There's No Money in the Banana Stand: Chasing the Almighty Dollar in Film Journalism

A Twitter thread cast light on the dwindling money found in entertainment writing

A question I get asked regularly by burgeoning film journalists is some variation on “How do I make money?” This usually compels me to explain to them the difference between making money and making money you can live off of. You can definitely make money in entertainment journalism, but whether that will regularly pay your rent PLUS expenses, or make sure you aren’t living in a box in Los Angeles is another story.

On Monday, former THR awards editor Tyler Coates tweeted about how a TV producer/friend told him how much money she presumed he made for a showrunner interview. This, in turn, caused other entertainment journalists — including myself — to discuss how much money we make for the various long-form and other pieces we regularly write. The answers crafted both a sense of community because we’re all apparently in the same leaky boat, and also showed the depressing lack of sustainable funding. Some journalists even shared how the money has decreased over the last several years.

Yes, this is another entry in the “entertainment journalism is bad and we’re all doomed” canon that I’ve been discussing for the last few months. But unlike film critics losing access and entertainment organizations laying off staff, there’s a real hesitation to talk about money in our industry. Namely, who is making how much and for what levels of work.