"According to the study, the average playwright earns $25,000 to $39,000 annually, with about 62 percent of playwrights making less than $40,000 and nearly a third pulling in less than $25,000.Hm. Don't those numbers seem optimistically high?"
Well, if I read the study correctly, that includes income that's not related to theatre. Furthermore, playwrights surveyed said that 50% of their income, on average, is not theatre-related. And what IS theatre-related includes things that are not specifically writing (21% said Teaching for example). They reported 15% of their income from royalties, for example. That means something like $6,000.00 on average.
I wasn't surveyed, but there are peers of mine who were so I feel like I can speak to this myself, un-anonymously. My non-theatre related job is being an Assistant Director at a non-profit and I earn, in that job alone, well over the average noted above annually. How much have I earned from writing over the last five years? Maybe $3000? If you include non-theatre gigs? If you included only playwriting... I dunno. Half of that? Less?
I'm far from a mid-career writer...I'm still fumbling my way out of obscurity. But if you included my non-theatre related income in this survey, I'm a top earner.
5 comments:
Yeah, what's the value of including other income? I'm a computer programmer so I'm out of this bracket, but I've earned $600 total off of my (21 produced) plays.
Maybe they were researching if they should have better alternative career counseling service for playwrights?
Matt Freeman is a rich playwright. I've seen his fine teeth.
Givemeadollar.
I wish the thing about the teeth was true.
Yeah, I thought the same thing. I earn more than the high average from my day job too (just barely... I market cable porn for a living.)I've made maybe 1k from playwriting in the last year. Maybe.
May I also market cable porn for a living?
Post a Comment