Age: 35

Current Location: Georgia

Industry & Title: Film & Television, Department Supervisor

Starting Salary: ~$12/hour. "But this was not in the film industry."

Current Salary: $43/hour. "My industry is a little unique in that I do not receive a salary; I negotiate an hourly rate for each film or TV show I'm on, as well as for my assistants. There is a minimum (referred to as 'scale') set by the union I belong to. I currently make about $8-$10/hour above scale, depending on the contract. Different projects have different contracts based on budget. (A blockbuster superhero movie will not have the same contract as a $3 million independent film.) My rate includes full benefits paid by my employer."

Number Of Years Employed: 12. "I have been in the workforce since graduating from college in 2006. (Although I worked all throughout high school and college!)"

Biggest Income Jump: "This a little hard to quantify since I’m paid an hourly rate and only for a period of a few months at a time, but I went from $36/hour in 2016 to $40/hour on the next project."

Biggest Income Drop: "When I started as a department head, I had to take projects with much smaller budgets in order to get credits. (Before then, I had been working as an assistant on larger projects, so my rate was better.) I probably went from low $30/hour rates to mid $20/hour rates at that time. This only lasted a couple years as I got credits and moved up to bigger projects."

Biggest Salary Negotiation Regret: "Not realizing I should have been asking for more earlier on. Many times, I felt like I should just take what was offered to me and be glad I got anything. It took me a long time to realize I could and should ask for more because I was worth more."

Best Salary-Related Advice: "Do not undersell yourself. It can be awkward at first to stick to your guns and prove that you deserve what you are asking for. I always follow up negotiations with an email so everything is in writing and I can refer to it later. 'Thanks for your time today. Just wanted to review what we discussed…' and so on."