If your main source of information is “Variety”, you might think that everyone working in Film in Hollywood is rich. But fact are that the average weekly earnings of film industry workers in 2006 was $593, only $25 more than the median weekly earnings of all other industries combined. So what are the top 5 Highest Paying Jobs?

#5 Actors

Actors are probably the thing that you’ll notice the most about a movie. They are what can make or break a film. There is a lot of work into the acting process, but also a lot of hard work to get to be an actor. Being an actor means that you had to take lots of training, probably worked as a server to get a good schedule for the audition process, and got rejected more than you can count.

Even through you see those big A list stars making lots of money, most actors will be struggling through their career. The average member of the Screen Actor’s Guild makes only $5,000 a year. You also have to remember that this person spent years auditioning and getting ready for the job.

If you look at the average hourly wage of a film actor, which is $10.69, you can understand why it takes lots of passion to be an actor. Only about 50 of the nearly 100,000 SAG members would qualify as stars, with earnings in the millions of dollars. The reality is that the minimum wage for a SAG actor with a speaking part is $759 a day.

source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

#4 Editors

A good editor will always get good money. It’s not because it’s a glamorous job, is simply because you can save a lot of money and time for the company that hires you, if you’re good.

Editors have to filter through all the footage shot by the director and then, with him, try to construct a movie of a certain length. Quite often, the editor has to be the one to “Save” the film by constructing a structure from incomplete material. A skilled editor will select the scenes and individual shots that best tell the story according to the director’s specific vision.

Editors will spend days and nights in front of their editing computers, adjusting the length of a shot, trimming the audio etc . Larger film projects employ many different editors, each with a specific task.

The average annual salary for a film editor is $68,980. Editors do have the advantage of getting a stable work period, but like all other jobs in the industry can spend lots of time hoping for a job before getting one.

#3 Screenwriters

Most of the time, if you’Re a good screenwriter you’ll get work. People are looking to make quality movies and it all starts by a good script. Most screenwriter, to get a job, start by creating an outline of an idea they have. Some people will try to sell the outline, but you’ll get better result by writing the script first and then shop it around to agents or producers who might hire you or buy the script for later development.

If you manage to create something that interest someone, they’ll probably buy it. As time goes by and you get more experience and become more known, your agent will be the one to get appointments with producers to pitch an idea for a script. The producer can then decide whether to just buy the idea or to hire the screenwriter to write a full script or a shorter treatment.

Screenwriters can be hired at any time, to create, finesse or even rewrite a whole screenplay. They might also have to do adaptations of existing work, like a novel or a play.

Many start as by low level writing jobs. Many have to be playwrights, journalists, novelists or do other professional writers job, to later manage to get into writing for film and television. But for some, having some good connections will make their life much more easier.

In 2006, the average salary of a film screenwriter at $95,250, higher than both directors and producers. There are less than 2,000 working screenwriters compared to nearly 22,000 producers and directors.

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