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UPDATES WME Pay For Assistants Worse Than WMA
WME this week put in place that new pay schedule for WME assistants I told you was coming. The New York office's was announced first, followed by the Beverly Hills headquarters. "Can you believe they decided to break the news to us in a meeting disguised to discuss our new health insurance plans?" one BH source tells me. "And, of course, nothing in writing... Just a scale told to us nonchalantly." The new agency had to "recalculate" the pay for WMA assistants (about $13.50 an hour) to be more on par with Endeavor assistants (about $9.50 an hour). Manwhile, Endeavorites were earning more overtime tham WMAers.
So here's what begins August 1st:
Under 1 year - $11/hour
1 - 2 years - $12/hr
2 - 3 years $13/hr
Over 3 years - $14/hr
The pay increases $1/hr for every year over 3 that the assistant is employed.
Any raises from the end-of-year reviews have been taken off the table.
Official hours are from 9-7 PM and a 50-hour work week is expected.
There are faint rumblings of a walk-out, especially because the assistants tell me that they are taking on much more work. Needless to say, the famous UTA joblist is making the rounds especially among the majority of William Morris assistants who are taking a huge pay cut -- on average 20% to 35%! -- and sense that the ladder of opportunity for them no longer exists. The WMAers feel there is favoritism being shown the Endeavorites. They claim that whenever Ari Emanuel makes the rounds, he chats with many Endeavor assistants but does not take any time with the WMA assistants. It sounds petty, but this stuff does matter. On the other hand, not all th ese assistants are wet behind the ears. Many have law and business graduate degrees or years of working in other fields, and knew going in that the agency biz has a god-awful paying apprenticeship.Then again, there've been many California government crackdowns on what is tantamount to showbiz slave labor.
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These are still decent wages for entry-level jobs in this economy. A law or business school graduate taking jobs such as this are obviously hoping to make the big bucks down the line but, as with just about any other private sector job, there are no guarantees of advancement. Not being treated very nicely? Favoritism? Welcome to the business world and cry me a river.
kids gotta think long term. that extra dollar an hour doesn’t mean shit when you’re gunning for the big money…
Reminds me of when I was working for a well know female producer after moving to LA.
I was on the production side and we had two projects in production. She was collecting a $1M fee from both projects, but I was only allowed to get my $600/week salary from one of them. I was expected to be on call 24/7, get drugs from the grip truck, and lie to her fiance about her rendezvous with the AD.
Doesn’t seem like anything has changed in the last 10 years.
Good reporting Nikki – I am glad you are still telling the truth, no matter how many executives & agents call you to tell you to take it down.
They should be ashamed of themselves, with their car allowances and unlimited expense accounts. The assistants work very hard and can barely afford to get by. Most have help from their families.
That’s unbelievable, unfair, and unnecessary. How can they expect the assistants to live on that kind of money? And how can they justify the pay, considering the amount of work they do?
The assistants should walk out. They deserve better.
So is that $11 an hr for the 20 hrs actually worked per day? Doubt it.
in this biz walkout = lockout.
“That extra dollar an hour doesn’t mean shit when you’re gunning for the big money…” – Whatever
It’s laughable that you think agents make ‘big money.’ AFTER 4-6 years toiling as an assistant or coordinator, the starting pay for an agent at a big agency is $45k – $55k and they get to expense maybe $1k/mo.
The upper echelon agents are still only getting $400k – $800k/yr. (which might sound great, but it’s not considering how many years it took you to get to that place and how many hours/week you’re still working).
Only about 20 or so agents in the entire business make over $1.5M year (think Lovett, Limato, Lourd, etc.).
Don’t buy into the myth so much, amigo. They might dress in Prada, but they’re leveraged to the hilt in debt. My 25 year-old brother who went straight from UVA to Wall Street is clocking over $250k/yr already and regularly flies on the company G5. And he would tell you that compared to his friends (mostly the Wharton kids) he’s getting ripped off.
Hey, that’s more than Paradigm pays (400/week). And that’s actually a raise from what Endeavor used to pay (9.40/hour).
ATTN: WME2.0 squared or w/e you go by now
re: Nearly minimum wage salaries
- Do you REALLY want the assistants whose confidentiality and discretion you depend on to be disgruntled?
I’m just sayin…
Being Ed Limato asst comes with plenty of perks other than money…
Nikki,
Come on. These assistants are not coal miners. If they do not like the pay and hours let them go back to mommy and daddy.
This a Hollywood and this is an opportnity. The should quit whinning or just quit.
If not try Iraq for three years. Go Ari.
So what….so what? Are we really this naive? When daddy pays for your B.A. in History from Harvard and your J.D. from USC then are you really in a financial bind? No disrespect to the kids who pull themselves up by the bootstraps and can’t rely on trust funds, nepotism, and infinite connects, because I’m sure those people exist and will be crushed by the 3 dollar an hour pay cut, but even to them I say, “there was once a man who was sad because he had no shoes, until he met a man with no feet.” I would rather make 10 bucks an hour at WME than 40 bucks an hour at Schlumberger, and given the fact you have a MBA or J.D. from a top tier university, you totally agree with me. You can walk out on any given day and make 125K in your first year in a private sector at Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe…or go clerk for Clarence Thomas….or take the gig at Deloitte and Tush. In 10 years you’ll be the asshole who doesn’t deserve the 7 figure…maybe 8 figure salary you’re receiving.
