Thursday, April 24, 2008

Hollywood Classifieds

I kid you not. This Hollywood industry ad truly is "standard":

Probably decent pay of $600-$650/wk with standard hours til about 7:30 PM or so.

Going rent for a questionably safe area One Bedroom in Los Angeles? $1600.

Does the above job come with medical benefits? No sirree.

So let's think about this...$2400-$2600 a month. With taxes out, let's average everything and say you take home $1800.

But your low-estimate monthly expenses are:

car insurance: $200
medical insurance: $300
gas: $200
food: $300
RX: $120
cell phone: $60
storage: $150
cable/internet: $100
water/gas: $75
Job related networking, classes, books, parking, PR, gifts, lunches: $500
credit cards: $900

See the problem?

Approximately $4500 with no frills or cushion and living in a mediocre-bad apartment in a mediocre-bad area of town. No vacations, concerts, massages, haircuts, pedicures, clothes, no paid parking space at home...but worse, working in a job from 9-7:30 that would leave me no time for outside networking or creativity.

Yikes. I mean, basic survival in LA is overwhelming and not maintainable for years for me, and doesn't leave room to really advance my career.

If I get two roommates in NoHo, I might be able to pay $700 a month for rent and split water/cable. So if we call basic living expenses $750...I can get monthly expenses to start more in the $2700 range. Without a cushion for car repairs, classes I have to take, the trips up to NoCal to edit, screenwriting contests to enter, the film festivals to enter and hopefully attend...I'd still be going $900 more into debt every month.

Yup. Looks like I need roommates or a 400 square foot studio with a hotpad and better credit.

Happy B-day Lis! This year you're turning 22. Again.

Ah, the glamour of pursuing your dreams. Jealous?

3 comments:

Eric Escobar said...

Same deal in SF. Just double that rent. Forget about parking a car anywhere for less than 10 dollars a day. At least we have good cheap produce. We really are living worse off than our parents generation.

Kidsis said...

No arguments here. Total crap.

Anonymous said...

True about the SF Bay area!

BTW, Happy Birthday, Lis!

I celebrate my 25th birthday every year because that was the best year of my life!

Miss Twentysomething