It’s undeniable that actors and actresses bring a lot of joy to people all across the globe and deserve to be compensated handsomely for their service, but the insane amounts of $$$$$ some of these actors are getting paid has officially gotten out of control.
A recent article on THR discussed how TV ‘is becoming an ATM for top talent’, and how Hollywood’s biggest names are flocking to TV because that’s where the money is these days. For instance, Robert De Niro, one of the biggest names in acting and a man who has appeared in some of the most memorable films ever produced, is getting paid $750,000 per episode in an upcoming Netflix series produced by David O. Russell. That’s a cool $15,000,000 for one season of television.
And this isn’t an isolated case, here’s what some of the biggest names in acting are getting paid to appear on TV these days:
— Meryl Streep is getting paid $825,000 per episode of The Nix from J.J. Abrams
— Kiefer Sutherland is getting paid $300,000 per episode of Designated Survivor on ABC
— Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is getting paid $450,000 per episode of Ballers on HBO
— Kit Harrington, Peter Dinklage, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ARE ALL getting paid $1.1 MILLION per episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones for all of seasons 7 and 8
— Norman Reedus and Andrew Lincoln are both getting paid $650,000 per episode of The Walking Dead for seasons 7 and 8
— Chris Rock will be getting paid $40 million for two stand-up comedy specials on Netflix
— Dave Chappelle‘s getting paid $60 million for just three stand-up specials on Netflix
— Emma Stone and Jonah Hill are each getting paid $350,000 per episode of Maniac, an upcoming series on Netflix
— The main characters on The Big Bang Theory are all getting paid $1 MILLION per episode, which is insane when you consider it’s a shit ass TV show that doesn’t even have jokes
Netflix and Amazon have driven up the salaries of TV actors to unimaginable heights, and there’s almost certain to be a bubble taking place. Furthermore, film actors and actresses are boxing out traditional TV stars because they bring name value to these new franchises popping up, and instead of the overall pie of actor’s salaries growing larger it appears as if movie stars are just finding ways to eat a larger portion of that pie.
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What does this mean for the future of television? I don’t have a clue. I’m not a TV expert. You can head on over to The Hollywood Reporter for their analysis.