Despite starring in one of Disney Channel’s most popular television shows for six years, Dylan Sprouse says he isn’t making any money from The Suite Life of Zack & Cody these days. In fact, the 34-year-old revealed he’s received only one residual check from the hit series.
As hard as it may be to believe, Dylan Sprouse says that one residual check he got from Disney was for just five cents and it came from a 2006 crossover episode with Hannah Montana.
Sprouse made the stunning revelation during a recent episode of his Wildmen podcast with former co-star Phill Lewis, who played Mr. Moseby.
“In a time where residuals would have been great, not a single paycheck for being arguably one of the most popular shows,” he said.
Dylan Sprouse Says Disney’s ‘Suite Life’ Was Extremely Popular But Underfunded
During the podcast, Dylan Sprouse recalled a time when the show’s producer, Danny Kallis, came running onto the set with a newspaper reporting that The Suite Life was beating The Sopranos in the ratings.
“My first question was, ‘What’s The Sopranos?'” Sprouse recalled with a laugh. “That pops in my head every once in a while,” he added, remembering that he still wasn’t receiving “a single f—— residual.”
Phill Lewis pointed out that The Suite Life aired in more than 90 countries and was shown on Disney Channel as many as four or five times a night.
Lewis also claimed Disney used “bizarre” contracts that let them produce as many episodes as they wanted while counting it all as a single season.
“They called it one season because they didn’t have to pay us bumps,” Lewis said. “So we had that, which was very strange.”
Other Popular TV Stars Have Also Received Tiny Residual Checks
Dylan Sprouse isn’t the only former child TV star to recently reveal how little he makes from reruns.
Just last month, Mario Lopez confirmed Tiffani Thiessen’s claim that their residual checks from Saved by the Bell are sometimes worth less than the postage that’s needed to mail them.
“A lot of people think just ’cause you come out of TV and stuff, you’re set,” Mario Lopez told DailyMail.com. “That’s not always the case. Not everybody’s making that sort of Seinfeld, Friends-type money from that era.”
Former Nickelodeon actress Jennifer Hyatt Tedmori received a two-cent residual check from Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide.
Meanwhile, Full House star Jodie Sweetin revealed she received a check for just one penny, while The Brady Bunch actress Eve Plumb says she doesn’t receive any residuals at all.
“If I had a dime for every rerun episode, I’d pay off the national deficit. I don’t,” said Plumb.