When I was an asst I worked 60+ workweeks and what WAS overtime? I think it’s more sad that Ari + Co. are playing favorites w. the assts. Today’s WMA asst. could be tomorrow’s WME superagent. Cultivate across the line…
except that these kids will be making less than 400 a week after taxes and the city is much more expensive to live in than it was 10 years ago.
What about Patty Kim’s assistant? She works for 2 agents now so shouldn’t Ari bump her up to $19?
Face it, kiddies, you’re there to learn the biz and make connections. The low pay is a hardship, but most of you have families who can help you in a pinch. Learn all you can and try to work your way into a better job or start your own business. As my old man used to say, no one is gonna pay you what you’d pay yourself.
Sacrifice. Kids are lucky they are getting paid. They need to work and suck it up. It will pay off in the long run if they have what it takes.
Anyone who started in an agency on a desk knew the drill. It’s the business, not fair not, never was, never will be. Do the work, collect some dirt and you will get noticed… If you want to be liked get a pet. Hey scrnwrtr, bet it was the most fun you ever had, ’cause you can write about it now.
Amount of time worked and loyalty mean nothing to the power players in Hollywood. Hell, in some cases it’s not even about making them money but being in good with the right people, just like high school.
I have a friend who makes more money picking up dog shit at doggie day care.
similar work…
yeah! sure, these assistants are chasing their dreams, giving up the best years of their lives to grovel at the feet of egomaniacs they think might one day care about their future enough to recommend them for their next job, but why should they have to get paid a decent living wage? their reward is work itself!
now let me remove my tongue from my cheek -
this town has enough money that it can spread the wealth (wasn’t one of the main reasons for this merge in the first place funding??). it’s not communism, it’s common decency
The William Morris assistants should be happy that they
all have jobs. And they should be happy that they get to work in the business of their choice. There are so many people out of work who would love to have their jobs at $11, $12, $13 and $14 an hour. I have no sympathy for these assistants– if they don’t like the terms then vacate William Morris and I will send over my resume. I’m sure they get health insurance and vacation benefits too. Wow- I should be so lucky !
Jeff–
Good reporting? Gawker scooped this two days ago. Nikki has, of course, chosen to ignore that
Too bad, so sad.
Time to download that call list and move on.
That’s what Ovitz and crew did.
Hollywood is a town of self-made opportunities.
Good luck kids!
It’s not as if assistants have no recourse… they can always quit. But some other schmuck is always chomping at the bit to take their place. And as long as they can answer a phone and tie a tie, they’re qualified.
The big racket isn’t so much what these assistants are getting paid, it’s that the guppies are still foolish enough to believe that there’s a substantial prize on the other end of their apprenticeship.
There will always be a handful of people at the top of the agencies who make an enviable sum of money. And they’ll do whatever it takes to preserve their way of life. Witness the incredible rate of agency consolidation and attrition in the last 3 years alone. So it’s more people grasping at an ever-diminishing pie.
Just wait till the broadcast model finally dies and the congloms stop paying packaging fees (already happening in cable). Sure the agencies will still be around, but, absent new revenue streams, they’ll be forced to move to Encino.
Agents make 10 MM plus a year with bonuses, side deals, make no mistake about it, I have seen the checks
I would work for 10 years as a assistant for 24k a year to get a guaranteed job like that but now I am to old (50) to even try it
anyone who complains will get replaced, there are thousands of hopefuls that will gladly take those positions in a flash
These kids will all wear this time as a badge of honor later in their careers. Shut up and pick up the phone.
Hi everyone- we are doing this a little different now and that is we will get all office supplies we NEED but not necessarily everything we like or desire. A $21.00 stapler does exactly what a $6.00 one or $35.00 box of pen and etc. I would sincerely appreciate your cooperation.
If the job isn’t worth the pay/opportunity, people will quit. One imagines there are plenty of other folks willing to take their place.
Much ado about nothing.
If the pay/opportunity isn’t worth it, people will quit. (And there are presumably plenty of other people willing to take the job.) This is no different from any other job.
Much ado about nothing.
UNIONIZE!!!!!
All it takes is more than 50% of the assistants to sign a union card to trigger an election. There are a boat load of attorneys who would walk thru the process any assistant who cares to start the ball rolling.
Another tack is to make sure ALL overtime is paid and not sloughed off with a wick-and-a-nod. Bringing in the state labor commissioner with the threat of massive fines and publicity will shape up the agency lickety-split.
Finally, what a disgusting bunch of criminal scum inhabit the agency world, especially the big agencies! Sickening! What an abomination they must be in God’s eyes. . .
fuck’em, let them leave–there will 200 others in line waiting for their jobs and good luck finding a job in this climate. And even if they do find a job, they still are going to be assistants making 550/week. If they think they are going to find jobs as jr. execs or whatever, forget it, do they know how many qualified Execs have been laid off and are out looking for jobs willing to take a demotion if necessary? WME knows all of this and that’s why they are doing it–because they can.
