bills, bills, bills #28
bills, bills, bills #28
A week in the life and wallet of a dramaturg with a day job & a dogsitting gig
Bills, Bills, Bills is a monthly series of anonymous money diaries from theatre workers curated and edited by Jenna Clark Embrey.
The full archive is available here. We accept diarist submissions on a rolling basis.
editor’s note
Thank you to everyone who made donations to help keep Bills, Bills, Bills running for another year. Because this contributor’s honorarium was paid when they submitted their column back in the fall of 2022, we are making a special extra donation this month — in memory of BBB’s official mascot, my late dog Roz Doyle. I’m donating to Beyond Fences, an organization that helps to remove the financial barriers to pet ownership. With six million animals in shelters in the United States, sometimes the only thing preventing them from going to a loving home is an owner’s ability to pay for basic food and vet needs. If you’re interested in helping this cause, it can be as simple as contacting your local food bank and asking if they have a need for pet food donations.
I’ll keep the column-specific note short this month, as rehearsals and life have worn down most of my brain cells. At the risk of being niche, this month I’d like to draw attention to the plight of the dramaturg — our columnist is hustling hard on the freelance dramaturgy beat. We’re all underpaid and underappreciated in theater (that’s kind of the point of this monthly column), but because I’m a dramaturg, allow me to editorialize a little more than usual on this front.
Dramaturgy can be one of the hardest fields to freelance — What do you show as your portfolio? How do you display your worth? (Note from Lauren: Dramaturgs are not currently represented by a union and thus do not have standardized rates or collective bargaining agreements — LMDA publishes employment guidelines; an updated version is in the works. It can be a real fight for fair pay, even when you write a mildly popular industry newsletter with a feature titled “That’s Not A Living Wage”.) In almost every will-they-hire-me freelance dance, there comes a point where someone says, “Why don’t you read the script and let me know your thoughts?” as a kind of precursor to hiring. Therein lies the paradox: “reading a script and sharing thoughts” is what a dramaturg is paid to do — so how do we protect our value and not give away our services for free, while also showing what we are capable of?
This diary was kept in the fall of 2022. (The writer provides an update at the end.)
Job(s): I work full-time at a mission-driven, non-profit organization unrelated to theatre or the arts. In addition to this job, I also endeavor to stay involved in the theater community in a professional capacity. I am currently a panelist for a playwriting award, a facilitator for a weekly playwriting workshop, and a dramaturg for an upcoming 29-hour Equity workshop of a new play. I also frequently pet-sit and baby-sit and less frequently tutor and write for various websites.
Age: 27
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Yearly Income: My full-time salary before taxes is $45,000. This includes health insurance. Between my various side hustles, I bring in an estimated $13,000 extra per year, but this varies widely and I generally don’t factor this money into my monthly budget.
Debt: Due to a lifelong college fund, inheritance from my grandma, and many grants and scholarships, I graduated with only $8,000 in debt. I am currently still paying it off, even though our buddy Joe promised to get rid of all of mine. I pay the minimum monthly payment of $58.34 per month. I have about $2,800 remaining and if that is not forgiven then I will be done paying it off in four years. It will have taken me a little under ten years to pay off.
Savings: I currently have two savings accounts. I became obsessive about having an emergency fund with six months of living expenses in March 2020 when I lost literally all of my income and I keep that fund in an account with a high interest rate. It currently has $9,386.46. I have a second savings account (read: the app Digit) that I use to passively save for high planned expenses (read: too many of my friends are getting married in the next few years) that has $6,776.12. This brings my savings total to $16,162.58.
Checking: $6,211.62
Monthly Expenses:
Rent: I pay $992 for the smallest bedroom in a four-bedroom, two-bath apartment. My roommates and I live in a small, three-unit building and our landlord lives down the street. He gives us a discount because we pay in full in cash (sketchy, but that’s life in the big city?). Pros: I get to live in a big-for-New-York-City apartment with great amenities (in-unit laundry, dishwasher, private backyard, large communal space). Cons: Our landlord tends to be a bit absent when we need him…and I have three roommates, who are all great, but it’s still a lot of people to share space with.
Utilities: Varies wildly by month and I split it with four people. I budget up to $60 a month for this, especially considering in the summer it spiked so high, but last month I only paid $27.98. One of my roommates gets our WiFi reimbursed by her employer so we don’t have to pay for that at all.
Renter’s Insurance: $15.50. I use the app Lemonade. I didn’t know renter’s insurance was a thing until I’d already been living in New York for almost four years, but a friend told me it was important so I listened.
Gym: $67. I really only use it in the winter because my primary exercise is running whenever it’s nice enough. I purposefully joined a gym with an indoor track so I could keep it up when it’s too frigid to run outside.
Subscriptions: I pay for the family Netflix ($16.86), Spotify/Hulu ($9.99), and AppleTV ($4.99). This is considered a fair trade since I am still on the family cell phone plan (which comes with Disney+). Between friends and roommates I somehow also have log-ins to Amazon Prime, HBO Max, Peacock, and Paramount+ that I do not pay for. I also pay monthly for iCloud storage ($2.99) and an NYTimes all-access digital subscription ($12.23). This is a total of $47.06 for monthly subscriptions.
