Indentured Servant and the 5 year plan.

I had to start this blog after I came up with this concept.
Working in LA is like being an indentured servant, but with none of the exercise. Cause it is true. So horribly true. Now for this blog I would like to explore the concept of the five year plan and how it applies to you.
So you just got to LA and you managed to land a gig as a PA on a show. Congratulations. You are now working for $8/hr with MANDATORY 4 hour overtime at time and a half a day. So lets do the math.... $8x8hrs =$64 + ($12x4 overtime) = $112 a day. Minus taxes at lets say 25% (though it is probably closer to %33) and your day pay is $84 in pocket. Now don't forget you have NO benifits, so if you want to be able to run into traffic you have to BUY YOUR OWN, and that usually runs around 200 a month or so with fun people like Cobra. Now you might be saying "those hours really suck, but I'll be sneaky and take a sick day here and there or a vacation day too." But wait, what was that? In addition to no benefits you get NO SICK DAYS, and NO VACATION DAYS. This means you work, and you don't stop, and you DON'T PLAY IN TRAFFIC.
Crummy right?
Now, like I said, this is the 5 year blog. So lets five year this bitch.
Right now out of the gate you have a salary of $550 a week. This means in laymens terms you are earning about a 27k salary. And this has no benefits too. I can't stress that enough, though you will understand the first time you crack a tooth and have to pay for it out of pocket. (Doctor tooth says $500 minimum) Now it is kind of random how long it will take you to progress beyond being a PA, it could take a year (HA!) or it could take much, much longer. I asked around and it seems the average time to be a Production Office PA is about a year and a half to 2 years. Then what? Then you would try to move, yes this is the strange part, to a different PA job. More specifically you would try to move to a Writing PA job or Set PA or Post PA. This is basically the next level. You can get a job as an assistant in the office but that is often moving laterally to your goal, whereas to get to your goal you often have to move along a series of jobs that don't pay well. But I am getting away from myself. Lets say you are moving towards your goal, and you want to be a writer like myself. So next step is Writers PA. So now you are a writers PA for 2 years and earn the same you were earning as an Office PA. Now keep in mind this is all circumstantial. I know someone who is the assistant to the head writers in a secretarial capacity that would desire to take the pay cut to become a Writers PA simply because it puts them on their desired path. So you are earning the 27K again for the next two years. Let's say that you then make it to Writers Assistant. Now an assistant makes $12/hr for 60 hours a week with no overtime. Additionally, no benefits. Now keep in mind some places do give benefits, but if they do, there goes another chunk of your paycheck cause keepin healthy is expensive! But at 12$/hr for 60 hours a week is a salary of $720 a week, then 37K a year. Now in this job you might also have the opportunity to write some episodes every now and then and earn some real residuals. So lets say 10K and episode which is a rough round up number for this blog. So around 47K salary cause you will prob. only get one episode a season maybe. And you would then be a writer's assistant for who knows how long. One of the writers told me that it is almost bad to be a good writers assistant cause people would want to keep you as a writers assistant, hence no moving on to writer. So in five years, if you are lucky, you might become a writers assistant and be making, if you are lucky and are writing a show, a salary around 37K + 10k residuals. You may think not bad, right? But... oh, drat, did I forget to mention. You are NOT earning a 47k or a 27k salary. That was a projection for if you worked a full year, but in television you only work 10 of 12 months. Or much much less depending on the show. And if you work less, you need to find another job, or a pilot to jump on to keep the bills paid. But for this oversize we will be optimistic and say you worked a full 10 months. So your total income as a PA was actually (10/12)x27k = 22.5K and a little closer to 40K after residuals as a writers assistant. And you are now finding work over the summer. You are constantly and consistently searching for work.

So, in summary.
Year 1: Making 22.5K as a Production PA, maybe a little on a side job if you can land one.
Year 2: Maybe you got a small raise so lets say 25K and you manage to get a halfway decent job during those summer months.
Year 3: Congratulations you are now a Writers PA and make 25K and land yet another good summer gig on a pilot show.
Year 4: Pilot show wasn't picked up, but you are still a writers PA, so another 25K.
Year 5: One of your contacts finally paid off and you are a Writers Assistant. And you were even allowed to write an episode. Maybe if you look hard and network you will land an agent. You are now hauling it in at 30K and residuals up to 10K. (note residuals for this oversize are a one time thing. You are paid for the episode, and paid when it airs)

So what do you think? Not much money. And don't forget you are working, AT WORK, for the WHOLE DAY! You have 12-14 hour days. They might get a bit better as you go up in the world, but they could easily get worse as you go to certain shows. And also keep in mind these numbers I give you are from a low paying show, one of the lowest. But they don't detract from the fact that you are working 60 hour weeks for this salary, vs 40 hour weeks in ANY OTHER JOB for the same and more money. My last job I could have done all the work for a week in about an hour, and I got paid more, and worked 35 hours a week. And it was no brainer work. And by comparison to the work a PA does, that job had be using my brain! The only saving grace here is that I am a self appointed IT expert so fix everyone's computers. But again I get off track.

So, in full, 5 year plan, you will have progressed slightly in the working world, though you may have surged ahead, it is all based on luck, or you may still be a PA. You also have very few new skills, almost none, unless you consider making a mean cup of coffee a marketable trade outside a Starbucks. I tried to give an AVERAGE idea though based on what I see out here since it is all based almost completely on luck. It really is WHO you know NOT how hard you work. Let me know if you have any questions about stuff, I will continue to try and give updates and info on pay amounts etc. Over and out.