Selena Gomez<\/a>, Steve Martin and Martin Short, who are easily clearing more than $1 million an episode as the series enters Season 6. And popular faces who can immediately attract a fan base are also fetching top coin: Jennifer Garner, for example, crossed the $1 million threshold for Peacock\u2019s \u201cThe Five-Star Weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\u201cThe need for stars that can anchor these television shows is bigger than it\u2019s ever been,\u201d says one talent agent. \u201cIt used to be unheard of that someone would get $2 million an episode.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tStars who have perhaps aged out of marquee film roles have particularly benefited from the new marketplace. They\u2019ve found a lucrative home in streaming, where their draw remains valuable. And as opposed to the 22-episode TV season required in the broadcast network days, they\u2019re attracted to the less taxing commitment that comes with a 6-, 8- or 10-episode order.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cEvery star now is looking at how to anchor a series,\u201d says an insider. \u201cIf you\u2019re No. 1 or No. 2 on the call sheet, it\u2019s really never been better financially.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tEven as the conventional wisdom remains that Hollywood is struggling and the job market is challenged, agents in the TV talent field are perhaps the most optimistic folks in the industry right now.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThe TV actor salary game is still a really good business,\u201d says one agent. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot of money to be made as an actor on television. Certainly for the starriest names, those people are still getting toward the upper limit of anything that anyone\u2019s ever made on television.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tSays another rep: \u201cIt definitely feels like the opportunities are there. I mean, it\u2019s not 2016 to 2019, when everyone was just blasting a fire hose of cash into the community, which was totally unsustainable. Comparing anything to that time, when the streamers were out there spending like drunken sailors, is not a fair comp.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tOf course, this is mostly the top stars on the call sheets, as the boom times aren\u2019t for everyone. It\u2019s still tougher than it used to be for the middle class of actors \u2014 the ones who made a nice living by bouncing from pilot to pilot or show to show in the broadcast age. Back then, even if you didn\u2019t wind up on a hit show, you could still do OK.<\/p>\n
\n\tThose days are gone \u2014 but so are the rigid exclusivity clauses that used to prevent actors from working on more than one TV series at a time. Because episodic orders are shorter now, limiting ultimate take-home pay, the networks and studios are more willing to let stars moonlight. (That\u2019s especially true of those getting top billing: Just ask the ubiquitous Nicole Kidman.)<\/p>\n
\n\tEight years ago, when California banned the use of the \u201cactor\u2019s quote\u201d \u2014 the rate an actor was paid for a previous role, which was used as that performer\u2019s salary baseline in negotiations \u2014 more pay parity was brought to the business. \u201cIt\u2019s leveled the playing field quite a bit,\u201d an agent says. \u201cNow the pay depends on the role.\u201d Women and minorities, especially, who traditionally got paid less, can now demand more.<\/p>\n
\n\tAmong the major outlets, Apple is seen as the most competitive with salaries, with HBO and Amazon in the mix too. Even Peacock has shown a willingness to pay upward of $1 million an episode for talent like Garner. Paramount+, meanwhile, has attracted some top-tier talent (particularly on Sheridan and 101 Studios shows) by offering $1 million-plus an episode to some of its leads. Disney is seen as more spendthrift; FX, in particular, isn\u2019t chasing as many high-salary stars as it focuses more on the power of the material with series like \u201cSh\u014dgun.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tIf there\u2019s any recent surprise, it\u2019s how well the traditional broadcast networks are doing with their original scripted fare \u2014 and that\u2019s attracting some major TV stars returning to the small screen, including Blair Underwood, Felicity Huffman, Peter Krause and Hope Davis. And those leads are getting paid as much as $250,000 to $350,000 an episode at the start, and more in success. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s completely competitive with the top end of a hit show,\u201d says one agent. \u201cObviously, in streaming, they\u2019re going to pay you a hell of a lot more because they\u2019re only doing eight episodes. But you can definitely still get paid in broadcast. It\u2019s just without the obvious syndication windfalls that used to come with having those backend points.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Compiled by Michael Schneider and Joe Otterson. Not a complete list. Episodic numbers are approximate, and some episodic salaries may include producing fees and other bonuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Peak TV may be over, but peak TV salaries haven\u2019t gone away. The streaming revolution changed the game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":915090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,3660,67449,22280,49615],"class_list":["post-915089","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-jennifer-aniston","tag-nicolas-cage","tag-selena-gomez","tag-zendaya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}