Monthly Archives: July 2012

The “M” word…. Money, and how do I get paid for this?

After the idealism of youth, and the dewy eyed enthusiasm of the passionate beginner has worn off, and we have begun our fledgling careers in the Special Effects Makeup Industry, most people come to realise very abruptly, and not altogether pleasantly, that there is a long hard road ahead of them, and it isn’t going to be all roses and red carpets…. In short, you will have bills to pay, rent to cover, and you will look wistfully at your friends who have ‘boring’ jobs working in the local bank or as a plumber, who are buying new clothes every six weeks and jetting off overseas for their annual leave, and say “Why cant I afford to do that?”  You will have discovered the harsh reality.

It’s hard to make a living wage doing what we do.

And nobody, but nobody, teaches you about Business 101 when you are studying to be an “artist”. Lets face it, you wouldn’t have been interested if they wanted to- you thought that because you loved it so much, all you had to do was get out there, show the world how talented and enthusiastic you were and they would beat a path to your door… FX Houses all over the world would be competing to get you to come work for them, right?  Or not…. Continue reading


INSURANCE FOR SFX Makeup Artists and Technicians

When you first start out, dont forget INSURANCE!

When you work for a larger company as an EMPLOYEE, you will be covered by their public liability and indemnity insurance policy as long as you are engaged in work that you have been assigned.

When you are a FREELANCER, or as can sometimes be the case even when working for a larger company, a SUBCONTRACTOR, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for your own insurance.

So, if anything goes wrong, say an actor has an allergic reaction (whole different subject- to be covered in another post!!) and ends up requiring expensive medical treatment, or if the actor is injured in some way as a result of YOUR work, then YOU are personally LIABLE, not the production… nor the company that may have engaged you to do the work…. Of course the injured party may choose to sue them as well for having hired you in the first place, but in the end, its going to cost you.

A lot of people ignore insurance when they start out, they think its too expensive… but being sued for injury or loss of income is going to be a WHOLE lot more expensive, and given how hard it is to make any money in this business in the first place when you are in your early career, can you afford to take that risk?????

All countries have different legislation covering insurance and compensation so you will need to ask around for the best kind of cover. In the United States you may be able in many cases you can ad it as a rider to a home insurance policy for little to no cost. Australia is a little different, you can cover tools of trade at home or in the car, and public liability on the premises, but not on a worksite, which requires a separate policy…

Some places have policies specifically geared to the Film and TV production industry. You can also ask your local Government regulatory authority, Media Union or Professional Association for recommended insurers. If you can’t find those, then get some kind of Mobile Business Insurance if you are working on sets and locations, that will cover you for personal liability and tools of trade, (often these cover any assistants as well).

Don’t skimp- it could cost you your livelihood or your lifestyle!


The Power of No……

No matter where you are or what your circumstances, pursuing Special Effects Makeup as a career is going to be an enormous challenge.  It is one of the most highly competitive fields in the world, and yet the rewards are not monetary or even fame, but intrinsic to the creative process, and inherent in the actual work itself.  For people who are lucky to live in a time and a place when the business is good, and work easy to come by, they may not understand or appreciate the sheer numbers of people all over the world, in the most remote corners, who desire so passionately to pursue their dream, regardless of the whether or not there is a viable film and media industry where they live.  And yet, they do… WE do…..  all of us, just a little bit mad, and very, very, determined.

A dear friend and mentor of mine, a highly respected SFX MUA, said it best- “We are all missing the part of our brain that tells us when to stop…”

Many people ask for information and help on how to get this, that, or the other, achieved on a shoot, “with a very tight or non-existent budget” Fair enough. We all of us, apart from a fortunate few, start out that way, doing work for free or very little and without much to work with, its part of our training and necessary, if you can pull a rabbit out of a hat and get something onscreen that will pass muster when you have nothing to work with, then JUST IMAGINE what you will be able to do once you get some REAL equipment and materials….

But what really riles me, is when I hear “there’s no time to do this”.

Continue reading


So you want to be a Makeup FX artist? Pt 1. Where Do I Start?

So, you have been doing what you are doing for a while, life was going ok, good, not great, and you have slowly come to the realisation that you have a niggling dream to work in Special Makeup FX…. Or perhaps you always knew you wanted to try for this, but you never quite knew how to start? You might be twenty and single, footloose and fancy free, or you might be married with a mortgage and kids….
I do empathize with you- I didn’t get into this until I was 40, and let me tell you it took me about three years to work up the guts to do it!! I flipped everybodies lives upside down in the process, because I had to move to the other side of the country for three months to train, and previously I had been home with my kids while they were little, so my husband suddenly had to rediscover (discover?) his domestic side and hold the fort whenever I was working! Fortunately for me though he realized I needed to do this and saw how much happier I was once I had so it all worked out, not everyone is that lucky. Also we have money from our other business so I can afford to just do the jobs I want- never had to take weddings to pay the bills.
So where do you start?

Continue reading


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