Hi gang, been away for a bit (again...)

I’ve been a one man max shop for a while now and it looks as if I’m going to have the opportunity to set up shop and hire a few people for a web project we’re getting sponsored. Trouble is, I have no idea what jobs command what salaries these days.

It’ll be a small team, we probably need:
- a designer/modeler: design characters; design sets; basic story boards; basic low poly modeling. Talent is more important than experience.
- a rigger/scripter: rig simple characters; build workflow tools in maxscript to support animation. Probably help with the rendering pipeline too. Experience with maxScript a must.
- an animator: mostly simple cartoon-like character animation including body, facial and lipsync. We’re using biped right now, but may switch to CAT and we have tools to help out with the sync.
- a lighter: very simple setups, but this is personally my weakest area.

Anyone know what a weekly rate for these positions might be? We’re in Los Angeles, by the way and we’re looking at probably 6 mos. work, on site freelance.

Thanks in advance for any help,

James

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James Kelly
fo co mo so

Your best bet would be to interview who looks the best for the job.  Ask them their going rate, and compare that with your budget.  If its too high let them know, either they go lower or you pick someone else.  All those positions command a varying amount of rates.  Skill of the artist /experience and clout can be a huge factor in the rate they can command.  If you do not have the skill to manage an inexperienced team you may want to spend the extra money and get someone that can work without too much help (the risk is how much do you trust them?).  That is your judgment call.  You could have a team where the lighter commands the most money, or the character artist.  It depends on the focus and needs of your project. 

but to throw a number out there… 25-60 dollars per hr.  I have heard of some guys making 100-200 per hr, and Ive also seen some young out of collage types getting all exited over 12 dollars.  It all depends.  sorry I don’t think that helped much, but you have to realize this is not math, one person can do a job way better than another in this subjective environment.  We are not making widgets here, and you cant hire based on the amount of widgets a person can churn out an hr.

http://www.justin-lloyd.com

This does help, and I fully understand that you get what you pay for, but the trouble is, I have to come up with a budget before I do any hiring. Ballparks are a good place to start so thanks for that.

As to managing. I have experience managing teams in new media, just not 3d. And we’re trying to keep this as small as possible. If we had more time, I could do it myself, but, alas, we don’t.

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James Kelly
fo co mo so

wait, you dont know what your budget is?  Does that mean you havnt bid the job yet?  Ah well I am just curious.  I would say please dont string artist around, its not moral.  Pay them honestly and fiarly and if you dont have money then dont hire them.  If you dont know what your bidding it sounds like to me any artsit you hire will have to suffer your lack of experience.  so just do what you have to to succeed but dont lead on artist looking for work, and don’t pay them from the pot you are getting from the client, because that means if the client is late for a payment an artist doesn’t get his payment, and this is wrong.  I am sure you are a good person, but I would love to give a fair warning and advice to temptations you can face in hireing your own crew.  hope this advice helps and I hope your business succeeds.

http://www.justin-lloyd.com

You’ve got this backwards. I’m not hiring anyone yet. I’m putting together a budget and I need estimates to put in that budget.

Briefly: I created an animated web series with a partner. I made the pilot myself (you can actually see it here if you want). A producer saw it, loved it and has asked me to put together a budget of what it would cost to make 10 short episodes that we can eventually weave into a half hour (22 minute) TV pilot.

I know how many hours it took me to do this and there’s no way I can do 10 episodes myself (if we don’t want it to take 3 years), so I have to hire a crew. The producer works at an established commercials company that so far only does live action. They will hire everyone, including me and my co-producer. They have unused space to fill in their offices so that overhead is covered too.

That’s it. No stringing anyone along. Just me looking for some numbers to put into the slots in the budget. If it comes out in the ballpark they find acceptable, they’ll fund it (with the help of some corporate sponsors). If it’s too high, we’ll have to rethink our approach.

I hope this quells your fears.

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James Kelly
fo co mo so

yes it does, sorry sometimes if I get something in my head I have to rant to get it off my chest.  Yes I was lead on by an employer once in my life. 
Yes well good luck with that.  In the situation you are in why not let the people funding you know that you need help with the hiring process?  It sounds obvious they know what situation you are in? no? Well good luck once again!

http://www.justin-lloyd.com