It’s important to know your worth.

I could sound off for the 800^th time about why there’s nothing sexy about being a starving artist, but instead I will admit we’ve all been tempted.

Whether it’s flat out insulting pay or abominable work conditions, they’re actually so common in the arts that nearly everyone has a story of a job just going incredibly sideways on them.

For a while, I was side hustling building props around NYC and I mostly loved it. Until the show that nearly made me lose my mind. For a $400 stipend, I was expected to attend weekly production meetings and rehearsals (strike one – my favorite thing about propping is making my own hours), suddenly out of nowhere had the set design dumped in my lap (strike two – I don’t actually know how to set design, said so and was ignored) and what was supposed to be a pretty simple gig that I estimated working out to about $15-20 an hour for the amount of work I would have to do, plummeted to less than $2 an hour and the most incredible ball of stress I’d ever experienced. And let’s be real here, the end product was not something I was proud of either.

I learned it’s important to speak up for yourself when too much is being thrown at you and to follow your guy instinct. At the first production meeting, when the producers and director insisted I attend multiple meetings a week, I should’ve stepped down from the position then.

Over at the SMNetwork.org, there is no shortage of stage managers who have experienced some rough paydays (names withheld to protect the innocent):

My second job after leaving uni was for a ‘friend’ who was ‘producing’ a ‘play’ in a fringe theatre. It was a two-hander, and there was me as SM, the director, the producer, and an LD.

Four weeks of propping, rehearsals, sourcing and fitting costumes, re-writing the script, designing sound, and a week of performances for the grand total of….(Drum Roll please)…..£250($365). On the other side of one of the most expensive cities in the world.

Lesson learned: sometimes it’s better to be unemployed. You can actually wind up losing money in some working situations.

In college, I had an opportunity to be a PA on a really big, splashy benefit. I knew the PSM/Production Coordinator, and really wanted to work with him – and he had more or less said that this gig, which was five days long, would put me at the top of his list for several larger and better-paid projects.

I do the benefit, anticipating a nice, if modest, windfall at the end of the process. What student doesn’t love a $500 check, right? It’s five days of running up and down stairs – the elevator is for freight only, and there are 5 stories of dressing rooms. Also, the costume department doesn’t have a PA/runner, so I’m carrying evening gowns by the dozen up and down these stairs, too. Also, there is no designated hospitality person, so when I’m not carting gowns, I’m carrying cases of bottled water to each dressing room. Still, stairs aren’t so bad, and I’m working hard for that check and the future opportunities. Woohoo!

The producer’s personal assistant handed out checks on the loading dock, during load out.

All of the checks bounced.

Ultimately, we got 50 percent of our agreed-upon payments, and many lengthy apologies.

Sometimes you have to fight to get your money. Unfortunately, not every production company is completely above board.

I had an interview for a touring dance company as Head of Stage (or so I thought). I was offered the gig, and I accepted. Well, it was a relatively decent salary… it would be my first tour, it went to some good venues, and it was something different.

Fast forward to the fit up, and I’m told the video truck had arrived, and could I unload it and set it all up. What on earth, I hear you ask? It turns out that the Head of Stage for this company has ‘always’ also been the Video Tech. When they asked me at the interview what my experience with video was, I answered “I’ve done a little plugging and playing with a desktop projector, but nothing bigger than that.” And we’re talking about a ton of equipment, servers, multiple projectors playing the various media, long Ethernet runs…. The rest of that day involved a LOT of Googling and ringing friends for help.

Fast forward two weeks, and I’m on the edge of collapse. 90 hour weeks, daily travel between venues, a different fit up, venue, and strike each day, and a horrible environment from the other technician, the dancers, the directors of the company, but the video really was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Another example of having more thrown at you than you are actually trained to do (watch out, young stage managers, this is actually a common occurance). If you are out of your depth, admit it. Not every job is right for every person.

A couple years after high school, a guy that I had gone to school with started up a youth summer theatre company through the local parks & rec dept. He contacted me saying “I’m directing it, our other friend from high school is choreographing, someone else I know is coming in as MD, do you want to stage manage it?” So I said yes. It was really hard but really fun! And then after the final performance, the woman from the parks & rec dept was there to hand out checks to the counselors. A check and an envelope full of coupons from sponsors. This is when I learned that there was not a check for me. They had budgeted for three counselors (which, if it had been a regular day camp, would have been more than enough for the number of kids we had) and it wasn’t their fault that the director had elected to take on a fourth counselor, which was not required for the camper-counselor ratio. The parks folks don’t know anything about theatre and don’t understand what a stage manager does, so from their POV they viewed me as unnecessary to the operation of their day camp.

