Here’s an article that might interest you. After reading this you might realize the truth about the industry and how much money you really get once you’re in. Article by Howstuffworks.com.

Top 5 Highest Paying Jobs in the Film Industry

If your main source of information is the cover of “People” magazine, you might think that everyone in Hollywood is filthy rich. But the median weekly earnings of film industry workers in 2006 was $593, only $25 more than the median weekly earnings of all other industries combined [source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics].

That’s not to say making movies isn’t lucrative. It can be. Here are the five top-paying jobs in the film industry:

1. Producer
One of the vaguest titles in Hollywood, a producer can be a writer, an investor, an idea man, a manager or all of the above. In film, the head producer is called the executive producer and is responsible for each and every phase of filmmaking: pre-production, production and post-production.

In pre-production, the producer reads scripts and is pitched ideas from writers, directors and agents. After choosing an idea, the producer has to raise money to fund the project. One route is to get the backing of a major movie studio. Another is to go independent and seek funding from individual investors.

Now the producer has to hire a screenwriter, a director, production staff, casting directors, art directors, camera and lighting crews, and editors.

It’s the producer’s job to make sure that the project stays within budget throughout production and post-production. A good producer not only makes good films, but makes money for the investors.

Like most jobs in the film industry, producers work their way up. You might start as a production assistant or a script reader, learning how to spot a good idea and how to bring it to fruition. Or you can just leap right in and learn by trial and error, making small, low-budget films and working up to bigger ones.

According to 2006 numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual salary for a film producer is $92,920.

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