Paying your make-up artist?

[Motograter]

Just a question I wanted to find out what everybody pay's for an experienced airbrush make-up artist at your haunt? Hourly rate? or by per actor? and how much?

[horrorman666]

Hello Bill. This is not an easy question to answer. A lot of it would depend on what you have them do. Will they arrive before all of the actors to set up things? Will they be the last ones to leave helping remove makeup and prosthetics, put away costumes? Do they contribute during the hours you are open as support staff or actors? How good is their makeup and how many actors can they do before you open? Do they handle the procurement of the makeup and supplies?
I think it could be easy to justify $100 a night (or more) if they are really good and contribute a lot to the nightly production. Realistically, most haunt actors get there no earlier than an hour before opening and the makeup artist can only do so much in that time frame. I do not believe there is a firm or fast answer. If they are there open to close and do things for you between the times they are in the makeup room I would pay them more than the standard actor pay. Most of them enjoy doing it. So, if you have a good one just do what it takes to make them happy. I hope this helps a little. Best of luck this season!!

[Howie Slobber Erlich]

Bill,

When we first started concentrating heavily on makeup and got rid of almost all masks, (I think 2004) we brought in Jen Hansen. She was very good and was always trying new techniques. Now, she really only helped with the makeup. She came in about an hour early and left as soon as she was finished and we opened.

Because as stated by horrorman666, most actors won't come in earlier than an hour before opening, she was only able to get 4 or 5 makeup's done before we opened. Keep in mind we also had Glenn helping with makeup, but he was more or less learning how to do the airbrush makeup. He would do some basic makeup or get people prepped for Jen. We also had a few actors who were able to do their own makeup. If we would have needed more than about 15 or so actors a night at that time, we would have needed another makeup artist or some actors would have still needed masks.

At that time, (2004) we paid her $40.00 per night ( aprox. 1 hour ). I would assume that someone who is pretty good with makeup, might accept about $50 or $60 per night, if that's all they are doing at the haunted house.

Hope this helps a bit. Don't forget that I am always available to you guys, for any info that you need, unless you don't want my opinion or info anymore. I want you guys to be as successful as I ever was or hopefully even more successful.

Your friend,

Howie

[HalloweenHaunter]

For two hours per night, we pay our lead artist $75.00. He directs our volunteer artists and he does the majority of the work with prosthetics and airbrush makeups. We have about 50 actors per night..

[morte615]

At a large Amusement park with over 300 Characters and 15-20 Makeup artists we got paid by the hour. I won't state (due to contract terms) exactly how much but it was over $10 an hour. We would work in 2 shifts at 4 hours each, and a 3rd shift at 2 hours (or when everyone is done, sometimes as much as 4 hours). The first shift would start at noon for Saturdays and Sundays and the second would start at 4 for Fri and Sat (no first shift on Friday) and the third started after the park closed for the night to take off makeup (no prosthetics on Sunday so no 3rd shift, usually) . All equipment and supplies were provided by the Park and we were W2 employees.

Some artists worked all 3 shifts so you had the potential to earn 25 hours a week. Some artists only worked 1 or 2 shifts depending on when they were available. Pay was good enough that even only working 25-30 hours a week I was ok with it, I could also pick up hours in other departments of the park and that helped. What we did during the shift was prep work (painting prosthetic and masks, making sure supplies are present and filled for everyone) painting Characters took most of the time and we used air brushes as well as pre-painted prosthetic, and clean up pretty much closed out the shift. The Closing shift would spend time pre-painting but would mostly remove prosthetic and makeup as needed and would make sure the shelves were stocked. I would average 15 or so people a shift for 2 shifts while others did more detail and averages 8-12. My specialty was house makeup (fast in your face, then out in a dark room. No great detail needed) and the prosthetics which I pre-painted for quick application. We had a few artists that did the high detail makeup needed for up close midway and show style Characters and they would average 8 or so people a shift, but spent longer on each person. I could whip out a person in 10-15 min and it would look good in a house under show lighting, though maybe not as well under regular lighting. I also came from the theater lighting field I so understand how different color lights affect different colors on makeup so the makeup will look weird under regular light, but in the house under color light it looks correct. (If interested I can share my portfolio )

Now that is what I just recently did with Makeup but as a freelance (1099) on occasion I usually charge in 4 hour shifts and expect to get paid $75 - 100 a shift. But that also includes me providing my own equipment and paints, setup and tear down is included in that 4 hours. And I don't charge per person but I do make sure the client knows that a longer makeup time per person means more detail but less people. So if you give me 20 people the makeup will not be as detailed as if I get 10 for the same time frame. I also have more overhead since I am an independent contractor so that shows in how much I charge. If I was a W2 employee and had supplies provided that would effect what I charged.

Feel free to ask any questions I have done all aspects of Haunt on both small and large scales so I am full of knowledge, and gross squishy things