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FILM STAR
How bad is the decline in actor salaries over the past decade? Despite the huge sums still being raked in by such superstars as
Robert Downey Jr. (his $75 million comes from his 7 percent, first-dollar slice of
Iron Man 3, as well as his $12 million HTC endorsement deal) and
Sandra Bullock (a 15 percent, first-dollar deal on
Gravity and about $10 million more for her summer hit
The Heat), most actors are feeling a definite squeeze, especially those in the middle.
"If you're [a big star], you're getting well paid," says one top
agent, "but the middle level has been cut out." Sometimes with a
hacksaw.
Leonardo DiCaprio made $25 million (including bonuses) for
The Wolf of Wall Street, while co-star
Jonah Hill got
paid $60,000. Granted, that's an extreme example — Hill offered to do
the part for scale (and got an Oscar nomination for his trouble).
AGENT $200K-$10M
Like everyone in Hollywood, the talent agencies have been tightening
their belts. "Your biggest concern used to be, 'Would I get a $100,000
bonus or a $200,000 bonus?' " recalls one veteran agent wistfully. "Ha!
Things have changed." Those bonuses still happen, they just require a
hot client (or five). CAA generally pays more than WME, UTA, Gersh, ICM
and Paradigm, yet salaries increasingly are tied to what an agent brings
in. And an agency will overpay to lure a top agent (and his clients).
Generally speaking, though, starting agents can expect to earn $50,000
to $65,000; more senior agents make around $200,000; partners make
$400,000 to $700,000; and board members — like CAA's
Bryan Lourd and WME's
Patrick Whitesell and
Ari Emanuel —
can earn as much as $10 million. In rare circumstances, bonuses based
on client earnings can turn mid-level agents into $1 million-a-year
employees. In short, top talent breeds top salaries.
Tracey Jacobs at UTA is said to be earning upward of $9 million — and she reps
Johnny Depp.
AGENT'S ASSISTANT $10-$13 AN HOUR
At most agencies, you start in the mailroom, hope an assistant's desk
opens up, then dream of ascending the assistant ladder so you can be on
the receiving end of middle-of-the-night email rants from top agents.
At CAA, though — where
Richard Lovett has five assistants and
Kevin Huvane has four — you start as an assistant and move up to the mailroom agent-training program.
ANIMAL ACTOR $5K-$108K
Crystal the monkey earned $108,000 in 2012 for appearing in nine episodes of NBC's
Animal Practice.
That's more than most of the below-the-line talent featured in this
story and twice as much as the average actor, who earns $52,000,
according to SAG-AFRTA. But most animals work for peanuts: The day rate
for a dog or cat in Hollywood is $400, with most earning $5,000 to
$10,000 a year.
CINEMATOGRAPHER
$5K-$30K A WEEK
Top directors of photography, of which there are probably about 10 to
15 in the industry, can command $25,000 to $30,000 a week on movies
that shoot up to 12 weeks — maybe even a little more, according to
insiders. That select circle of top cinematographers would include
11-time Oscar nominee
Roger Deakins,
Gravity Academy Award winner
Emmanuel Lubezki and
Martin Scorsese's frequent collaborator
Robert Richardson.
On a big-budget studio movie — say, $80 million or more — an
experienced cinematographer can expect to earn $10,000 to $20,000 a
week. On a low-budget indie fare, DPs often take home $2,000 to $5,000 a
week. On TV productions, the range is $5,000 to $8,000 a week.
FILM DIRECTOR $250K-$20M A PICTURE
"The middle
range doesn't exist anymore," one studio executive says of the current
financial landscape for feature film directors. "Either you're paying
for a modern master, or you're paying a lot less. The days of paying $3
million or $4 million, knowing they're just doing the job, that doesn't
exist."
The going rate for modern masters? Between $7 million and $10 million for auteurs like
Paul Greengrass and
Ridley Scott, more if the film is considered a tentpole.
