Salary
Average Salary: $80,880
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $3,377,000
Here are some things you should know about art directors before getting to any actual numbers:
- Art directors tend to be older, because it takes so long to break into this position
- All art directors in the film industry are freelance, meaning you work on a per-movie basis
- Big-budget movie gigs may employ you for months (or maybe even years, if you're talking a franchise like The Lord of the Rings); low-budget films may only employ you for a few weeks
- Belonging to a union matters
Here's the deal. Unions in Hollywood set the minimum wage scale on contracts and provide health and retirement plans. If you're not a union member, you're going to have a miserable time making it financially as an art director. You will be restricted to whatever random gigs you can pick up, like a short film being shot in L.A. that only needs an art director for four days at fifty dollars a day.
Now for the numbers. The median salary for art directors in the film industry falls at right around $100,000 (source). The highest-paid art directors in Hollywood earn somewhere around $160,000 a year (source). This sounds like a lot of money, but you have to remember, not only does $100,000 not get you very far in California, but you're probably going to be hitting your mid-life crisis before you ever land an art director gig.
In other words, you'll have burnt through a couple of decades working on sets for way less than $100,000 when you could've been earning $100,000 as a neurosurgeon or something right out of the gate.