And another thing, the END assistants just got a raise thanks to the merger, they should be psyched.
This is the business, always has been and always will be–it’s called paying your dues by working long hours, taking it up the ass and not getting paid. Put another way: it’s Social Darwinism–if you can’t hack it, then go back home, live with mommy and daddy and work at the local bank.
I will say it once, I will say it again…
1) If you are an assistant for more than 2-3 years without getting promoted, you gotta leave and do something else.
2) They keep the salaries low on purpose to weed out kids from Bodunk towns who were not brought up by parents with the means to support them. Agencies want kids pushing mailcarts who know that Barney’s isn’t just a bar in West Hollywood. They want kids who are polished from the start.
I’m sort of shocked by all of the people saying that the assistants should suck it up and that it’s better than being in Iraq. Is that the standard for a good job now? Anything that isn’t nearly getting killed in Iraq? The fact that many assistants get help from their parents doesn’t make it right for them to not be paid a living wage (and i think $400-500/week in los angeles barely qualifies). What about people who may have real talent for this business but don’t have that financial safety net? What do they do? And don’t tell me “if you work hard enough in this country, anything is possible.” The logic underlying that statement should be “things are fair enough in this country that if you work hard, you’ll be rewarded,” and not, as a lot of these commenters seem to think, “no matter how many ways management tries to screw you, if you fail to get ahead, it’s because you didn’t work hard enough.”
I don’t care what business there in, but we have labor laws in this country and state, and they need to be enforced. If they are really working 10-20 hours a day, then they should be payed over time, minimum, or someone should be sued/go to jail. Maybe Hollywood would be a better place if you didn’t either have to be independently wealthy or half-insane to get a decent job. Maybe we see better movies, too.
Also, maybe part of the problem with Hollywood is the culture of nastiness engendered by expecting people to mortgage their lives for a slim hope. No wonder schaudenfreude rules.
I realize there’s always more people banging on the door, but Hollywood doesn’t have to be THIS bad.
When you combine two companies and one set of assts is underpaid and the other is overpaid, guess what happens: they meet in the middle. It’s not personal, it’s just business. Plain, logical business.
Does anyone really think that Ari walks through the offices and gets chummy with lots of assts? You’ve got to be kidding, nobody is dumb enough to believe that, so excuse him if he talks to Patrick Whitesell’s assts or something. Give me a break.
Of course, all the negativity is coming from the WMA side, so I’m not particularly surprised it would be negative and nefarious methods were rumored. Nobody wants to take a pay cut, but reality happens, and some of these people are bitter and are trying to paint quite the apocalyptic picture. And considering the new company won’t allow just anyone to have multiple assts, and the formerly overpaid / underworked assts there will actually have to do the job of one person. How brutal. You’d think these people never worked at agencies.
The funniest part of it all, of course, is the potential ‘walk out.’ Hilarious. Even if you managed to get a group of assts planning on walking out, half of them wouldn’t even do it because there are people standing in line hoping for that opportunity to be so miserable.
Welcome to Hollywood.
Faint rumblings of a walk out? I’m sure its pretty faint, in fact inaudible. If they walk out, they’ll be fired and replaced tomorrow. And whining about favoritism in the entertainment industry? Gimme a break.
This is pathetic. I worked at WMA over 16 years ago and I was making more than that THEN!
Whether they have a trust fund or not, the assistants work their asses off…job as an assistant at a talent agency is a heck of a lot more than 50 hours a week…they work very very hard for that money, for very little reward.
This assistants are the ones who make those companies work! I’m sure David W. and Ari E.’s salary aren’t being cut.
Just disgusting.
I work in PR and pay my assistants at least $15 an hour and we make 1/10th of what these agencies bring in a year. Our retainers are lower, the payoff is lower, but the training is not much different. the fact that they are lowering the assistant salaries tells me that either a) they are not doing as well as they say there are or b) the major executives who they work for are padding their pockets with lots of extras. Paying your dues does not mean you need to be poor or going broke. Its an honor to be selected to work at any agency, but to be expected to live on macaroni and cheese while their bosses eat at Mortons or The Four Seasons is beyond me.
When I was working as an assistant fifteen years ago, I turned down a job at William Morris that offered a pay of $400 per week (I could make an extra $10 a week if I carpooled!) because I felt I was not going to be able to make ends meet. Back then they did not offer overtime pay. I was not a trust fund kid with rich parents to support me, and with a 60+ hour work week there was no possibility of working a second job. After 15 years, they are still offering the same pay rate. Apparently the rate of inflation has hit every other company except William Morris.
It’s a tough job, but those that are good at it are kind of like the really good actors…they wouldn’t want to be doing anything else.
And most people in this country make those kind of wages (actually, the majority make less, i think) so they will find ways to manage, i am sure
regardless, let’s hope this industry figures out how to profit off of what it produces again – then everyone (talent and agents) can make some money.