Christopher Nolan is said to have made $20 million against 20 percent of gross for
Interstellar. Backend is otherwise rare these days for the non-A-list.
On the other end of the scale, emerging directors can expect $250,000
to $500,000 for their first big studio feature, but there are
exceptions (one European auteur was said to have recently have been paid
$1 million for his first Hollywood blockbuster).
(For
By the Sea, THR previously reported that "Pitt (CAA, Brillstein, Bloom Hergott) likely will earn a smaller
paycheck than Jolie, Hollywood's highest-paid female star. She made $20
million for
Maleficent but will receive a much smaller fee with
a doubled backend based on 100 percent of home video (talent often
settles for 20 percent). "
TV DIRECTOR $25K-$42K AN EPISODE
TV directors, of
course, are an entirely different species, and get paid in a different
way. The base DGA rate is $25,145 for a half-hour episode and $42,701
for an hour. But unlike writers, directors sometimes helm all 22
episodes of a season — it's just too much work. But some big-name pilot
directors (
David Nutter,
Jason Winer and
Pam Fryman) get an executive producer credit and a stake in the show, which is how
Bryan Singer is said to have made tens of millions for directing the pilot of
House M.D.
ENTERTAINMENT LAWYER $2M-$6M
Maybe more, if you're
Skip Brittenham,
who is rumored to take home $10 million a year. After a practice builds
up, a lawyer can receive 30 percent of what the firm earns from his or
her clients. With a big enough list, that easily can add up to millions.
But even first-year attorneys can do OK, earning $135,000 to $165,000
(enough to pay off law school).
EXTRA $148 A DAY
But there's a "bump" of $50 a
day for wearing a hairpiece, or if you're working in challenging
conditions (rain, smoke). There's also overtime — a full day of pay for
every hour after 16 hours — which has been known to happen on movie
sets.
GAME SHOW HOST $1M-$10M
Quiz masters make between
$25,000 a week (for a syndicated show) to upward of $75,000 a week (for
a primetime program). Unless, of course, you're
Alex Trebek,
Jeopardy!'s 30-year host — in which case you take home the $10 million-a-year jackpot.
LATE-NIGHT TALK SHOW HOST $3M-$30M
Late night's recent round of musical chairs hasn't changed the pay all that much — unless you're
Stephen Colbert, said to be in line to earn a bit more as
David Letterman's replacement on CBS than the $15 million a year he gets from Comedy Central.
The Daily Show's Jon Stewart remains the top earner at $25 million to $30 million a year.
Jimmy Fallon is said to be making a little less annually than
Jay Leno's$15 million for hosting
The Tonight Show (and a lot less than the $25 million Leno made before he took a pay cut). And
Seth Meyers barely can afford an applause sign at $3 million.
MANAGER $250K-$300K
Bonuses are the name of the
game in the management business. They're tied to commissions — one big
client can be worth millions. Starting managers make $50,000 to $60,000
and are expected to bring in two to three times their pay in
commissions. Top partners can pull in seven figures. And unlike agents,
managers can produce projects, bringing in additional fees.
NETWORK TV PRESIDENT $2M-$3M
The usual base
salary for running the entertainment division of a major broadcast
network is $2 million, but a $3 million base is not unheard of. And
bonuses can double that salary. Still, says one former network
president: "It's not like these are jobs people lust after — they're too
hard. The really fun jobs are running cable networks, a job like head
of programming at AMC, because you have more opportunity to be
creative."
PORN STAR $120K
That's what an "average" porn star makes in a year, according to
Joanne Cachapero of
the Free Speech Coalition, the closest thing adult film has to a guild.
Big-name female performers — what Cachapero calls "top flight" — can
earn $200,000 or more (men, for once, earn less, though they tend to
have longer careers). But there's a limit to even the most successful
porn star's earning power. "Unlike mainstream performers," says
Cachapero, "adult performers have less opportunity to diversify revenue
by adding streams like merchandising and endorsements."