Other Guaranteed Monthly Spending: I feel weird saying this because I’m not trying to seem like a good person, but I give monthly to various charities that are important to me. This is an integral part of my value set and was one of the things I started taking very seriously when I transitioned from freelancing and nannying to working full-time about a year ago. I currently spend about $180 a month in small donations ($5-$50) across eight organizations.
I have health insurance through work. I have two therapy sessions a week ($30 co-pay per visit), so I pay $240 a month and I also have a small co-pay on anti-anxiety meds ($2.64). I am also extremely susceptible to influencer marketing and I spend $80 a month on vitamins and probiotics. I decided the subscription was worth it to not keep forgetting to take them, because they do noticeably improve the quality of my life.
I also consistently spend $60 a month on body/facial hair removal because this is one fight with the patriarchy that I am not winning.
Everything else is variable! So with that, let’s start with day one!
Sunday
Today is my birthday, so somehow things have been both more expensive and less expensive than usual.
I allow myself to sleep in and forgo all the usual Sunday chores before heading out for birthday festivities, which this year includes adding to my collection of ear piercings (piercing, jewelry, tip, and aftercare products brought my total to $208.14), grabbing coffee and a pastry ($11.65), buying myself a ticket to an Off-Broadway show in a next week ($31 through my TDF membership) and then meeting friends to hang out in a biergarten all afternoon. While my afternoon consists of drinking and dining, I do not pay for my own food because my friends kindly buy me birthday treats.
Afterwards, I have a three-hour Zoom call with my fellow panelists for an upcoming playwriting award. Tonight is our final official meeting where we narrow down our semi-finalists to our top five finalists. I’ve been reading for the competition since April and I’ve written coverage for about 20 plays and attended monthly panelist meetings. I have not been paid yet for this time. (Last year I received an honorarium of $50 and expect about the same this year.)
Unexpected spending: My Squarespace account renews annually on my birthday (hilarious that I decided to make a website on my birthday at some point?) so today I was billed for $168. I previously used cheaper platforms, from Blogspot to Weebly, but I find Squarespace to be worth the money.
Total Daily Spending: $418.79
Monday
Today is both a national holiday and a Jewish holiday so I don’t have work. I spend the morning doing all the things I usually would do on a Sunday (including grocery shopping: $27.85 which is roughly in line with my weekly average). I also have therapy today, so my $30 co-pay was processed automatically.
After therapy I have a quick lunch (leftover rice and beans, the cheapest meal in all the land) and then I head out for the fun parts of my day, which include visiting a jewelry store I love because my parents got me a gift card there for my birthday. The piece I pick out costs a bit more than my gift card, so I end up spending $11.14.
Some friends invited me over to their house for dinner and I’m tasked with bringing dessert, so I also swing by a bakery. Naturally, I picked something a little bit pricey, but delicious (vegan cinnamon swirl babka, in case you were curious). This put me back $29.40. It’s important to note that these friends live in the same building as multi-Tony-winning theatre icon [redacted], so there was a slight chance of me seeing them in the elevator. It didn’t happen, but if it had I hope she would have found my cinnamon babka impressive.
Total Daily Spending: $98.39
Tuesday
Fun Fact: Today is STILL a Jewish holiday so I also don’t have work! I decided to go on a little adventure to the American Museum of Natural History, which is pay-what-you-wish for locals, so spending a few hours looking at cool rocks only put me back $5. However, I forgot to eat beforehand and decided I could not wait until I got home to eat something, so I ended up swinging by a cafe and spent way too much money ($20.80) on a vegan bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.
On Tuesday nights I lead a Zoom playwriting workshop for an Off-Off Broadway new play development focused-theatre. I co-lead with another facilitator and we work with four playwrights over an eight-week period. I’ve been leading these workshops for over three years now and it’s one of my favorite things that I get to do (and is more in line with my actual career goals). Before the pandemic, I was paid $400 for the eight weeks, but now my pay is $300 and I am paid in full after completion of the contract.
Unexpected Spending: My monthly cloud storage renewed today ($2.99).
Total Daily Spending: $28.79
Wednesday
And now for a Wednesday that feels a heck of a lot like a Monday. I start the day with coffee and oatmeal (my first breakfast at home all week, oy) and get to work on the disaster zone that is my inbox after a four-day weekend. While I’m in the productive zone, one of my colleagues asks me to come into the office because she forgot her computer. (I wish I was joking.) This cuts into my plan to make lunch at home and I don’t have any leftovers from dinner last night (I made what I thought was enough pasta and veggies for two meals and then ate all of it in one sitting), so I run to the Trader Joe’s down the street from my office and pick up a pre-packaged lunch and a couple of snacks for $8.67.
