# Consistent Work Making Scale In L.A. - Enough For A Good Living?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 5, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978 "2015-09-05T02:35:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/1 "2015-09-05T02:35:01Z")
If a person makes “scale” - that is the actors’ union minimum wage for a day’s/week’s work - while finding consistent work - say, 240 days per year - would that be enough to make a decent living? By “decent living” I mean rent on a nice home, plenty of money to make the payments on a decent car, no worries about food, enough for some luxuries.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/2 "2015-09-05T03:14:40Z")
Just a wag, but the first [PDF here](http://www.sagaftra.org/digest-background-actors-la-zones) indicates that the minimum daily rate for the LA zone was $148 a day and it seems to go up about 3 bucks a year, so let’s say 2015 is $155 a day - that get’s you $37,200 a year.
I’m betting in LA that doesn’t go very far.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/3 "2015-09-05T03:18:18Z")
You could do OK. According to [this](http://work.chron.com/annual-salary-screen-actor-4272.html), the minimum day rate for studio film productions is $842. 240 days of that would net you a couple hundred grand. But that’s highly unrealistic even for the most accomplished day players. Also, the per-day rates are lower if you are hired for a full week or multiple weeks. And the rates are lower still for low-budget and very-low-budget pictures. (And for non-union films you’re basically working for free food. Maybe.)
Still, a real grinder with chops and professionalism could pull $100k a year as a day player. Most will make less than half that.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/4 "2015-09-05T03:19:19Z")
> [@zoid](#):
>
> Just a wag, but the first [PDF here](http://www.sagaftra.org/digest-background-actors-la-zones) indicates that the minimum daily rate for the LA zone was $148 a day and it seems to go up about 3 bucks a year, so let’s say 2015 is $155 a day - that get’s you $37,200 a year.
> I’m betting in LA that doesn’t go very far.
That’s for background actors (extras.)
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/5 "2015-09-05T03:22:27Z")
The median actor’s wage in LA is roughly $57k according to [Actor/Performer Salary in Los Angeles, CA | Salary.com](http://www1.salary.com/CA/Los-Angeles/Actor-Performer-Salary.html)
Rents and mortgages in LA are outrageous (900sq ft 1 bedroom apt well outside LA is $1200/month, minimum).
Even if you paid me enough to live in LA, you couldn’t pay me enough to live in LA. YMMV.
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### Author:  [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/6 "2015-09-05T03:23:57Z")
I kind of figured we weren’t talking about “talent”, but yeah the date goes up drastically.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/7 "2015-09-05T03:52:41Z")
I don’t see how any actor is going to be working 240 days/year.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/8 "2015-09-05T05:59:30Z")
> [@PastTense](#):
>
> I don’t see how any actor is going to be working 240 days/year.
Yeah–of course, it depends on the actor’s status, but I get the impression that it’s closer to 175 to 200 days a year, on average. And often actors have some kind of other work. TV work is pretty evenly paced, but film productions are sporadic and intense, with potentially long periods of time unemployed.
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/9 "2015-09-05T13:14:00Z")
I was mostly thinking of actors on soaps - Mrs. Homie watches _The Young and the Restless_ pretty dutifully, and by my estimation there are 20 characters who will appear on that show in a week’s worth of episodes. Since they’re making five hours of content per week, 52 weeks per year, with daytime ad rates, I figured their budgets must be stretched pretty thin, which got me to wondering what kind of money third-tier actors make. It has to be scale or close to it, yet they’re getting consistent work, so I was curious what kind of living they’re making.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consistent-work-making-scale-in-l-a-enough-for-a-good-living/729978/10 "2015-09-05T14:38:05Z")
When I left L.A. at the end of 2003, I was making about $45,000/year. I had a good one-bedroom apartment in L.A. north of Culver City (on Clarington at Palms), a new car, and could afford to rent a helicopter a couple of times a month.
I think my rent was around $800/month. They jacked it up to $1,200 after I moved out. Zillow says the rent estimate today is $1,695/month. If I had no bills and my income was $45,000/year, I might be able to live there today. Figure that salary is about $2,600/month after taxes and deductions (including 401k contribution). So there would be $900 left over for gasoline, electricity, natural gas, cable and Internet, mobile phone, car payments, food, household supplies, entertainment, etc.