All,
What about the overtime????
I, as an Asst at another Agency, recently had my overtime cut completely. Ive worked at multiple agencies, have NEVER been able to bill overtime for covering scripts. And who pulled this 5hrs per script #. Im getting my few hundred per week, flat, at a higher-end agency, with Zero overtime. Even when we had OT recently, it was very minimally billable vs. the actual hours worked both in the office and at home….We’re talking billing 3 hrs a week vs. working an extra 20+
The very idea that there are “rumblings of a walkout” at WME is so flagrantly ridiculous I’m surprised you even mentioned it, Nikki.
Please.
SO MANY people want those WME assistant jobs. Those people would be replaced within about 17 minutes. Locked out forever. Way to go, angry assistant?
Being an assistant in this business sucks. We all know it. The pay sucks, your boss is often unreasonable, unpredictable, and cold-hearted. You eat a ton of shit, and you act as if you like it.
This is what happens! Anyone, and I mean ANYONE who has ever been successful in this business has paid their dues, for years and years, as an assistant. I have ZERO sympathy for kids in their early-mid 20s who get the opportunity to work at a place like WME, CAA, UTA, or wherever and then complain about it when it’s really , really hard.
Yeah, LA is expensive. Yeah, it’s barely a living wage. But that’s the way it is, it’s always been that way, and if you don’t have some way to supplement your income, you might as well give up.
Only a tiny percentage of assistants actually make their way up the ladder. Because not everyone is built for the game. Not everyone has the ingredients. That’s why the wash-out rate is so high.
So, go ahead and walk out, kids…. that would be a brilliant, brilliant move. Start working on that screenplay. Which won’t sell, by the way.
Great for Endeavor, crappy for WMA. I’m spotting a trend….
If you want to make money in this country, you bust your ass, you shouldn’t get paid for working hard, you should work hard because you know thats the only way you’ll get to the top in America, the best country eva.
i believe the starting rate is $10 for 0-1 years, $11 for 1-2 years; $12 for 2-3 years, $13 for 3-4 years, and $14 for 4-5.. capped at 5 anything after 5.. well who in their right mind would stay as an assistant at that rate… this is from the mouth of the horse(s) pat galloway and carole cuntz.
What is one expected to do when their parents aren’t able to support them????
Many of us are in that boat and have NO ONE to help us!!!!
Here’s an Idea:
Instead of crying about the fact that you are not being paid enough, use the product that is all around you.
Perhaps the Assistants should light the fire underneath them, pull a Geffen / Diller / Ovitz / Meyer / and find a spec-actor-director-writer all the other Agents have turned away, and sign them and sell the product. (”One Man’s Trash”…).
From Bitching to Balls….Use the resources at your fingertips, and go you’re own way.
Who is gonna stop you?
Yes, if every assistant walked out they would be replaced in an hour, but that doesn’t mean the newbies would be able to do the job properly. Even low end manufacturing facilities suffer from untrained personnel. Turn around is always bad, and if a HR department had to replace 75 assistants overnight I’m sure the business as a whole would suffer more in a week than what it would cost them to just raise their pay to a livable wage. Treating people like shit does weed out people lacking dedication, but it also weeds out a lot of intelligent people who find better places to use their skills. A thick skin should not be the most single most important quality of an assisant/executive.
They will do better financially working at In and Out.
I used to interview folks for possible entry into the training program at a large, respectable agency.
As the throngs of JD’s and MBA’s came through, I always told them the same thing.
“This isn’t like working at PWC. If you do a really great job, you won’t necessarily become a partner in the Chicago office in ten years.”
“Despite the work you do, and how clearly smart you are, it’s entirely possible that you will never make it out of the mailroom. And that was for $350/ wk ten years ago.”
Nothing’s changed. There is not a throng of ppl waiting out the door to work in chartered accountancy.
As an agent, I also used to love the prospects who found a way to get me on the phone (mostly cause I didn’t mind talking to young writers) who were indignant that I either 1) wouldn’t read their script, or 2) refused to sign them if I did.
Hollywood is not a democracy, and it’s not a God-given right. As bad as I feel for these kids (and I WAS one), it will never change and probably shouldn’t.
My “entry level” gig in this town was driving a delivery van for Cinemobile Systems (1972) The pay was $2.00 hour.Take home pay after taxes = $64 a week.
I am fascinated by all of this …..really! SO many of you actually believe you are entitled to simply walk into an agency and start making massive amounts of money that you didn’t earn or prove that you have the talent and business savvy to contribute to the company. I got news for you….even my stylist had to pay her dues. She interned for a year (that means no pay) then was an assistant for two years (that means minimum wage plus tips) and then was given the opportunity to apply for a position as a stylist to cut your fucking hair!! Grow up!! The world isn’t fair….get used to it!! …..or not! Just stop crying…we don’t care!
Can we refrain from calling them ‘kids’, it’s not like they are 6 years old. It’s so condescending. And it’s also presumptuous to assume that most of these assistants have a financial safety net. I agree with the comment that said this is strictly business, it is. But show some respect to these hard working people.
