Most prop makers do not work full-time every year, and even so-called “full-time” jobs at regional theatres are actually seasonal contracts ranging from 28-42 weeks per year. However, these annual wages are calculated by multiplying the hourly wage by a typical “full-time” schedule, and do not reflect what someone actually earns in a year. I’ve found that it is the smaller and lower-paying gigs that will often pay you with a 1099 (not always true, but true more often than not), so these numbers are probably higher than what most prop makers earn.Īs another caveat, if you look at the data yourself, you will find “annual mean wages” listed that make it seem like these workers are raking it in. Many prop makers earn some or even all of their income in this way, so it really skews the data. According to the IRS, if you get paid with a 1099, even if it is in a situation where you are “employed” by a company, they consider you self-employed. The major one is that this data does not include self-employed workers. I’ve pulled some numbers from their most recent report, which was May 2012 1.įirst, a couple of caveats.
Now, they do not list “prop maker” as an occupation, so we have to look at a few related and similar fields to hone in on what a US prop maker might be making. The United States Bureau of Labor keeps statistics on National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates. This is what we are looking at in today’s post. Another organization which collects a lot of data on employment and wages is the US government. She collected survey data from many of the regional and educational theatres around the United States. One of the best resources to learn about typical wages and contracts is from Sandra Strawn’s Properties Directors’ Handbook. These numbers are hard to come by because of the range of ways a prop maker can earn money, the vast variety of industries a prop maker can work in, and the wide spectrum in expertise of prop makers (a beginner prop maker who constructs apple crates is probably making a far different wage than a veteran who machines intricate aluminum mechanisms).
Even experienced prop makers want to know, just to compare their earnings to what is typical in the industry. Beginner prop makers often want to know how much money a prop maker earns.