Pretty In Ink by Beth wrote:
I am moving to California in June after I wrap on a tv series I am currently working on. I am curious to know how making a living for makeup artists is out there. One of my department Heads says as long as I am a hard worker and determined I will be fine. My other Head says we shouldn't move and it's a bankrupt state, as if California is a desolate waste land. We are moving either way, I am not just moving by myself it is me and my husband so it will be a two income house hold, but I would just like to hear from some other makeup artist in California. I am moving to the Ventura area absd willing to commute for work even in the surrounding states if I can make those sort of connection.

AWESOME   your going to love ventura ( i surf it all the time ) and alot of production people live there and commute ,,,,,, i should have bought there when I could have     love ventura !!!!!!

It really depends who you know , hopefully you have made some good contacts there that also work in LA
I will tell you this from my experience , And I am in the union

Most production as you know has gone to louisanna , north carolina and atlanta
LA cannot compete with the incentives
there are some shows here and a few features but as you know there are alot of makeup artists in the union and only a smaller percentage are working all the time locally

I was lucky enough to work on Paul Thomas Andersons latest film at union scale , other than that I see alot of people working tier 1 films to keep up their benefits as I have myself   

get your contacts together , make calls , stay on peoples radar and dont be surprised if you have to take a job out of town
The only thing that has really kept me in LA is I do alot of commercials other than that I probably would have moved myself or take jobs out of state

guess were all gypsies for the buck now

TheMakeupMan wrote:
AWESOME   your going to love ventura ( i surf it all the time ) and alot of production people live there and commute ,,,,,, i should have bought there when I could have     love ventura !!!!!!

It really depends who you know , hopefully you have made some good contacts there that also work in LA
I will tell you this from my experience , And I am in the union

Most production as you know has gone to louisanna , north carolina and atlanta
LA cannot compete with the incentives
there are some shows here and a few features but as you know there are alot of makeup artists in the union and only a smaller percentage are working all the time locally

I was lucky enough to work on Paul Thomas Andersons latest film at union scale , other than that I see alot of people working tier 1 films to keep up their benefits as I have myself   

get your contacts together , make calls , stay on peoples radar and dont be surprised if you have to take a job out of town
The only thing that has really kept me in LA is I do alot of commercials other than that I probably would have moved myself or take jobs out of state

guess were all gypsies for the buck now

Thank you for this info! I am very excited to move!! I have made connections and still working on more from this TV series I am working on, and I have read as well as heard all of that with the artists and the unions. All the work is in New Orleans and they have their people they use down there other than the artist from Cali that are leased out by the union. I am not in the union yet as I am in limbo with my days Not enough to apply for the 798 union and they wont count for the 706 union so pretty much I will have to see what happens when I get there. Also do you know how things are on the fashion side like campaign ads, look books, or other things like music videos, assisting  and other things like that, because what it seems is I will pretty much have to take any makeup jobs while I build more connections which is how I have had to work due to the area I live in. There is no consistent makeup work in any genere

TheMakeupMan wrote:
Yeah    I do alot of fashion and lookbooks , hopefully you also do hair becouse 80 percent of the time on lookbooks they want just one person who does both
LA fashion is a joke , I personally just got in with a line that pays well but its really hard to find those guy becouse they really donbt take fashion seriously in LA     we dont even have a fashion week

We do however have Paseo Fashion week which is well organized in palm springs which just happened l;ast week

Id reach out to as many photographers if you want thoise jobs becouse thats who will book you      not the client

its not as big of a market as youd think being LA    but it can happen , just takes time , call in all your favors and reach out to everyone
If your not attached to an agency you might want to start on their assistant roster to help you meet the right people and get dialed in

I dint really do music videos anymore unless attached to the star   

Id also look into celebrity grooming and red carpet here     most agency artitsts here work alot in celebrity and red carpet


let me know when your here and maybe I can introduce you to a few freinds who work in Non union shows     might be a start

thank you. I will most certainly contact you as soon as we have landed in Ventura. I greatly appreciate it.

Pretty In Ink by Beth wrote:
I am moving to California in June after I wrap on a tv series I am currently working on. I am curious to know how making a living for makeup artists is out there. One of my department Heads says as long as I am a hard worker and determined I will be fine. My other Head says we shouldn't move and it's a bankrupt state, as if California is a desolate waste land. We are moving either way, I am not just moving by myself it is me and my husband so it will be a two income house hold, but I would just like to hear from some other makeup artist in California. I am moving to the Ventura area and willing to commute for work even in the surrounding states if I can make those sort of connection.

