Hollywood is gearing up for what could be one of the toughest — and highest-stakes — TV contract renegotiations in years.
With third-season production on ABC’s top-rated and Emmy-winning comedy Modern Family ending in early March, representatives for the series’ six adult castmembers have begun formulating a plan to negotiate significantly higher salaries with producer 20th Television, according to multiple sources.
Castmembers Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Eric Stonestreet and Sofia Vergara were paid in the $65,000-an-episode range for the 22-episode third season, according to sources, a fee that was bumped up from the first two seasons last summer. (Stonestreet was making merely $20,000 an episode or so for the first season, when he won an Emmy, one of 11 wins for the series.) Ed O’Neill, who came to Modern Family after success on Married … With Children and other series, makes in the $105,000 range per episode, plus a small backend he receives for agreeing to cut his quote to join the series in 2009. (O’Neill was considered the “get” when Modern Family was casting, taking on the patriarch role when Craig T. Nelson passed.)
Now the series is heading into its all-important fourth season, when casts often renegotiate their contracts, scoring big paydays in exchange for agreeing to extend original seven-year deals by an additional year or two so the studio can generate bigger syndication revenue. One source suggested the cast could ask for a jump to the $200,000-an-episode range for season four, which would be on par with the three stars of CBS’ The Big Bang Theory when they re-upped after their show’s third season in 2010. Reps will seek additional boosts of $50,000 to $100,000 for subsequent seasons, but 20th is likely to resist opening the vault for a cast with twice as many leads as the Big Bang trio.
“It’s going to get ugly,” says a source close to the dealmaking.
Read more at Hollywood Reporter.
Modern Family - Cast negotiating for higher pay
Mar 28, 2012
Modern Family
Sign Up for the SpoilerTV Newsletter where we talk all things TV!
Jeez, that is a crapload of money! (But then again, the Friends' cast was making something like a $1 million per episode, right?)
ReplyDeleteYup in their last season they were all earing 1 Million an episode making them some of the highest paid TV actors/actresses in history
ReplyDeleteYeah, this kind of thing was bound to happen at some point. There's buckloads of money made from that show, so it might as well get to the cast instead of the executives at 20th Century Fox.
ReplyDeleteWe'll have to be worried when the actress(es) playing Lily will say "It's almost syndication time, I want a 60% raise and a lollipop, bitches".
Wow they get paid really low considering it's one of the biggest shows on TV. I think they all deserve 1 Million each for their outstanding performances
ReplyDeleteIt is a lot of money but considering that a lot of actors make a lot more per episode for similarly successful shows, I'd think they'd get whatever they ask for within reason.
ReplyDeleteSack 'em all...
ReplyDeleteGod I am surprised that the cast were making that little money, even the pay bump this season is pretty poor compared to other comedy shows. I think 20th television is going to have to given in a pay them alot more, there all a big part of the show and they need them. If the cast stick together like they did on friends, 20th television will have to pay out.
ReplyDeleteThe studio should pay up. Ty Burrell and Stonestreet got paid in crumbs in the first season, and after years of terrific work on the show and those Emmy awards, they certainly add just as much value (if not more) than someone like Ed O'neil. I'm not saying they should get an astronomical amount like Sheen of the Friends, or price themselves into cancellation like Mad About You, but certainly their fair share of ABC's main cash cow.
ReplyDeleteShame the quality of the show is declining though
ReplyDeleteThey do seem to be quite undepaid at the moment, so I understand asking for the bump... however it does seems like a lot. Maybe they're highballing so they can bargain somewhere in the middle.
ReplyDelete