STUDIO CHIEF $5M-$15M
Your average studio chief — think
Alan Horn,
Brad Grey and
Amy Pascal —
earns a base salary of about $5 million. But bonuses and other
sweeteners (structured on box office and production output, among other
factors) usually amount to two to three times that payday. Plus, the job
comes with the best perks in Hollywood, from private jet rides to
24-hour assistants.
PRODUCER $250K-$2M
The number of producers whose fees top $2 million — such aces as
Jerry Bruckheimer,
Scott Rudin,
Brian Grazer and
Neal H. Moritz — can be counted on two hands (plus maybe a foot). Moritz now tops the list, surpassing Bruckheimer with his rich
Fast & Furious 7 deal.
Rudin is said to have a quote of $2.5 million against 7.5 percent of
first-dollar gross. But one dealmaker says no one is earning true
first-dollar gross as in the old days. Instead, "everybody reduces
before a film is greenlit and agrees to be part of a cash-break pool."
The PGA does not share average producer salaries, but a newbie typically
earns $250,000, while a hot actor making a foray into producing earns
$500,000 to $750,000 with some backend. Established actors with
successful producing track records can take home considerably more —
like
Adam Sandler, who earned $5 million to produce
Grown Ups 2 (not nearly as much as the $20 million he received to star in the film).
PUBLICIST $27K-$400K
Unlike agents, managers and
lawyers, PR reps typically are paid a monthly fee, not a percentage of
income. That makes a big difference. A partner at a large firm makes
$200,000 to $300,000, though some of the bigger flaks are rumored to
pull in nearly $400,000. Publicists with A-list clients earn $100,000 to
$150,000 (though fees vary depending on how many clients are "on," or
paying monthly fees), while midlevel reps (five to seven years of
experience) take home $50,000 to $80,000. The entry-level flack at the
red carpet and premiere parties who can't find your name on her
clipboard makes $27,000 to $35,000.
STUNT PERSON $50K-$1M
How much would you charge
to jump a motorcycle over a wall and into a swimming pool? How about
driving a semi tractor-trailer 65 miles an hour off a ramp and 30 feet
into the air?
Tom McComas, 44, who has done all that and much more as a
stuntman in
The Dark Knight and
Mission: Impossiblemovies, earns about a half-million dollars a year, and some make even more.
Yuen Woo-Ping, who worked on the
Matrix films and
Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon, was said to have earned $1 million annually at his peak. But those are exceptions — most risk their necks for far less.
The AFTRA rate for stunt work is $889 a day. That's about $50,000 a
film, assuming one works every day during a three-month shoot. And work,
by the way, is getting harder to come by in L.A. thanks to productions
moving to Louisiana, Georgia and other low-cost states, where local
stunt workers grab most of the jobs. "I was in the top 1 percent, making
$250,000 a year," says a Hollywood stuntwoman who has doubled for
Linda Hamilton and
Jamie Lee Curtis.
"But in the last two years, that has gone down by $100,000." She
estimates the average working stunt person makes only $50,000 to
$100,000 a year.
That's barely enough to cover a daredevil's insurance premiums, let
alone pay the bills when he or she takes the inevitable spill. "I was
doubling
Jim Carrey in
Yes Man, on the back of a scooter on Sunset Boulevard with the girl doubling
Zooey Deschanel,"
recalls McComas. "A car that was supposed to slide by us hit us at 50
miles per hour. She shattered her pelvis; I jumped, flipped in the air
and herniated a couple of disks." He was out of work for eight months.
"When you're hurt, you show up the next day and you're fired. Basically
we're blue-collar workers who punch the clock. I went from $10,000 a
week to $900 a week on disability. The bottom line for a stuntman is:
Don't get hurt."
COMMERCIAL VOICE ACTOR $3K-$1M AN AD
You can do it on bad hair days, and it pays great. More and more top stars are lending their voice to TV and radio commercials.