I wouldn't consider California a desloate wasteland.  It is very expensive to live here and we are taxed  and regulated to death.... Our freeways are insane.  There are good things as well... The weather is almost always good, the sun shines most of the time. There is a lot of work here but the competition is very stiff. 

I would say your main issue will be the cost of living and sticker shock.  You can rent a 5 bedroom nice house in most States for the same price you'll pay for a small apartment here (in Southern Ca)

Mary wrote:

I wouldn't consider California a desloate wasteland.  It is very expensive to live here and we are taxed  and regulated to death.... Our freeways are insane.  There are good things as well... The weather is almost always good, the sun shines most of the time. There is a lot of work here but the competition is very stiff. 

I would say your main issue will be the cost of living and sticker shock.  You can rent a 5 bedroom nice house in most States for the same price you'll pay for a small apartment here (in Southern Ca)

thank you yeah I know the cost of living is very high all the 3 bed room homes we have looked at are around $2,000 to $3,000 but that's kinda what I payed the 10 years I lived in Florida before moving back to Louisiana last year. I have faith in me and my husband to provide financially for our family 😊

Pretty In Ink by Beth wrote:

thank you yeah I know the cost of living is very high all the 3 bed room homes we have looked at are around $2,000 to $3,000 but that's kinda what I payed the 10 years I lived in Florida before moving back to Louisiana last year. I have faith in me and my husband to provide financially for our family 😊

If the cost of living isn't an issue you've picked a great place to live. Welcome to California.

Mary wrote:

If the cost of living isn't an issue you've picked a great place to live. Welcome to California.

Thanks I am really excited!!! Can't survive if you don't believe in yourself

MUA Janine wrote:
Congrats on your big move! I think you'll be pretty successful out here. There are so many opportunities in Southern CA. Just make sure to network and work hard .

That is the plan!! I am not afraid of working hard!!

Ira Meyer wrote:
Welcome to Ventura County, Beth. 

You're going to love it here!

thank you I am soo excited!!!! Dream comes true!

Ashley Murray  wrote:
My dream is to move to California also but I'm worried about the fact that's it's very expensive to live and there is probably a million hairstylist and makeup artist. But I think I'm just gonna move to Orlando for now

The competition is stiff for sure.   California and NY are home to some of the best artists in the world.  It's a great place for the small percentage that are ambitious, hard working, talented artists.  It's a very tough place for the rest...

TheMakeupMan wrote:
Yeah    I do alot of fashion and lookbooks , hopefully you also do hair becouse 80 percent of the time on lookbooks they want just one person who does both
LA fashion is a joke , I personally just got in with a line that pays well but its really hard to find those guy becouse they really donbt take fashion seriously in LA     we dont even have a fashion week

We do however have Paseo Fashion week which is well organized in palm springs which just happened l;ast week

Id reach out to as many photographers if you want thoise jobs becouse thats who will book you      not the client

its not as big of a market as youd think being LA    but it can happen , just takes time , call in all your favors and reach out to everyone
If your not attached to an agency you might want to start on their assistant roster to help you meet the right people and get dialed in

I dint really do music videos anymore unless attached to the star   

Id also look into celebrity grooming and red carpet here     most agency artitsts here work alot in celebrity and red carpet


let me know when your here and maybe I can introduce you to a few freinds who work in Non union shows     might be a start

Huh?
I assume you mean you don't consider LA Fashion Week as actually "counting," right?

K I C K H A M wrote:
Huh?
I assume you mean you don't consider LA Fashion Week as actually "counting," right?

CORRECT!   I do not consider LA fashion week as counting , its an embarresment to the fashion industry and dosent even rate as high as korea fashion week ,
As a former head of Fashion Los angeles ( for hair and makeup )watching it fall apart due to big talking hacks that couldnt produce what they said , seeing these scattered tiny shows , that are poorley organised I can tell you it dosent rate at all on the Global fashion market
I was also head of hair and makeup for Box 8 la fashion week for Flaunt magazine
The closest thing we have to a REAL fashion week is Paseo Fashion week which is well organised and ran like Mercedes Benz fashion week.

I wish we did have one and lord knows I tried and invested much time and money to try to help organised a real one for LA

Sad as we have so many amazing designers that live in los angeles that wont show here ..................