I don’t agree with it, have been at that pay level.
They’ll only give what you accept – push back. Call for a meeting of all assistants and form a union
To HELL with you people putting forth the “if you don’t like it go to mommy and daddy” crap. Generalizing miserable nonsense. Don’t talk shit to people who are in fact making the sacrifice and paying their dues.
I’m one of these people, and I got up to this level from nothing with no rich parents. This is the bottom line – this is not what we signed on for. We work so god damn hard, which is fine, but don’t tell me “just deal with it”, it’s never fair to slash someoene’s salary but a third, then ask them to do the same amount of work or more in less time. Pardon me while we belly ache about it. It’s fucking bullshit.
And it’s totally unnecessary, that’s the worst part. All the salary that just came off the books, all the new and profitable clients we now share. It’s just a middle finger to us, and it’s just so sad, to not see as an investment in the future of the company. To treat us like a cost and a liability. Such a shame.
And there’s no “walkout.” A bunch of us are just fucking leaving. Why the hell not? Don’t condescend for the sake of doing it, not all of us are straight off the bus spoiled rotten ivy league brats. Try to imagine taking this shit from your own boss. It’s just a shitty situation. But whatever, this new company, whatever it is, will surely survive. And we’re some of the hardest working people in town, so be sure that we will too.
Screw em before they screw you.
Get the numbers, make the contacts and hustle your ass and move around the town. Staying in one place is a myth that the agencies have fostered on their slaves and the slave are still drinking the cool aid.
Life’s in your hands not theirs. Use them as they are using you. There is nothing wrong with that…that’s Hollyweird.
Good luck.
“suck it up, shut up, leave if you like, quit, go back to mommy and daddy” go FUCK yourselves you shitheads, we knew about paying dues when we got here, no fucking shit those that stay will suck it up. You think you can tell any of us about paying dues? We’re not completely fucking retarded. YOU take a 35% pay cut for no reason at your current job. Then listen to a bunch of random, miserable, uninformed, bitter, anonymous shitheads on the internet tell you to just suck it up and deal with it. Suck this up right here, faggots.
If they are not abiding by federal labor laws, then the assistants won’t need to quit, walk out, or even unionize. All one of them needs to do is inform the labor commission.
“RACISM IS STILL ALIVE, THEY JUST BE CONCEALING IT”
Your naivete is deep if you disagree with that.
I had the pleasure of conversing with a William Morris legend…I’m talking living legend, who started in the mailroom in the 50s and he told me directly about the racism and prejudice that takes place. Its very disturbing.
Why did agencies begin requiring undergraduate degrees? Because minorities started to apply and given the legal ramifications of blantantly saying “NO NIGGERS ALLOWED” they kindly asked for a degree. The only thing agencies have unanimously voted for was keeping minorities out of the biz.
Well, its 2009, Hispanics and African-Americans are becoming more educated, so now what can they do? Make the wages extremely low, make nepotism requirements very high, and hire 2 minorities from each ethnic group per year? Two years?
Its cool, we’ve overcome worse. I went on an interview at 2 agencies, both being top 4 agencies, and it was comical to me how I was asked “how are you supporting yourself? How will you support yourself? Where do you live? Blah blah blah” I graduated in May 08 and worked as a Chemist for an oil company for a year, saved half of my salary, and moved to LA for the sole purpose of procuring a position at the “venerable” William Morris, or Endeavor, or places like APA, Pardigm, or Abrams Artists…but the force is strong in these people.
Honest question: I’m not a black militant or anything, but when do my fellow DHD readers think Hollywood will allow minorities to work in their field? When will the Operations Manager allow us to walk those “hollow halls”?
A minority managing partner at CAA, WME, ICM, etc..
I wish Entourage would cover this, because their current storyline with Lloyd simply isn’t cutting close enough to the bone.
Sack the fuck up and deal with it. I’ll never understand the amount of bitching that comes from spoiled rich American (I’m American too so don’t go there) kids. Let’s see… $11 an hour to answer phones and read scripts in a nice air conditioned office. Pity, pity you.
btw, if it takes you 5 hours to read and cover a script you suck at your job.
shut up and deal with it
Walk out?!? I hope there’s a walk out! That would make for some GREAT reading on this blog over the next few weeks.
For assts at WME…as someone who went through the process. Be the guy who doesn’t walk out and you will be in line to get promoted ASAP. All you do by walking out is lengthen your time as an assistant. You can bet on that.
With all that said. I pray to god it happens. I mean, it’ll be good fun to read about.
Not all of us are fortunate enough to have parents who are paying our rent. Some of us are doing this on our own because we want to be in the biz, and maybe we’re just starting out and don’t deserve a ton of money, but we should at least be able to have enough cash in our bank accounts to pay for cheap takeout after working 10 hours.
Guess what? We don’t. And it sucks.
These assistants and even most of the agents are complete maggots anyways. They’re all being played and used by Emanuel & co. The assistants think they’ve made it so they tolerate the shit compensation and abusive work environment. However, more interesting is that the junior agents and newly promoted agents get paid practically the same as the assistants! All those years of slaving away and being a little b*tch only to get that “big” promotion but see no increase in income. What a sad group of people.
