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How much do animators make in California?

My boyfriend is finishing his degree in Media Arts and Animation and has a job lined up at Disney once he graduates (his cousin has been working there for 25+ years and was able to pull some strings). What is the average starting wage, either hourly or yearly, for this type of job?

Thank you

Disney traditionally pays less than any other place, they figure the prestige makes up for the difference (I’ve heard complaints from two people on this who used to work for them). Pixar would pay higher.

You can go to the web sites and look at their ‘job opportunites’ section for the pay scale, or you can google ‘working for Disney’ for some of the sites up about that. It should be a living wage, but not one that will have you rolling in dough, especially someone starting off new at this.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 5:23 am and is filed under animators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “How much do animators make in California?”

  1. Elaine M Says:
    January 28th, 2010 at 10:38 am

    Disney traditionally pays less than any other place, they figure the prestige makes up for the difference (I’ve heard complaints from two people on this who used to work for them). Pixar would pay higher.

    You can go to the web sites and look at their ‘job opportunites’ section for the pay scale, or you can google ‘working for Disney’ for some of the sites up about that. It should be a living wage, but not one that will have you rolling in dough, especially someone starting off new at this.
    References :

  2. Celest Guardian Says:
    January 28th, 2010 at 11:10 am

    Hi, first I have to really congratulate him. The number of people who so desperately want exactly that job I can’t begin to mention(haha including myself). I’ve heard animators start in the 40k range but it really depends on your connections, job title, experience, and how the industry is doing as a whole. His starting salary might realistically be in the 60-80k range since he has connections and would be working with Disney but I’m not sure exactly how much, that would just be my guess. I have heard that some of the very experienced animation directors make ridiculous salaries though as they move up the ranks.

    Also I’ve heard Disney plans to open a studio near or in Canda in the near future so it sounds like Disney has high hopes for the industry’s future. That could mean a lot higher salaries for their coveted top employees.

    I wish the both of you the best of luck, have fun with Disney!
    References :
    Previous art major and current junior in computer science studying animation in my free time. ^_^

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