Here are the surprising salaries for jobs in TV

If your dream is to work in television or you already do, a new survey shows what you can (or should) make. But in the process, it also highlights the pay disparity for women and minorities.

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On Monday, New York-based production services and career consultants, Brits in the Box, and online production job site, ProductionBeast, released their 2016 Annual Production Salary Report.

Portia Doubleday Mr Robot set tour 2
"Mr. Robot" star Portia Doubleday gets direction from show creator/director Sam Esmail. Michael Parmelee/USA Network

The report focuses on non-union salaries in TV and digital media production. Its results were drawn from 302 respondents who completed the anonymous survey distributed through the mailing lists and social media channels of both companies.

In addition to finding that the median TV salary amounts to $78,000 a year, the survey found that women and minority professionals are being paid lower than their male and white colleagues. According to the survey, the median annual earnings for women were 11% less than men, and non-white talent made just 63 cents to every dollar earned by those identifying as white. 

 

Here's a deeper look into what the survey shows about TV industry salaries:

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Of those who answered the survey, 40% were between the ages of 25 and 34. A huge 84% work in freelance positions and just 13% held staff positions. And 6% more males answered the survey than women.

BITB Salary Report 2016 respondents
Jacqui Moore/Brits in the Box

Of those who answered the survey, a majority work on the West Coast and in unscripted TV, such as documentaries or reality shows.

BITB Salary Report 2016 where they work
Jacqui Moore/Brits in the Box
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Scripted TV pays less on average than unscripted.

BITB Salary Report 2016 scripted vs unscripted
Jacqui Moore/Brits in the Box

Unequal pay: While the overall median annual salary in the TV industry is $78,000, women come in at a median $70,000. It gets a lot worse: Non-white production workers make a median salary of just $50,000. And by the way, one can get paid more for working in TV if you're located anywhere other than on the West Coast.

BITB Salary Report 2016 ANNUAL EARNINGS
Jacqui Moore/Brits in the Box
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These jobs make $50,000 or less per year.

BITB Salary Report 2016 50k jobs
Jacqui Moore/Brits in the Box

And these are the jobs that pay more than 50K.

BITB Salary Report 2016 more than 50k
Jacqui Moore/Brits in the Box
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Are you reaching for the stars? Here are the jobs that pay the big bucks.

BITB Salary Report 2016 high rollers
Jacqui Moore/Brits in the Box

For the full annual survey, visit Brits in the Box.

TV Salaries
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