I head into the office for the rest of my work day. After work I schlep over to my friends’ apartment where I will be watching their dog for the next four days. These are very dear friends of mine who I know from college originally but got close to when we spent ten weeks spending every waking moment together at the [redacted] Theatre Festival. They are an actor and a director/playwright respectively, and while our relationship is mostly being friends (and also me regularly dog-sitting for them), we have collaborated artistically in the past and I hope to do so in the future! They pay me $80 per day, which is insanely generous considering I love them and their dog and they let me eat their food (tonight’s dinner: chickpea soup!), try their skincare products, and pretend I don’t live in a four-bedroom with roommates for a few days.
Unexpected Spending: My NYTimes subscription renewed today ($12.23). I also made my $15 automatic monthly donation to a farm sanctuary. I sponsor a very cute pig named George.
Total Daily Spending: $35.90
Thursday
We are all required to go into the office on Thursdays, so I wake up early to walk the dog and get ready before my commute. I am once again reminded why dogs are for couples and I can’t have one yet. I don’t have enough time to eat, so I (surprise) run into Trader Joe’s and spend $11.56 on coffee, overnight oats, snacks, and a pre-made meal to have for dinner later before getting to the office.
A co-worker and I (yes, the same one who forgot her computer yesterday) had already planned to go out to lunch at a nearby restaurant. I spend $19.33 on a veggie burger and sweet potato fries, which honestly feels like a great deal in this neighborhood, but I also think I’ve been brainwashed by New York City prices.
I usually tutor a young student in-person on Thursday afternoons, but because of the dog I ask her parents if we can meet on Zoom. Thankfully, they are understanding of this one-time switch. This also prevents me from going to my favorite smoothie shop down the street from her apartment and spending an exorbitant amount of money on blended fruit.
Total Daily Spending: $30.89
Friday
Finally, I make it to the end of the longest three-day work week of all-time (until next week when we have another one because the Jewish holidays come in rapid succession this time of year)! This Friday I do not need to go into the office, so I sleep in and snuggle with the pup. Before work I have my second therapy session of the week (also $30) and make oatmeal and coffee again. I work for a few hours before having an almond butter and jelly sandwich, because there’s nothing wrong with a classic.
I was supposed to have a meeting with the playwright whose play is getting a workshop next month, but she doesn’t respond to my text confirming our plans. (Playwrights: don’t do this to your dramaturgs. We love you. We want to take you to coffee and talk about your plays. Respond to us!) This is a bit frustrating, but it gives me back a few hours of my work day (don’t tell my boss I regularly spend Friday afternoons getting coffee with playwrights) and, once again, prevents me from spending money on fancy lattes and vegan pastries.
As an end of the week treat, after work I order my first (and only!) Seamless of the week and settled in with my bibimbap ($25.91 was only $15.50 before tax, tip, delivery fee, etc.) and a dog on my lap to watch Hocus Pocus 2. It was meh.
Total Daily Spending: $55.91
Saturday
I wake up and take the dog for a walk to my favorite coffee shop in this neighborhood. I spend $14.25 on a fancy latte and veggie bagel sandwich.
After our walk I head back into the city for a bat mitzvah. I don’t go to a bat mitzvah every weekend, but I decided I would be a little extra helpful for this family because the teen’s parents are Professional Theater People. They’re also very nice, so it’s convenient that I am being extra kind to them in hopes of advancing my career one day.
After the bat mitzvah instead of sticking around for lunch and cocktails, I take the Torah into a Lyft and bring it back to its spot. One day I will write a half-hour comedy show about all the silly places I’ve taken the Torah in this city. One day.
Since I’m at my office anyway I swing by, you guessed it, Trader Joe’s, and spend $10.26 on various snacks for the afternoon. I return to the dog snuggles and enjoy my snacks before her humans come home and I am able to head back to my humble abode.
Total Daily Spending: $24.51
Total Weekly Spending: $693.18
2024 Update
The biggest change is that after two and a half years of my job, I asked and advocated for a raise — and received it, at least in part due to me finding out that I was not making the minimum wage for an exempt employee in NYC. I now make $62,400 a year from my full-time job before taxes.
Despite this being a nearly $20,000 difference from when I kept my money diary, every month it's harder to stretch my paycheck. The cost of living in NYC has gotten out of control. I also now pay over $200 a month in student loans thanks to the end of the pandemic moratorium and I’m ineligible for forgiveness (at least in a way I've figured out).
All my other living expenses have gone up as well. My rent is now $1,118, renter's insurance is $16.67, and all the other subscriptions increased. I did quit the gym though. I've also started using an HSA or FSA account (whichever is the one where you need to use it all by the end of the year) (Editor’s Note: That’s an FSA) to take care of things like therapy, prescriptions, physical therapy, dermatology, etc. Even though I know it's my money, it still feels free, you know?
As far as my various theatre side hustles: the gig I had teaching playwriting evaporated (Editor’s Note: We redacted the details of this for anonymity, but please note that it involved a theater being a jerk and definitely committing illegal hiring practices) and two previously paid gigs turned into internships and volunteer positions (Editor’s Note: This is also illegal.)
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