Our just published 2019 Croner Animation and Visual Effects Survey— which provides market data on pay practices on animation and visual effects jobs for film, television and software games for the U.S. and Canada—offers some noteworthy trends in compensation:

  • Compensation for positions in the animation and visual effects industry grew steadily for base salary in 2019 for both production leadership and individual contributors.  It grew more moderately for actual total cash compensation and total direct compensation in 2019.
  • Base salary — which does not include benefits, bonuses or any other potential compensation — continues to be the dominant compensation element for all positions.
  • Among those eligible for all compensation elements, the average pay mix for production leadership is 68% base salary / 21% short-term incentive / 11% long-term incentive award. For individual contributor positions, the average pay mix is 77% base salary / 15% short-term incentive / 9% long-term incentive award.
  • The pipeline positions with the most growth in base salary from 2018 to 2019 include Story Artist and Animation Supervisor.
  • The use of overtime compared to last year is lower for most levels of individual contributors.

The Croner Animation and Visual Effects Survey is the industry resource for market data on pay practices specific to jobs that produce animation and visual effects for film, television and software games for the U.S. and Canada.


For more information, please contact Laurie Krashanoff, Manager, Account Relations, at +(415) 485-5521 or laurie@croner.com.

Follow this link to find out more about The Croner Company’s compensation surveys.