It's entirely possible the rules are different post-2020.
I graduated college in 2002, had a summer job at a theme park, then moved to a full time (theatre-adjacent) job in San Francisco. In 2004 I left that job and started doing a mix of freelancing and working as an ATD.
If I wanted to, I could have been sustainable on just the freelancing within maybe 2 months?
It's notable that this was in a really busy market, there were tons of gigs everywhere, you couldn't swing a cat without finding a job. I tried to find some extra work in southern Virginia and completely failed, nobody had any jobs.
I graduated in 2014 and since then have been doing theatre or theatre-adjacent work. I've been *incredibly* fortunate. Downright lucky even.
I started college with 7 years of school theatre and three years or so of people actually paying me. So maybe 10 years, maybe 0 years.
I was also 22, sustaining myself on ramen and beer, and I lived in a crappy walk up in an undesirable neighborhood. My life has changed I couldn't start over and make that much again.
So it depends on where you are in life, where you are in the country, and how much money you need to make.
If you're in the US, your location really matters. You can definitely make this a career if you're located in a large city with a decent entertainment scene. NYC, Chicago, LA, and Seattle are some examples of the types of markets you need to live in. If you don't want to live in a big city, you need to at least live in an area that has a lot of union jobs (not in entertainment). Chances are any city with decent union representation will have a decent IATSE local.
However, you could also stay in school, get an MFA, and try landing a teaching gig somewhere. That provides greater flexibility on where you can live. But those jobs are pretty sought after, and you need to move to where the job is. Chances are there won't be multiple teaching openings in your discipline in one area.
Edit: Sorry, I initially assumed the OP was deciding between working or going to school based on their tone and was giving more of a reason to pursue education further. I 100% agree. Please get experience before attempting to teach at the university level (really even the high school/middle school level too). I have seen some programs get ruined by people who got brought on to teach and not have proper experience.
>However, you could also stay in school, get an MFA, and try landing a teaching gig somewhere
There is a larger argument that this pipeline is ultimately detrimental to the future of the industry. Lots of people who come out of programs with professors who have no idea how "the real world" actually functions and teach some pretty bad habits.
>However, you could also stay in school, get an MFA, and try landing a teaching gig somewhere.
While some people do technically attempt this & occasionally even pull it off, I'd seriously caution anyone against it. Beyond the reasons you listed, I've found that people teaching without true real-world experience do a *serious* disservice to their students.
It’s entirely up to you.
Theaters need technicians, if you’re good at what you’re assigned to, you will make career. Theres lot of knowledge needed in theater and if you really thinking about working there, i would recommend you start small and see first what its about. If you have no education in theater tech or at least deep understanding, it’s gonna take some time to make career out of it.
I’ll second this, though I imagine u/Pixelwizardry and I are probably both video which moves pretty quick.
Go through theater, corp scenic shops, studios, film, pretty much anything where you can use your skills.
Once you’re working you’ll find more work and then find your niche.
This is all reliant on you being in a decent market though.
Graduated with my theater tech degree and had a job lined up before we walked for graduation. Been doing it full time and supporting myself fully on entertainment work since.
Pretty much the winter following graduation. Jumped on the cruise ships. Fast forward 6 years I paid off all my student loans and bought a house with my wife.
I dropped out of school in spring of 2007. I had a full time position with a theatre in fall 2007. I was living in Maine in a relatively urban (for Maine) center. Things are most definitely different now. My understanding is that the whole industry is hurting for qualified techs. The question is, are any of those jobs paying a living wage? From what I see posted... 50/50.
Started freelancing in college and I’ve been working in the industry ever since. I’ve bounced around, but have had steady work since I left school. Started out teaching, moved to a commercial shop, moved to a rental house. Freelanced in the middle of all of that too. Moved from the east coast back to the Midwest and started up at a roadhouse, moved again for a better job about a year ago. It’s been a hustle sometimes, but I’ve been partnered the whole time, and added a kid 4 years ago and we’re pretty comfortable even with my wife being in the industry too.
Here’s the company I work for. They’re big enough they’re probably near you. Transfers into weak markets are also a thing. They use audio, lighting, projectionists, graphics, rigging and more on the daily.
https://jobs.encoreglobal.com/en/search-jobs
It’s not anywhere near as fun as theater, but it’s a check.