TheMakeupMan wrote:
CORRECT!   I do not consider LA fashion week as counting , its an embarresment to the fashion industry and dosent even rate as high as korea fashion week ,
As a former head of Fashion Los angeles ( for hair and makeup )watching it fall apart due to big talking hacks that couldnt produce what they said , seeing these scattered tiny shows , that are poorley organised I can tell you it dosent rate at all on the Global fashion market
I was also head of hair and makeup for Box 8 la fashion week for Flaunt magazine
The closest thing we have to a REAL fashion week is Paseo Fashion week which is well organised and ran like Mercedes Benz fashion week.

I wish we did have one and lord knows I tried and invested much time and money to try to help organised a real one for LA

Sad as we have so many amazing designers that live in los angeles that wont show here ..................

Anthony is 100% correct... LA is a fashion joke.  Not a place for fashion models and not a place for anyone interested in the world of fashion. It's been that way as far back as I can remember...  When they shoot fashion in LA they almost always bring in a crew from NY...assuming nobody in LA is going to be sufficient. Right or wrong,  unfortunately it's a perception we can't seem to  shake in Southern California.

Mary wrote:
Anthony is 100% correct... LA is a fashion joke.  Not a place for fashion models and not a place for anyone interested in the world of fashion. It's been that way as far back as I can remember...  When they shoot fashion in LA they almost always bring in a crew from NY...assuming nobody in LA is going to be sufficient. Right or wrong,  unfortunately it's a perception we can't seem to  shake in Southern California.

that is just so crazy and sad because you would think southern California would have a good fashion standing...it's California lol. But either way I am networking and contacting people and as long as I get to do makeup as my full professionI then I am happy and there is 98% more of a chance of that happening in California than where I live now, plus my husband models and it is  a start for him as well because there are Agencies out there and not a one here maybe in a few years if his modeling career looks promising we may move there but with no family and no connections what so ever that is a much scarier move to make than California. Soo we choose Cali 😃 and I am super happy with our choice.

Jerry Nemeth wrote:
Don't forget that the ground shakes sometimes.   

yeah 4.7 couple of weeks ago lol

TheMakeupMan wrote:
Lol I'm not trying to scare you by any means
I'm just sharing my 30+ years of  working here and my experience as a la native 3rd generation hollywood

It can absolutely happen for you here and you might luck out right away
My experience and just watching others who come here , photographers , models , hair and makeup artists tells me the majority struggle for a while

I have Emmy winning artists and Oscar winning artists asking me for work so that's just to give you a little heads up on what's generally the experience here

I have no vested interest either way other than trying to be honest and helpfull

oh lol I know and I totally understand. I am an optimist and I just know I only servive on my trust in myself and belief in me surviving. It's how I have made it this far,and I have appreciated every bit of advice you have given me, honestly and whole heartely. I am not unrealistic by any means I just have to believe, along with hard work and determination . 😊

Pretty In Ink by Beth wrote:
Well I made it here and so far so good, I am meeting people and getting contacted by people as well. I know it will probably take a year or two to really get busy but I am definitely doing more work than where I came from so it is a plus!

Where did you come from before the exodus?

Legacys 7 wrote:

Where did you come from before the exodus?

Shreveport Lousiana

BrianaDanielle wrote:
I just moved out here to LA literally 2 weeks ago. I'm repped in NY.. but am having a hard time even getting replies from agencies. I love LA every time I've been here I've just felt like I was home. I never got that feeling in NY. Plus commercial work is what I love. I'm just hoping something gives. I gave myself 3 months to get on my feet, which is what it took in NY.. here's hoping.

I would love to get in on some tv shows just powdering extras or talent or anything. Someone let me do some makeup!! lol

Good luck Beth.. hope to run into you sometime out there.

That would be awesome to meet other artist here, WELCOME!!!! I have been here 2 months now and every day I meet new people that point me to more people who help me. I am working on trying to get agency representation here also, and slowly but surely it is getting better every month. Good luck to you as well.

BrianaDanielle wrote:
I just moved out here to LA literally 2 weeks ago. I'm repped in NY.. but am having a hard time even getting replies from agencies. I love LA every time I've been here I've just felt like I was home. I never got that feeling in NY. Plus commercial work is what I love. I'm just hoping something gives. I gave myself 3 months to get on my feet, which is what it took in NY.. here's hoping.

I would love to get in on some tv shows just powdering extras or talent or anything. Someone let me do some makeup!! lol

Good luck Beth.. hope to run into you sometime out there.

That's the same way I felt about LA it felt more like home than NY. That sun got you too huh? Lol. The market is diff here so I agree with you regarding the agencies not responding. I don't think that 3 months is fair enough amount of time in LA. Every transplant that I know says it took them a year to begin to get adjusting. Although everyone is different give yourself a chance. Praying for you and Beth!