The other three counselors, rather than paying me out of their own pockets (which is what I would have done if I was them), banded together to give me their coupons. So I got like. 15 coupons for restaurants I’ve never heard of, landscaping services, printing services, etc. For three weeks of work as a combination camp counselor-stage manager.

This is why contracts are important. Even if you’re working for a friend. Honestly, especially if you work for a friend!

And from a TD worked with over the summer:

I was hired to TD the show on the tour and my first task was to fly to SC to pick up the set at a scene shop and drive it to NJ. I didn’t get my plane reservation until about 12 hours before they wanted me to depart. I wasn’t given any cash up front. I flew down and went to check in and there was no reservation made for me. I arrived at the Penske the next morning to get the truck at 6am and they didn’t have any truck reservation on file and neither of the producers answered their phone and finally reached back out to me at 9am to sort it out. The scene shop hadn’t received the check and refused to release the set– fortunately the check arrived at 2pm. After driving 2 days and arriving in NJ at 11:30pm, that hotel had no reservation for me either. The next morning when I showed up for load-in, I was greeted by several people telling me if I was smart I would just turn around and walk out the door.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck – it’s probably a duck. Bad work experiences often start to show their true colors from day one.

A wonderful actress I worked with last year sent over this gem:

I was working on a little one hour touring show of a Christmas Carol. We had SIX WEEKS of rehearsal and a month of performances in Staten Island for an $800 stipend. One time in rehearsal, we were having a rough day and the stage manager told the director it was time for a 10 minute break. He wasn’t satisfied and said no. She told him he was required to give us a 10 minute break. He said, “I don’t see any equity contracts in this room besides mine. I’m not REQUIRED to do anything for these people.” We were shocked. It was so blatantly demeaning and unprofessional. The producer apologized to us the next day, but I will never work for that man again.

Because there’s nothing like being underpaid and insulted.

And while I have to say I think we all have it kind of tough in the arts, I think musicians may have it the hardest.

Some friends of mine have a band up in Boston and have been playing out for over 20 years. Never really got their names out there and mostly play locally up there, but every now and then they come to NYC to play a gig. Musicians often are given a gig with the provision they have to bring in so many people, otherwise they’re on the hook for a penalty. My friends didn’t, the promoter locked up their gear, and they had to pay to get their gear back. That’s on top of the expense of gas/tolls to/from Boston and a hotel for the night.

Seriously, is that even legal??

From Michelle over at Fit is the New Poor:

After I graduated from college (with a degree in music), I was asked to play for a popular touring jazz band that grossed at least 15k per show. 3 – 3 hour rehearsal per week, 2 shows per week, no travel stipends. Pay was $15/performance hour + $20/hour for recording time.

Honestly, if a company is going to jip you, you’d think they’d at least make sure you didn’t know how much they were making per show. I think this brings up an important lesson that you need to take into consideration the costs of some jobs – no travel stipend when you’re expected to travel is just ridiculous.

And my personal favorite the absolute worst pay story comes from a Music Director friend who is an incredible piano player.

Three hours of accompanying auditions for a Subway sandwich coupon. Not a sandwich. A coupon for a discount on a sandwich.

I’ve taken some truly awful jobs with stories I didn’t list here because they actually had some benefits to them. I made awesome connections. I picked up a terrific job from someone I met while working there. I learned up a new skill. I tried a form of theater I was unfamiliar with.

So the important thing to learn from these tales of woe is to know your worth. Worth isn’t always shown in cold, hard cash, but don’t kid yourself, not every project has worth. That’s a common misconception in the arts. Some projects are just crap. Some projects are just taking advantage of you.

Make sure you know the full scope of the job you are accepting and speak up if the job doesn’t match what you agreed to. There are lots of threats about what a small world the entertainment industry is, and to an extent, that’s true – but never forget it applies to the companies too.

You need to know what you’re worth and stand up for it. Don’t develop a crazy, overinflated sense of self-worth, but if you’re applying for a job listing that requests a degree, X number of years of experience and specific skills and you can actually check off each of those items – you are contributing worth to that project and should be paid accordingly.

Make sure you break down stipends into what the actual hourly pay will be. A $1,000 stipend looks awesome. Until you realize it’s for 3 months of full time work.

Also, don’t ever think the only jobs out there are ones that will grossly underpay you. This is wrong. There might be brilliant projects you want to do that are on a legit shoestring budget, but you need to balance those out with projects that actually pay.

Anyone else want to share their tale of working in the arts woe?