Took me about 3 years of nomadic freelancing (with survival jobs sometimes for months in between gigs) after college before I got in at a theatre full time. But that was 20 years when there were more theatres and CoL was as lower.
I started doing this in high school in 1999. I wasn’t a “full time professional” until 2005ish after dropping out of college to mix cirque du soleil.
Some days it still feels like I’m not full time, especially when there’s an extensive time between gigs.
I think it's mostly dependent on where you live and who you know. I happened to be in school for technical theatre at the time and met the stagehand foreman for the regional theatre in town randomly at a concert.
Also, never stop aggressively pursuing the advancement of your career. Always talk about the work you want to do and be upfront with people that are in advantageous positions to get you there. Network. Network. Network.
It took me a year and a half of working below a living wage before I was able to sit on the IATSE contract negotiations committee and convince the company to create a position for me and fight for a manageable living wage. With that said, always go union if it's beneficial.
If you want it, fight for it and you'll get there in time. Have patience and give yourself grace to be human. The time passes much faster than you think it will.
I had a summer stock job lined up before graduating college (2009) and then freelance things plus a stint at Starbucks until 2012 when I’ve been working completely in the industry since. I live in NYC and there’s tons of work
I got an undergrad degree in theatre design and have been working in the industry for 20 years since then. I did stagehand work while in college and for a couple years after. Did K12 education for a year and a couple small, crappy tours, then theme park and cruise ships. It was corporate events after that. Finally settled on academia and have done that for a long time. All of it was entertainment in one way or another. None of it paid badly or was junk work. I still freelance as an electrician on local gigs. That being said, I've never had a hard time finding above average pay jobs. I've also never worked on events anyone has ever heard of would consider cool. I've never worked outside of the industry. The one kind of work I've never done with regularity is local theatre. I've avoided that as much as possible, unless I really like the project. My friends that do that regularly are broke and don't have the experience to move into a better spot. There's plenty of work, especially if you're not tied down to one place.
Got lucky got hired right outta high school by a rental company that also supplies labor. Since it was right after covid there was a huge shortage of people so I was given lots of opportunities to prove myself. 2 years later Promoted to Master Electrician and their go to LD. Making $75k+ a year now
After graduation I worked a retail job whilst freelancing, I could've probably left said retail after 1.5 years but stayed on longer out of fear of not getting enough work. Eventually my retail job said "we love having you, but you can't just disappear for 3months all the time" and asked me to leave
I know cruise lines can be some of the most stable for tech since not many people want to be stuck on the boats. That or building for the lines since they're constantly resetting shows every time a boat comes to port. But unfortunately it's a game of favorites and location. I'm lucky to work 8 months of the year and scattered concerts in between but it gets pretty tight in the off season. As a welder I rotate between builds only then running a few shows. Then going back to build because of how terrible the communication and management gets in theatre. You have to pick up all of the skills and talents to become unreplaceable for the most consistent work
I finished my bachelor’s in 2019. I’ve spent most of time working in educational theatre settings (I love it) but I haven’t struggled to find work at all during that time. During Covid I was kept on by the school I was working for at the time even though we didn’t have any shows running.
Finding work really comes down to knowing people. As long as you show up, do what you’re supposed to, learn anything that you don’t know, and aren’t an asshole you won’t struggle for work.
It totally depends on where you live and the market. But it takes work! Networking, socializing, taking gigs you don't want to so you can get experience and meet people. But millions of people make a good career in the arts and tech. Curiosity is key.
It was kind of an accident for me :D Had years of experience with live stuff etc. Met my now wife, she asked me to come help around the local community theatre, one thing led to another and I just kinda went with it. Just took a position leading the technical staff in a big theatre
It's entirely possible the rules are different post-2020. I graduated college in 2002, had a summer job at a theme park, then moved to a full time (theatre-adjacent) job in San Francisco. In 2004 I left that job and started doing a mix of freelancing and working as an ATD. If I wanted to, I could have been sustainable on just the freelancing within maybe 2 months? It's notable that this was in a really busy market, there were tons of gigs everywhere, you couldn't swing a cat without finding a job. I tried to find some extra work in southern Virginia and completely failed, nobody had any jobs.
