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Have you ever wondered what animators and other artists are making at some of the larger studios (and even a lot of the mid/smaller places)? In fact, this method can be used for just about every job available in any field. The employees themselves are sometimes shy about revealing what they make and data from the union is strictly voluntary polling. Want to hear real numbers? Keep reading. Before anyone asks, I’m not breaking any sort of rules by listing this information. It is publicly available to everyone.
Here are some recent examples from Pixar (please note that some of the numbers could be a year old).
STUDIO NAME / POSITION / YEARLY SALARY
PIXAR / ANIMATOR / 60,000
PIXAR / LAYOUT ARTIST / 90,000
PIXAR / TD / 69,700
PIXAR / ANIMATOR / 73,000
PIXAR / TD / 85,313
PIXAR / SOFTWARE ENGINEER / 110,000
PIXAR / ANIMATOR / 110,024
PIXAR / TD / 108,194
Not bad. Some of these guys are pulling in good salaries. Let’s move on to DreamWorks and see what they are making in Glendale.
DW / SOFTWARE DEV / 76,898
DW / VIS FX SUPE / 176,800
DW / ANIMATOR / 102,066
DW / ANIMATOR / 121,576
DW / LIGHTER / 101,581
DW / CHAR TD SUPE / 156,000
DW / MODELER / 114,400
DW / HEAD OF LAYOUT / 105,000
Of course I didn’t list all of the salaries available. Just a sampling. Let’s move on to Sony and see how they are doing.
SONY / TD / 131,040
SONY / TD / 112,320
SONY / ANIM SUPE / 130,000
SONY / SENIOR TD / 112,320
I could go on and on and on. The point is, this information is available to anyone and everyone. The trick is that the data only represents what was made by those who were hired under an H-1B.
Have some fun and check out what people are making at other studios. All you have to do is enter the companies name and the state that the business resides in. I gave the following a try and found data for each: Digital Domain, Blur, Walt Disney, Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, Rhythm & Hues, The Orphanage, Wild Brain, Pacific Data Images, Blue Sky, Pixar, Sony, and DreamWorks.
What a great resource for those looking to get an idea of their value or those like me that are just busy-bodies! Staloren works in the animation industry as a consultant. His blog "The Business of Animation" can be found here .
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