Career
Motion picture projectionists
Run the projectors at a movie theater.
$38,270
Median pay
-6.2%
Job growth, 2025–35
300
Openings a year
No formal educational credential
Typical education
None required
Typical time after high school
Here's what you actually need to know.
The work
What people in this job do
- Monitor operations to ensure that standards for sound and image projection quality are met.
- Start projectors and open shutters to project images onto screens.
- Open and close facilities according to rules and schedules.
- Operate equipment to show films in a number of theaters simultaneously.
- Perform regular maintenance tasks, such as rotating or replacing xenon bulbs, cleaning projectors and lenses, lubricating machinery, and keeping electrical contacts clean and tight.
The outlook
How the forecast changed this year
The deeper question
What kind of person does this path ask you to become?
What this work centers on
O*NET interest profile, scored 1–7.
The work
Do you want most of your days spent on objects & tools, then information & systems?
Responsibility
Are you willing to be the one responsible for this?
“Monitor operations to ensure that standards for sound and image projection quality are met.”
Development
What would you need to build over the next 5–10 years?
Operations Monitoring, Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Operation and Control.
Trade-offs
What does it ask of you in exchange?
No degree beyond high school, though short-term on-the-job training is typical, for a median of $38,270 a year and 300 openings nationally each year.
Paths in
Degrees that lead here
- NO MATCHCIP 99.9999
Paths across
Careers that use similar skills
- Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers$52,720 · -15.5%
- Lighting Technicians$68,060 · -4.8%
- Audiovisual Equipment Installers and Repairers$52,600 · +4.8%
- Photographic Process Workers and Processing Machine Operators$40,610 · -5.6%
- Audio and Video Technicians$58,100 · +3.9%
Ask anything about this career.
“Would this make sense if I don't want to sit at a desk all day?” Answers will come from the sources on this page, with citations. Coming soon.
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Sources
- BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34 (archived), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- O*NET 31.0 Database (August 2026), National Center for O*NET Development / U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 2026-10-01.
- CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk, NCES and BLS. Retrieved 2026-10-01.