Salary range for an AE pro

Roto and dustbusting is the bottom of the food chain for AE at a VFX facility.

It's tough to find a dustbuster who works for less than $30/hr = $62k/year.

I'm just saying.
 
I've been doing AE for about 10 years and get anywhere from $60 to &70 per hour in LA and about $15-$20/hour above that in NYC. This is more for motion graphics than VFX work though...not sure if that's what you're doing.

If you're any good at AE, you should be getting at least $35 to $45/hour or around $400/day in LA...even the smaller to mid-size post houses pay that much.

What it all boils down to is your reel...that's really what sets your price.
 
rightfrog said:
What it all boils down to is your reel...that's really what sets your price.
Click to expand...

Agreed.. in this biz its really only how good you are that matters. I normally bid my jobs at a flat fee however.
 
kai said:
Agreed.. in this biz its really only how good you are that matters. I normally bid my jobs at a flat fee however.
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Yeah, I've been finding that more and more clients want a flat fee rather than an hourly/daily thing...many of them have told me that they've been screwed over by freelancers who pad out their hours/days and sometimes the client ends up loosing money on the job because the artist overcharges them...

That sux...
 
And, on the creative side, it saves those who may be really fast at their work from not getting paid anything just for being good & fast.
 
I flat fee my freelance compositing, day rate my 'in-house' work and was
making just shy of 100K in LA staff for 40hr week plus overtime.

This was for compositing, tracking and a touch of TD work for camera issues
in 3D.
 
Another thing is, if you are going to bid by job, be sure to allow for additional time. I've had clients come back 5-6 times with new changes because it has to be seen by so many people who all want to put their own stamp on it...you make the changes and then 3 days later here are more changes, and then 2 days later more changes and then a week later another round...and then it goes through everyone again...

Bid out for the job and tell the client that the bid includes 1-2 rounds of changes. Any more and you'll have to raise the price of the job...this will usually make the client filter through all the opinions themselves and give you a more complete set of changes at once rather than spread out over a lot of time...this will allow you to finish faster and submit your invoice faster.
 
rightfrog said:
Bid out for the job and tell the client that the bid includes 1-2 rounds of changes. Any more and you'll have to raise the price of the job...this will usually make the client filter through all the opinions themselves and give you a more complete set of changes at once rather than spread out over a lot of time...this will allow you to finish faster and submit your invoice faster.
Click to expand...

Definately great advice to follow! Clients will change their mind endlessly if you allow them too, and I've found that some of them don't even know what's good for them.
 
Greggl said:
I flat fee my freelance compositing, day rate my 'in-house' work and was
making just shy of 100K in LA staff for 40hr week plus overtime.

This was for compositing, tracking and a touch of TD work for camera issues
in 3D.
Click to expand...

you were making 100 thousand dollars a week? Am I seeing that right??


Where do people look for jobs in after effects..is there a listing online? Thanks.
 
salary

salary

I suppose this all depends on whether you are a contractor or full-time employee. As a contractor I make about $135k/yr. In San Francisco and LA isn't much different if you're good. This of course includes the fact that I pay self-employment taxes, my own health, etc.

As a salaried AE artist you're probably looking at closer to 80K, but with a guaranteed paycheck and possibly benefits.
 
$440/day is only $55/hour for an 8 hour day...that's a pretty standard rate for an AE artist doing broadcast motion graphics work...not national commercials, but regional stuff...or DVD menus for larger houses...
 
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