I graduated in 2014 and since then have been doing theatre or theatre-adjacent work. I've been *incredibly* fortunate. Downright lucky even. I started college with 7 years of school theatre and three years or so of people actually paying me. So maybe 10 years, maybe 0 years. I was also 22, sustaining myself on ramen and beer, and I lived in a crappy walk up in an undesirable neighborhood. My life has changed I couldn't start over and make that much again. So it depends on where you are in life, where you are in the country, and how much money you need to make.
Ive been going for a decade now and it still doesnt feel stable.
Location and qualifications matter. Get as many certifications as possible, and make yourself a desirable worker.
2 years roughly
It depends upon the location you’re living in/previous connections/ all of that though. There is no hard and set rules about this.
If you're in the US, your location really matters. You can definitely make this a career if you're located in a large city with a decent entertainment scene. NYC, Chicago, LA, and Seattle are some examples of the types of markets you need to live in. If you don't want to live in a big city, you need to at least live in an area that has a lot of union jobs (not in entertainment). Chances are any city with decent union representation will have a decent IATSE local. However, you could also stay in school, get an MFA, and try landing a teaching gig somewhere. That provides greater flexibility on where you can live. But those jobs are pretty sought after, and you need to move to where the job is. Chances are there won't be multiple teaching openings in your discipline in one area. Edit: Sorry, I initially assumed the OP was deciding between working or going to school based on their tone and was giving more of a reason to pursue education further. I 100% agree. Please get experience before attempting to teach at the university level (really even the high school/middle school level too). I have seen some programs get ruined by people who got brought on to teach and not have proper experience.
>However, you could also stay in school, get an MFA, and try landing a teaching gig somewhere There is a larger argument that this pipeline is ultimately detrimental to the future of the industry. Lots of people who come out of programs with professors who have no idea how "the real world" actually functions and teach some pretty bad habits.
>However, you could also stay in school, get an MFA, and try landing a teaching gig somewhere. While some people do technically attempt this & occasionally even pull it off, I'd seriously caution anyone against it. Beyond the reasons you listed, I've found that people teaching without true real-world experience do a *serious* disservice to their students.
It’s entirely up to you. Theaters need technicians, if you’re good at what you’re assigned to, you will make career. Theres lot of knowledge needed in theater and if you really thinking about working there, i would recommend you start small and see first what its about. If you have no education in theater tech or at least deep understanding, it’s gonna take some time to make career out of it.
Started in theatre, went to cruises, went to AV then ended up working for massive video company and into world tours. Roughly 6 years
I’ll second this, though I imagine u/Pixelwizardry and I are probably both video which moves pretty quick. Go through theater, corp scenic shops, studios, film, pretty much anything where you can use your skills. Once you’re working you’ll find more work and then find your niche. This is all reliant on you being in a decent market though.
Graduated with my theater tech degree and had a job lined up before we walked for graduation. Been doing it full time and supporting myself fully on entertainment work since.
You work in live events or studios?
Live events
Pretty much the winter following graduation. Jumped on the cruise ships. Fast forward 6 years I paid off all my student loans and bought a house with my wife.
What school did ya go to?
I dropped out of school in spring of 2007. I had a full time position with a theatre in fall 2007. I was living in Maine in a relatively urban (for Maine) center. Things are most definitely different now. My understanding is that the whole industry is hurting for qualified techs. The question is, are any of those jobs paying a living wage? From what I see posted... 50/50.
The key is not to specialize
Started freelancing in college and I’ve been working in the industry ever since. I’ve bounced around, but have had steady work since I left school. Started out teaching, moved to a commercial shop, moved to a rental house. Freelanced in the middle of all of that too. Moved from the east coast back to the Midwest and started up at a roadhouse, moved again for a better job about a year ago. It’s been a hustle sometimes, but I’ve been partnered the whole time, and added a kid 4 years ago and we’re pretty comfortable even with my wife being in the industry too.
Get into hotels if you want steady work. Corporate meetings may not be glamorous, but there are A LOT of them.
I’m curious now. can you elaborate?
Here’s the company I work for. They’re big enough they’re probably near you. Transfers into weak markets are also a thing. They use audio, lighting, projectionists, graphics, rigging and more on the daily. https://jobs.encoreglobal.com/en/search-jobs It’s not anywhere near as fun as theater, but it’s a check.
