Less Money for Middle Class Actor

July 20, 2009 by  

From NPR’s All Things Considered:

Beth Broderick is having a tough time making a living as an actress lately. That wasn’t always the case — and it’s not for lack of work.

She belongs to Hollywood’s middle class: actors and crew members who have worked on countless sit-coms, TV dramas and movies. She’s not an A-list celebrity, but she’s also not a waitress waiting for her first break.

Broderick plays Aunt Zelda on the TV series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Evangeline Lilly’s mother on the drama Lost. And she tells NPR’s Madeleine Brand that she feels “totally, truly, entirely blessed” for her 20 years in the business.

But over the past decade, the wages for the professional class have plummeted, Broderick says. She used to make $25,000 to $30,000 to guest star on an hourlong TV episode. Now she gets about $6,000, which comes out to $4,800 after commission.

“The studio heads still get paid enormous salaries. They still have huge golden parachutes,” Broderick notes. “Stars still make $20 million a picture, but the people right below them are making scale.”

She says, “It’s really going to have to come down to the leadership — from producers, directors and stars — who say, ‘You know what, thanks for the $20 million, I’m going to take $19 [million], and let’s divvy the rest up between the next 10 people on the call sheet so that those people I’m staring across from the camera at for the next eight weeks — I can feel good knowing that their kid can go to school.’”

Nobody wants to sit where I’m sitting and say, ‘Hey, this is the reality. I did two movies, six guest-star spots and I starred in a one-woman show, and I’m not making any money. I’m on TV every day in every country in the world, and I don’t make any money,’ ” Broderick says.

“Somebody’s got to say it. Nobody wants to take that risk, nobody wants to admit that or put that out there, but it’s true.”

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    Comments

    2 Responses to “Less Money for Middle Class Actor”

    1. Mick Montgomery on July 20th, 2009 6:02 pm

      I agree with her statement that the difference between stars and ‘the other’ actors is somewhat staggering. I also think that Hollywood is in a very dangerous place for wages where everyone is pointing at someone else and saying, they make more money than me. Even the studio and networks heads walk up to their board of directors point at other studio and network heads and say, “Moonves makes way more money than me.”

      It’s a very dangerous place to play. It’s also the reason why wages are dropping. As more folks scramble for top dollars (in a dwindling economy) someone is getting cut out of the cash flow.

      From a talent perspective this is a Union issue, and no union will be the party that steps in and tells Tom Hanks he can only make 19 million, so the other actors can split 1 million. That’s never going to happen in this country.

      However, I have an issue or argument or question to pose alongside this article that dates back to a point I brought up about a year ago on another site. How much do we need as an actor to survive? What value does society place on the services of the actor? I mean I understand watching earnings plummet is sad and discouraging. But I did math based on this article and Beth Broderick made about $38,400.00 dollars off TV and Film appearances alone, and residuals have not even kicked in yet for future dollars. I have no idea what her one woman show made, if anything, but say she made just 38,400.00 in one year from what on paper is six days of work. Isn’t that a lot of money? I mean as actors we say we are underpaid, but there are doctors who don’t make $4,800.00 a day saving lives.

      Wealth is always about perspective. Who makes more? The actor who works six days and makes $38,500.00 in a year, or the lawyer who works 320 days a year and makes $100,000.000. You decide.

    2. Michael Babbish on July 26th, 2009 1:39 pm

      Even with actor’s equity and everything, this shows that showbusiness is just raw capitalism. The big wigs get the dough and the scraps go out to everyone else.

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