if you want to branch out from stage management, there are oodles of ways to use your degree).
To give you an idea of how much you’re likely to make, here’s a look at a little stage management salary* information I’ve managed to glean from the web and personal experience:
- Stage Management Internships – $0.00/hr
- Equity Stage Manager Minimum – $10.67/hr
- Circus Stage Manager – $11.54/hr
- TheatreWorks Stage Manager – $14.97/hr
- Cruise Ship Stage Manager – $15.75/hr
- Average Stage Manager – $17.91/hr
- Broadway Stage Manager – $62.50/hr
If you’re a professional stage manager, please consider taking this 100% anonymous survey to help build a better picture of what stage management salaries look like with different companies.
All of these hourly breakdowns assume about 40 hours a week except the circus, which assumes 60… which every stage manager knows is a lie. You will work more than 40 hours a week.
Another thing to take into account is the fact that jobs end. The vast majority of shows have an end date attached to them when you start. Also, stage management isn’t really a linear career. You don’t climb a ladder. You might be making bank working a show one month and collecting unemployment along with your stipend for your next show… and you’ll be working just as many hours at both gigs.
Furthermore, where you choose to live is going to impact the quantity of jobs available to you and, unfortunately, a lot of the best areas for work also come with a high cost of living. In my opinion, being willing to relocate, even to other countries, or tour is one of the best first steps out of college.
The point of all this research is to prove that stage management is a viable career option, because I believe it is. It’s also to show you that when you adjust your thinking to look at it as a career, rather than just shooting haphazardly to work on Broadway, you can actually make a decent living from it.
Alright readers, your turn, what was the weirdest career advice you’ve ever been given?
One of the things that drives me really nuts about theatre is the massive disparity between Broadway Production contracts and everything else. Even the tiered tours are 50/60% less money. I went to an audition recently and was looking at the equity paperwork they had laid out. Equity minimum was less than $300/week. I mean, it’s laughable.
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It really is. I actually started the survey in this post though to try to get more information from others doing similar things – I mean, there are “stage manager” roles in industrial events that pay quite a lot and I’m wondering if there are other jobs like that. As far as Equity goes though, yes, it is totally ridiculous that you’re not really making a living wage until you get to Broadway. Freaking BROADWAY!! What other career keeps you on or close to welfare until you’re in the top 5%?
Do you have results from your attached survey? I would be interested to see them.
Unfortunately they are here –> http://brokegirlrich.com/?p=1474 and, as you can see, not to many people are actually interested in starting a salary conversation.
You always have such neat posts with info about stuff I know nothing about!
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Pretty rough pay it seems, especially for NY, which is why I would imagine that having such a huge passion for theater is really important! The jerkiest career advice I’ve ten gotten was from a producer when I worked for a trailer (movie trailer) company. He was an ass and he was telling me I needed to work harder so I could someday be as successful as him and I too would be able to hire a maid. It was ridiculous. I thought I’d rather clean my place 10 times over than end up anything like him.
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Yeah, TV people are generally a little squicky to me. I’m sure there are exceptions though. The passion for theater is important, but I also think it’s part of what holds us back from demanding a reasonable living wage too. You have to make it pretty high up in the SM food chain to be able to afford even basic amenities in NYC. If you’re smart, you join IATSE and double as a stagehand. They do well.
I had a friend that worked by the hour as a stage hand at random concerts etc that would come through. Paid $30/hour, but the jobs were sporadic. I find this entire section of your blog absolutely fascinating.
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Thank you for sharing this post! I am very interested in the arts and I think this would be the perfect job for me. I will still be researching other careers, but this list was very helpful.
Wonderful post! We will be linking to this particularly great content on our website. Keep up the great writing.
Thank you for shedding light on the diverse salaries in stage management. It’s encouraging to see the potential career paths and earnings. Your transparency is invaluable for those considering this field. The advice to stay flexible is spot on!