My time is well spent at this job. I would take a pay cut if I had to.
You pishers, a couple of points, if I may, I’m running out the door to meet Ms. Lastfogel at the Algonquin Room.
1) I’d say 70% of the kids working in the agencies are there because they want to be. Need I remind you all that these assistants CHOSE to work at an agency, it was all laid out for them when they met with HR. On what planet do assistants REALLY ever make more than dogshit? Yes, this is a hardship. Yes, it is not great pay. But last time I checked, the whole reason for working at an agency was so you could tell people you worked at an agency, do your year, grab a little ass on the weekends, and unless you want to be Ovitz/O’ Connor/Emanuel, you move onwards and upwards. It’s a means to an end. Not a way of life. You guys/gals were impressed by the marble of CAA, the multi-colored Endeavor floors, the finely-tailored suits at WMA, and the Idonnowhat of ICM. You bought into it because you thought it would put you on the fast track to either a) buying a Porsche, b) becoming somebody important, or c) getting power (ie chicks) or d) running a studio. Nobody is born an agent, they are made. Anyone that tells you otherwise is F.O.S. — hmm, a quality of most agents. You think Brillstein and Venit and Ari were full of piss and vinegar working the mailroom? I sure as shit wouldn’t bet my paycheck on it. Everyone starts SOMEWHERE.
2) I’m not sure why a few of you don’t band together, buy a few card tables, and lease Jaguars with vanity plates XXXASST. Get your moms to answer the phones. Take a risk. Be bold. Actions speak much louder than words. History has a way of repeating itself. At the very least, do what makes you happy when the workday is over.
3) Hannukah is just around the corner. The kids will be alright. Your parents will hook it up. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. You want to succeed and have money, they way your parentals did/do. I highly doubt any of you farm-kids grew up reading KING KAHN, THE MAILROOM, and KEYS TO THE KINGDOM.
4) Now, for the few of you cornhuskers from Middle-America who moved here with stars in your eyes: Hollywood hasn’t been Hollywood since the late eighties/early nineties. You have to work hard and pay your dues. (And so it goes in EVERY industry). That’s why you’re supposed to intern/PA during your college summers: so that you DON’T have to work in the mailroom after graduation. You’re supposed to make a few connects to at least get you situated until you find out what it is that you really want to do. Yes, it’s true, there are 3000 who want your job. So suck it up and get the phone, or put your job on the UTA list and write the next Oscar screenplay, kids.
It does suck, but what part of working at an agency doesn’t? You realize the big guys with big checks are only earners because of the TALENTED people they represent, right? You understand that it’s the creatives who make $$ for the agents, right?
Agency kids: You’re not living a dream. You’re living a lie.
Last time I checked, 100% of $12/hr is more than 100% of nothing.
Where is it written that you have to stay in your job if you get a pay cut? Free market baby!!!!
Um, yes “Tad,” you’re right – many people in this country DO earn $14 bucks an hour but they aren’t doing it in NY or LA. Nor do they typically have equivalent education.
The payscale here is reprehensible and shameful. And to suggest that the barometer should be that it’s better than being offed in Iraq or working at WalMart, is absurd.
Yes these agencies do need “kids who are polished from the start,” but what this amounts to is legions of parents — people likely in their 40s 50s and 60s (who may or may not be THAT well off, and who should be saving for their own retirements) – subsidizing an entire fucking show biz sphere — an industry by the way that isn’t just excessive in its largesse, but often disgusting.
Wouldn’t that be great if every entrepreneur could rely on parent-benefactors and virtually free, well educated labor to fund their endeavors for decades?
Yes there are hundreds of hopefuls lapping at the door for every asst who leaves – but wtf ?! Why should that exempt these chazzuhs from following labor laws and behaving humanely?
And as far as paying your dues in return for a massive pay off down the line – forget it. Even in good times, that was a very rare feat; today with so many truly qualified executives of all kinds looking for work, it’s even less likely.
Amortizree these kids’ true work hours (70-100-hr weeks) and the rate is positively criminal.
All this btw is not so different than what has been going on in media for years, particularly at sexy mags/publications; important newspapers in big cities, local TV stations, and even lately at The Huffington Post. Of course now that much of the media is imploding, the whole “we’re so great we want you to work here for free” concept isn’t flying. It can’t happen soon enough to these disgraceul agencies.
This is why Hollywood movies suck/feel the same. Repeatedly.
Let me explain:
If you’re an asst in LA, and you want to get ahead you must dress nicely, own a car, schmooze//hit the town, etc — problem is you cant do it on 25-30 grand a year. You need help. Help from Mommy and Daddy. And the mommys and daddys who are willing to and can afford to do this are primarily Upper Middle Class Jews. Which means most of the assts in LA come from the same socio/economic/cultural background. And these assts go on to become future agents, producers, execs etc. And then end up making the same movie over and over because they all think and talk and act the same. There’s no diversity in the talent pool. Hence our movies all suck.
By the way, I speak with first-hand knowledge. I’m an Upper Middle Class Jew.
