April 29, 2004

• $    THE MONEY – PART II – FILM/TV   $

  
  

  DISCLAIMER: Once again before I go into this, what I’m divulging is what actors can come to expect once they have paid their dues and have a polished technique that allows them to book the roles attached to these kinds of paydays.  It won’t necessarily happen for everyone.  There are too many people with false expectations and come into this business because of the monetary aspect and I don’t want to contribute to that.  So with that said…

  
  

  …for film and TV, the scale daily rate is usually $678/day.  But as you work more over the years and are recognized for your work, your daily quote should go up $50-$100/day with each job. A week’s work on a show/film is about $3500.  

  
  

  For TV, if it’s a show on (CBS, NBC or ABC) and it re-runs in primetime, you’ll receive exactly what you were paid the first time you shot it, everytime it airs.  Shows on FOX, UPN, WB are not considered major networks and the residuals on these networks blow chunks.  I did a week’s guest spot in 1997 on an episode of “Caroline in the City”, an NBC show, and was still getting several $1000 checks years after it was in syndication.  As opposed to a “Beverly Hills, 90210″ spot in 1998, a FOX show, and you know that 90210 re-runs like crazy–I think I’ve seen maybe $200 TOTAL in residuals from it.

  
  

  Here’s an interesting lesson I had to learn the hard way: When you book a pilot (a potential new show for the Fall season), they negotiate your contract for the next 7 years before you’re even hired — because if the show is a hit, they don’t want you asking for a huge raise once you’ve become a huge star and are vital to the series.  I remembered when I was one of the final 5 choices for this role on a pilot and my agent called and said, “Okay, if you book the job you’ll be making $10,000/episode (there are 22 in a season), $13,000 the next year, and then a $2000/episode bump every year until year 7.”  So, the next day as I looked at the other four actors in the waiting room, all I could think about was not my lines but, “Someone here is going to make $220,000 after today’s audition…not even counting residuals.”  Of course, I choked.  But I was casted for a smaller part on the pilot — and after all that hoopla and contracts, etc. –  the show didn’t get picked up to be made into a series after the pilot. 

  
  

  Movies are something new I’ve recently gotten into in terms of the revenue.  It’s nice because you get residuals from when the film plays on:  Video, Dvd, Pay-Per-View, cable, airplanes, hotels, TV and overseas.  And this process takes years for a film to go through-which means nice chunks of change  every now and then from out of the blue.  That’s why my residuals for ”The New Guy” (which was on everything) will dwarf those of “Better Luck Tomorrow” ‘s because ”BLT”‘s content kept it from being shown in hotels/airlines–just income/residuals that couldn’t have been taken advantage of.   

  
  

  However, since there is a lot more money at stake–it is a heckuva a lot harder to get roles on Film/TV as a result.  In a commercial, it doesn’t really make a difference for the most part–generally a pretty/interesting face will suffice.  That’s why newcomers have much more success with commercials.  But with Film/TV, you’ll have to go through the casting director (1 person in the room), then to the producers (usually 4 people in the room), then the executives (10 people in the room), then testing for the network or screen test (25 people in the room) — all to make sure that the perfect actor is chosen because they’re bascially the studio’s investment. 

  
  

  Reading these last two entries back to back, it all sounds so “Hollywood”, shallow and ”Gordon Gekko”-esque – but at the same time, it’s fun every once in awhile to hear about the real gossip of this stuff. 

  
  

  Personally, I think hearing it also illustrates just how much money ridiculously flows through this industry simply due to a society’s value sytem and starts you thinking why can’t this system also apply to other professions that serve a much greater good–like teachers or parents?

  • 7:45 am
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