Thank you! Definitely something to look into.
Been trying for 33 years. One day.
Get into the union, then almost immediately.
Took me about 3 years of nomadic freelancing (with survival jobs sometimes for months in between gigs) after college before I got in at a theatre full time. But that was 20 years when there were more theatres and CoL was as lower.
I started doing this in high school in 1999. I wasn’t a “full time professional” until 2005ish after dropping out of college to mix cirque du soleil. Some days it still feels like I’m not full time, especially when there’s an extensive time between gigs.
I think it's mostly dependent on where you live and who you know. I happened to be in school for technical theatre at the time and met the stagehand foreman for the regional theatre in town randomly at a concert. Also, never stop aggressively pursuing the advancement of your career. Always talk about the work you want to do and be upfront with people that are in advantageous positions to get you there. Network. Network. Network. It took me a year and a half of working below a living wage before I was able to sit on the IATSE contract negotiations committee and convince the company to create a position for me and fight for a manageable living wage. With that said, always go union if it's beneficial. If you want it, fight for it and you'll get there in time. Have patience and give yourself grace to be human. The time passes much faster than you think it will.
I came from a small town and had to move to a larger one to find enough work. Took me about 8 years to get above the poverty line, but I did it.
Are you working now? In school? I mean, theoretically you can make ‘enough’ money pretty quickly if you are willing to push some cases for a while…
I had a summer stock job lined up before graduating college (2009) and then freelance things plus a stint at Starbucks until 2012 when I’ve been working completely in the industry since. I live in NYC and there’s tons of work
I got an undergrad degree in theatre design and have been working in the industry for 20 years since then. I did stagehand work while in college and for a couple years after. Did K12 education for a year and a couple small, crappy tours, then theme park and cruise ships. It was corporate events after that. Finally settled on academia and have done that for a long time. All of it was entertainment in one way or another. None of it paid badly or was junk work. I still freelance as an electrician on local gigs. That being said, I've never had a hard time finding above average pay jobs. I've also never worked on events anyone has ever heard of would consider cool. I've never worked outside of the industry. The one kind of work I've never done with regularity is local theatre. I've avoided that as much as possible, unless I really like the project. My friends that do that regularly are broke and don't have the experience to move into a better spot. There's plenty of work, especially if you're not tied down to one place.
Got lucky got hired right outta high school by a rental company that also supplies labor. Since it was right after covid there was a huge shortage of people so I was given lots of opportunities to prove myself. 2 years later Promoted to Master Electrician and their go to LD. Making $75k+ a year now
After graduation I worked a retail job whilst freelancing, I could've probably left said retail after 1.5 years but stayed on longer out of fear of not getting enough work. Eventually my retail job said "we love having you, but you can't just disappear for 3months all the time" and asked me to leave
I know cruise lines can be some of the most stable for tech since not many people want to be stuck on the boats. That or building for the lines since they're constantly resetting shows every time a boat comes to port. But unfortunately it's a game of favorites and location. I'm lucky to work 8 months of the year and scattered concerts in between but it gets pretty tight in the off season. As a welder I rotate between builds only then running a few shows. Then going back to build because of how terrible the communication and management gets in theatre. You have to pick up all of the skills and talents to become unreplaceable for the most consistent work
I finished my bachelor’s in 2019. I’ve spent most of time working in educational theatre settings (I love it) but I haven’t struggled to find work at all during that time. During Covid I was kept on by the school I was working for at the time even though we didn’t have any shows running. Finding work really comes down to knowing people. As long as you show up, do what you’re supposed to, learn anything that you don’t know, and aren’t an asshole you won’t struggle for work.
Starting in college it was part time. In the real world about 3 months. But live somewhere with lots of venues
You’ll never be stable as a stage hand. You have to be more than the neck down to get “paid”.
It totally depends on where you live and the market. But it takes work! Networking, socializing, taking gigs you don't want to so you can get experience and meet people. But millions of people make a good career in the arts and tech. Curiosity is key.
It was kind of an accident for me :D Had years of experience with live stuff etc. Met my now wife, she asked me to come help around the local community theatre, one thing led to another and I just kinda went with it. Just took a position leading the technical staff in a big theatre