I worked for Ari for a long time…he is a good guy, this is just a tough economy and is these guys want to make it as an agent, its about sacrifice. If you are just an assistant with no ambition, than shame on you for being so dumb to stick around for low wages.
How broken is a system where you mortgage the first half of your adult life on an education that entitles you to a subsistant wage. Granted those pay rates would get you by ok in the sticks but in LA that just stinks. Laborers out of high school can do better than that and get to skip the Ivy League loan circus to boot.
As a writer it’s very disturbing to hear that overworked and underpaid assistants are the ones reading scripts at the big agencies. Just because a kid went to college doesn’t necessarily mean he can tell a good script from a bad one. And they have every incentive to say a script is bad because if they say it’s good and their boss reads it and thinks it’s crap, there’s a good chance they will be fired. Very disturbing indeed.
Everyone here blathering on about “paying dues” and reaping future rewards is clearly living in the 90’s. Well guess what, in the last five years life changed. Assistants do not get promoted at anywhere near the rate they used to, so sucking up slave wages is no longer the savvy long-view strategy it once was. And if kids-of and trust fund brats are your idea of investing in the brightest minds of the future then I seriously question your instincts. People who don’t need to work as hard, don’t work as hard and those who’ve lived in a comfy bubble are not what I would call the ideal arbiters of mass culture.
Garbage in, garbage out — this is a self-selecting process. You got a bunch of rich kids who haze the newbies by paying them crap because they are frightened they will be found out as incompetents. Then the newbies grow up and haze the next generation. It’s the reason movies in this town suck. You don’t need to have talent you just need to have the financial wherewithal and social skills to survive until the next cull.
Not bad really. You can live off of this. Move to the valley, get a crappy car, a couple of roommates and pay your dues. If you are sharp and Hollywood savvy then this will only be temporary. If you are one of the other 95% of assistants in this town… (and your total BS) then this pay is terrible.
Go ahead and have a walkout assistants. There is a line of people that stretches around the block that are willing to take your jobs. Especially in this economy.
I would hope most people work in entertainment for reasons other than money. Because it’s more interesting than most other fields for instance. For every assistant that walks out, there’s another one to take your place.
Look, let’s call a spade a spade here y’all. This company has so many “agents” who are paid assistant wages too. I think y’all overlooked the Depersia debacle which was telling. The guy gets fired and then begs to be hired. They hire him back. Now c’mon y’all, how much ya think the boy bein’ paid. Not much more than a secretary but fella lucky to have a job. So, assistants or secretaries or whatever you call yourselves ie; gofers, copyboys, script gals it’s all the same. Smoke and mirrors. If you knew what these kids were mak’en you’d a be stay’in in another line o’ bizness.
Hollywood needs its own truth and reconcilliation committee after the depression is over.
We pay our assistants with Arclight member points!
This is reprehensible. I went to work for a top WMA talent agent in 1994 at $500/wk. PLUS overtime, at the age of 26. It’s hard to believe that 15 years later I’d still be one of the highest paid assistants in the building without ever getting a raise! Shame on WME.
I have a law degree from a very good law school, and I’d kill for that job.
I hope that many of them quit…I need a job.
@ Comment by Anonymous — July 29, 2009 @ 6:06 pm
WOW. I’m Hispanic and I knew who ran the show, but I didn’t KNOW, wow.
@ Comment by if i may — July 29, 2009 @ 4:51 pm
I agree, I think if you’re an assistant that long you’re sort of meant to be one, some people are really good at that, and not so confident making their own decisions or taking a chance on talent. They’re good at being told what to do.
@ Comment by Abe LastFogey — July 29, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
They ‘chose’ to work at an agency, however they didn’t choose a pay cut when they got hired, so no, they didn’t sign up for this.
And Ari wonders why the place leaks like a sieve.
The complaining here about these non-livable wages seems less about whining than it is just sorta shock I think to see that the pay for this gig is as low or lower than 20 years ago, while the cost of everything else in LA and elsewhere has skyrocketed.
When adjusted, I’d guess it would be like trying to live on less than half the pay of 20 years ago. No matter how magical the opportunity, there is clearly something fundamentally and socially wrong with this system.
It’s not just that it demands these workers bust it upwards of 60/70 hours while barely affording shelter and decent food. But that so many potentially interesting people (and ideas) are locked out because they lack subsidies. When the barrier to entry is so high, the businees only damages itself, proof of which we have seen for generations.
My suggestion to anyone starting out now who really wants this: Secure some financial help if possible and approach it as a 5th or 6th year of college, or grad school; the equivalent of an unpaid internship that just happens to come with a small stipend.
Use every moment of your two years to meet every possible person, build your Face-Space-odex and drop your business card everywhere. Then start your life.
Not paying overtime for any time actually worked is illegal, period.
Paying your dues, sucking it up, all that bullshit doesn’t change the fact that not paying an hourly employee for hours worked IS ILLEGAL.
Just because this is the entertainment industry doesn’t make it any less of a crime.
