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Why the Festival Worker Employment & Compensation Study Matters — And Why We Need Your Voice

By Barbara Twist posted 21 days ago

  

At Film Festival Alliance, we believe in the power of festivals to transform communities and create vibrant spaces for connection, culture, and creativity. Yet, behind every successful festival are the dedicated workers—programmers, marketers, operations staff, and countless others—whose contributions are critical to these cultural milestones.

Unfortunately, there’s a significant gap in understanding the realities of working in the film festival industry. What are the prevailing wages? Are workers fairly compensated for the hours they put in? What benefits, if any, do they receive? These are fundamental questions that our Festival Worker Employment & Compensation Study seeks to answer.

What Is the Festival Worker Employment & Compensation Study?

This study is an industry-wide survey aimed at capturing a comprehensive snapshot of compensation, working conditions, and the overall experiences of film festival workers across the U.S. Our previous wage & compensation study in 2022 focused on director-level positions at festivals. It provided detailed analysis on wages and benefits across the U.S., giving organizations a benchmark for their own internal policies. Now, we’re taking it a step further. We want to hear from individual festival workers about their own circumstances. Whether you are a seasonal contractor, or a full-time employee, this study is a first-of-its-kind opportunity to assess wage and compensation statistics nationwide. This research will provide essential data on topics like:

  • Wages (range, average, and median).

  • Benefits and perks provided to workers.

  • Employment status and its relation to type of role.

  • Hours worked vs hours contracted.

The survey is designed to be completed in just 15 minutes. It is entirely anonymous, and your responses will only be used in aggregate to ensure your privacy. This data is critical for understanding the realities faced by those who are the backbone of film festivals.

Why Is This Study Important?

The film festival industry is notoriously opaque when it comes to compensation practices. Without clear data, it’s difficult to:

  1. Advocate for Fair Compensation: Benchmarking wages and benefits allows organizations to identify areas for improvement and adopt best practices.

  2. Support Workers: Festivals can use this data to implement changes that make working conditions more equitable and sustainable.

  3. Build Transparency: Publishing industry-wide standards encourages a more honest and open dialogue about compensation and working conditions.

  4. Empower Workers: The findings can help workers understand how their compensation compares to industry norms, equipping them to negotiate for fairer terms.

  5. Communicate Precarity: Festivals rely heavily on seasonal and part-time workers. These roles are precarious, for the individual worker and for the organization. This data can help us better understand the scope of seasonal employment and its impact on our field.

How Will This Research Be Useful?

The insights gained will not only inform FFA’s advocacy efforts but will also empower individual workers and festival organizers to drive meaningful change. Whether it’s pushing for better working conditions, introducing fair pay standards, or identifying gaps in worker satisfaction, the data from this study has the potential to transform our field.

Why Your Participation Matters

We can’t do this without you. The success of this study depends on widespread participation from workers across the industry. We need responses from folks at all levels and departments. Your voice matters. Every response contributes to a clearer picture of what it’s really like to work in this field. Our goal is to gain at least 200 respondents so we can deliver meaningful insights to you and our festival community.

We also understand that sharing information about your compensation and working conditions is personal. That’s why we’ve prioritized anonymity in this survey design. Your answers will remain confidential and will only be used to create aggregate statistics, never linked to individual respondents. Further, individual responses will remain with our data research partner, Avenue ISR, and not be shared or accessed by Film Festival Alliance, its staff, or its board of directors.

How You Can Help

  1. Take the Survey: Complete the survey here.

  2. Spread the Word: Share the survey with colleagues and others in the film festival community.

  3. Stay Engaged: Once the results are published, use the data to start conversations and advocate for change within your organization.

Your voice is essential to building a fairer, more transparent industry. Let’s work together to ensure that festival workers receive the recognition and compensation they deserve.

Take the survey today and help shape the future of our industry.


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