@bfamtdad The short answer to your question about earnings is that they are barely enough for independent survival in NYC. The theatre related jobs that my daughter had paid just about minimum wage today. Therefore, some of my daughter’s friends who were still auditioning and relying on survival jobs, were ultimately making about the same amount of money as she was. I am not going to lie. Many of my daughter’s friends are getting some money from family members. Some help with rent. Some buy all their clothing. Some send monthly checks or allow their children to charge expenses on their credit cards. Some pay for their health care insurance and cell phones. My daughter at that salary level was barely able to pay $800/ for rent. So we helped by paying the difference on a NYC apartment.
Her first job was working at a top casting agency. First they brought her on as an unpaid intern (this is post graduation.) Then she was promoted to apprentice which paid $10/hr. They wanted her to re-new as an apprentice, but luckily a top talent agency called her out of the blue–she had interviewed almost a year before. She was excited to take on this new opportunity, but unfortunately they only pay $30K a year to their assistants. Assistants in smaller agencies make even less money. And she was lucky to even gain the position of assistant. Most new grads have to start on the intern level for a year or more, then are given jobs as temporary assistants before they are given a desk (working for an agent in a permanent position.) She stayed in the theatre dept. of this agency for close to 3 years, but it became clearer and clearer that there was no opportunity for growth.
So she decided to take a job in the marketing department at an entertainment law firm. There, she made a jump to $40K a year, still well below the average salary for NYU recent graduates (and by this time she was 3+ years out). After a few months at this position, she decided that the way up–both salary-wise and career-wise–would be to pursue her MBA. So she started the process of preparing for the GMAT, etc.
While she would love to stay in the entertainment industry, she is going to consider all options that will become available to her as she pursues her MBA. I would say that to live comfortably in NYC, one really needs to be closer to a $70K a year salary. The average MBA salary for a non-financial industry job post- MBA is probably $70K to $110K in marketing, media and entertainment, HR or non-profit. So we will see where this leads her!
@MTVT2015 I would strongly advise against taking on more debt and pursuing a MFA in Theatre management or Producing as an immediate goal. Most of those jobs are going to be had through learning in the field, not in the classroom. I would certainly not try it as an option directly out of school. As for an MBA, most good schools want you to have five years of working experience, and their average applicants are 27 or 28.