Question: My kids will be back in school soon and I am thinking about returning to work after having taken some time off. I enjoy shopping and have been told I am a good interior decorator. I have decorated my own home and have helped friends select furnishings, fabrics and window treatments. I have thought about set decoration as a career option. Can you tell me more about this job?
—Sandy

Response: Set decorators select props and accessories and may coordinate activities of assistants or prop masters who help decorate sets for motion picture, television, theatrical productions as well as commercials.

In any of these settings, decorators work under the property category or department. In contrast, set designers work under the art department.

Reading scripts enables set decorators to determine the requirements for selecting furniture, draperies, pictures, lamps, and rugs for decorative quality and appearance on film. They create a specific look for each location.

Set decorators examine dressed sets to ensure props and scenery won't impede the movements of the cast or the vision of the camera. They work according to the creative vision of the Production/Set Designer and/or the Director.

Employment Outlook
As in other entertainment occupations, competition is keen for employment opportunities.

Knowing someone involved with production is always helpful. Jobs can last from a few days to a few months or longer. A list of non-union productions can be obtained from the monthly and/or weekly issue of the Production Weekly. Other resources for learning about upcoming productions are Back Stage West, Variety, and Hollywood Reporter. These listings provide show locations, and key personnel to contact for employment inquiries.

Pay Scales
A set decorator earns a minimum of $2,000 per week based on a 56-hour workweek. Pay increases are usually dependent on show budgets, skills and experience of the set decorator, and personal relationships.

An assistant decorator's duties involve shopping for things needed on the set. The minimum hourly rate for assistant set decorators is $26.57 for Feature productions and $25.80 for Television productions. The hourly rate for low budget productions can range from $20 to $24. After one to two years of experience, an assistant set decorator can become a set decorator.

Professional Resource
The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)
West Coast Office
10045 Riverside Drive
Toluca Lake, CA 91602
(818) 980-3499
Fax (818) 980-3496
www.iatse.lm.com
Contact: Steve Aredas
IATSE Local 44
12021 Riverside Drive
North Hollywood, California 91607
(818) 769-2500
Fax (818) 769-1739
www.local44.org
E-mail: Local44@local44.org
Contact: Don Jordon, Digital Media Exchange coordinator
(818) 842-2102
Local 44 is a professional association of craft persons including set decorators. There are two ways a set decorator can become a union member. One way is 30 days of working for a non-union production that becomes union organized. Because most non-union productions have union members on the set, the production usually becomes union organized. The second way of earning union membership is working as a property person for 720 hours as a lead person for a set decorator. This involves handling props, buying things needed for the set and related responsibilities. The initiation membership fee is $6586.

Union members who are out of work may register with the union as being currently available and the union will supply a list of such members to production companies or whoever contacts them for that information.

Training Options and Costs
According to an IATSE representative, training in computer aided design, CAD skills, and/or interior design course work could be good preparation for those interested in set decorator jobs. Many community colleges offer CAD or interior design classes at a cost of $11 per unit. For example:
Santa Monica College
1900 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 434-4000
www.smc.edu
They offer a variety of interior design classes including Set Design and Art Direction for Film and Television, which emphasizes the educational and professional requisites for entry into art department positions including set decorator. Also, offer a History of Interior Architecture and Furnishings I class which is a comprehensive study of the major style periods of antiquity through the beginning of the 19th Century in France, concentrating on furniture styles, ornament, craftsmen, techniques, and the evolution of the interior. Classes range in cost from $33 to $44.

Additional Training Options
UCLA Extension
10995 Le Conte Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90024-2883
www.uclaextension.org
The Architecture and Interior Design department offers a variety of computer technology courses including 2 levels of AutoCad and also provides interior decorating classes including Decorating and Designing for the Home. Classes range in cost from $200 to $900.
Interior Decorators Institute (IDI)
7427 Beverly Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Contact: Jerry Zerg, President
(323) 954-8700
This school offers a six-month certificate program in Interior Design with coursework including Space Planning, Furniture Arrangements, and Floor Plans and another course titled, Color Harmony, Coordination, Clashing, and Character. According to a representative, classes can be taking individually without having to enroll in the certificate program. The cost per course is approximately $100 including textbooks.

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Susan W. Miller, M.A., is a National Certified Career Counselor, a Certified Vocational Evaluation Specialist and holds diplomate status on the American Board of Vocational Experts. She heads California Career Services, a private practice career counseling firm in Los Angeles.

E-mail career questions you'd like answered in this column to info@californiacareerservices.com or visit California Career Services at www.californiacareerservices.com.