If there is actually some memo that states the expectations Nikki highlighted above (which I highly doubt), it should be forwarded to the labor commission asap, because WME is breaking all kinds of laws.
You get paid for every hour you work, period. Anything less is criminal and will be stopped.
Pretty sure CAA went through a labor commission thing back in the old days, where they got in trouble for not paying overtime for the first 5 hrs. over 40 every week. WME is asking for 10 OT-free hours. Betting that if complaints were lodged, the assistants would eventually get back-compensation for the unpaid overtime. But the economy sucks right now and even execs around town are seeing pay cuts. It’s an employer’s market right now; CA unemployment is at 12% and rising.
The lack of human empathy and downright callousness among the preceding comments (i.e., “suck it up,” “there’ll be hundreds in line waiting for your job,” “quit whining or just quit,” etc.) lead me to believe that there are alot of people on this board who are either unemployed, underpaid, or in a profession that they hate showing up to work for, but are stuck in because they’re unqualified to do anything else.
Or maybe they were just abused as children.
Seriously, people. Hundreds of college-educated, professional, dedicated and hard-working people just got their pay slashed by 20-35% for no reason other than the company they signed up to work for just merged (well, got bought out) with another company. Many of these people have put in years of hard work for low pay in the hope of a brighter future. What part of the equation is so hard to empathize with??
It’s one thing to say “you knew what you were getting into” or “you’ve got to pay your dues,” but this is like changing the rules of the game in the 4th quarter!
You work hard for a long time. You get a raise. You work even harder for even longer. You get another raise. You work even harder for even longer and then your pay gets cut by 20-35%?! Wtf?!
And ps, to everyone who keeps saying “get help from mommy and daddy,” has it ever occurred to you that a) the vast majority of assistants don’t come from wealth nowadays; and b) many of the ‘mommy’s’ and ‘daddy’s’ have been affected by the recession of the past three years and can’t help out even if they wanted to.
Jesus.
Hey Scrnwrtr
Nice to see the pay stayed the same over the past decade too.
I hate these ex-assists that tell us to suck it up, relay their stories, only to reveal that in constant dollars we’re getting paid less and to be frank – doing far worse sh*t work than i’ve read in comments.
Especially when we ARE sucking it up each and every day – at least until we’re big enough to post like a douche about how tough it was way back when.
Oh No! It’s happening again and only to us undesirable WMAers!Oh No!!! FIND A HAPPY PLACE! FIND A HAPPY PLACE!! UGH!UGH! &#$@!
That’s hilarious and depressing at once. I heard they outsourced the WMA payroll dept this week. More blood on Friday. When does it end? Not until the tumbleweeds can be seen blowing down One William Place, rolling over the carcases of the last WMAer. Vampires!
I think all you dickheads who are telling these assistants to suck it up would be singing a different tune if your salary were cut 30%. Most of you are probably bad writers and actors who hold assistants responsible for your failure in a business you can’t get into.
There are plenty of people who feel for the assistants. While they went in accepting low wages and didn’t complain, they weren’t counting on making less money as time went by.
Other provision could have been sought to keep the WMA assistants where they were at and elevate the Endeavor salaries, but from an outsider looking in, it sure appears that Ari E. doesn’t give a f–k about WMA employees. He stabbed Wiatt in the back now he’s rounding up all the WMA employees for the slaughter.
I hear after the salary reduction goes into effect, Ari’s going to tattoo XXXX on the arms of all WMA employees.
First time in a long time I feel glad to have my $45/hr union crew job. I’m not getting promoted anytime soon, but at least I can pay off my student loans.
I am an assistant. And yes, we make shit money. And some of us are fortunate to get help from our folks and others are not. The bottom line is, our bosses had to eat shit to and pay their dues. It sucks working 60-70 hour weeks and still needing your parents to help pay your rent. But its the people who give up and have the “i dont need to put up with this shit” kind of atitude that wont make it. Make your connections, be smart, shut up, listen and learn and dont take no for an answer. And lets be honest, how many assistants at agencies really wanna be agents? I know I dont.
U sign up and get then pumped 30% of your paycheck. Not funny. Your just meat. Short term.
Who want an assistant who wants to be an assistant? In this business? Nobody. So start a death march. The best will come through? Maybe not the best but the fittest for the job. And anyway the next wave of the young and hungry will work better and ask and demand less than the older ones. And it is so cool and we work so hard and we will get all rich later.
So the business model goes like this, your paid with a future. A future for maybe 5% of you and your fellows assistants. Maybe the pay cut open your eyes a little bit earlier and you don’t fancy being in the ENTERTAINMENT industry too much. You re just bad paid clerks. Cheap whores for Hollywood. But in nice office spaces.
Folks, if you’re thinking about moving to LA to work in the movie business, please peruse the comments above.
Do you think this industry will be still here in 10 years?
Sadly, I deal with these entitled morons daily. Enough with the complaining, they’re overpaid. Their bosses can manage to return calls. But ask an assistant to do something — let alone in a timely manner — and you might as well piss out the window. My commissions alone pay for a dozen of these fools. And eleven of them are generally worthless.
Sorry, but true.