Robert Downey Jr. for Nissan,
Morgan Freeman for Visa,
Jon Hamm for Mercedes,
Tim Allen for Michigan Tourism,
Kevin Spacey for Honda,
Lisa Kudrow for Yoplait,
Queen Latifah for
Pizza Hut ... the list goes on and on. "The trend in terms of
celebrities doing voiceover has been distinctly upward," says
Jeff Danis,
president of DPN Talent, an agency that specializes in commercial
voiceover work. Big names like Freeman and Allen can command more than
$1 million for an ad, which usually requires only a day's work.
But major stars account for only about 20 percent of the voices you
hear in commercials. The other 80 percent — non-celebrity voice actors —
don't make nearly that kind of dough. Typically, they'll earn scale,
which works out to about $3,000 to $5,000 an ad.
TV STARS $150K-$1M AN EPISODE
It used to be when movie stars did a TV show, it was seen as
slumming. Now it's considered moving on up. Just this summer, Oscar
winner
Halle Berry debuted on CBS'
Extant, and this fall
Katherine Heigl stars on NBC's
State of Affairs, while
Tea Leoni plays a better-dressed version of
Hillary Clinton on CBS'
Madam Secretary.
Each of these actresses is being paid $150,000 an episode, the going
rate for luring big-screen names to TV (for a 22-episode season, it adds
up to $3.3 million). That's a far cry from the $15,000 to $25,000 per
episode an unknown actor is offered for a series regular role. But
established TV actors with virtually no big-screen experience can do
very well.
Jim Parsons,
Johnny Galecki and
Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting now will make $1 million an episode on
The Big Bang Theory (up from $350,000). Then there's
Mark Harmon, who makes north of $500,000 per episode of
NCIS, and
Ashton Kutcher, who earns $750,000 per episode of
Two and a Half Men — or about $34,000 a minute. With paychecks like that, who needs a film career?
PRIVATE CHEF $75K-$200K
Michelin-starred private chefs obviously can make more — but there
are other ingredients in the salary recipe, like whether the client
requires odd-hour meals or has a special diet. According to
Christian Paier,
owner of L.A.-based Private Chefs Inc., pairing a chef with a star or
industry client can be as challenging as matchmaking: "Some of these
clients spend more time with their chef than with their spouse — they
travel with their chef wherever they go. It's a very intimate thing."
SHOWRUNNER $30K-$100K AN EPISODE
At 22 episodes a
season, that adds up to $660,000 to $2.2 million a year. A select few
creator-runners make considerably more, like
Matthew Weiner (who got $30 million for the last three years of
Mad Men).
REALITY STAR: PRACTICALLY NOTHING-$200K AN EPISODE
Sure, if you're a
member of the Duck Dynasty clan — or a
Kardashian — you can make millions (like
Kourtney and
Kim's reported $40 million, three-year deal with E!, or the
Robertson family's more than $200,000 an episode deal with A&E for
Dynasty). Even D-list celebs who go on
Wife Swap can make decent money: $10,000 to $20,000 an episode. But for the vast majority of reality show performers — unfamous
Bachelor contestants
and other run-of-the mill reality hopefuls — jury duty pays better.
You're given a minimal stipend to compensate for missed wages, and
that's pretty much it. The real money in reality comes from parlaying
your TV profile into something larger, the way
Housewives star
Bethenny Frankel managed to land that $100 million Skinnygirl deal in 2011.
Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino spun six seasons on MTV's
Jersey Shore into
$9 million from endorsements of products including vitamins, clothing,
jewelry and sunglasses. Those deals are rare these days, but on a more
modest scale, hot-ish reality stars can pick up an easy $5,000 to
$10,000 just for showing up for paid "appearances" at bars and
nightclubs.
FILM WRITER $100K-$1M A DRAFT
Feature film
writers' incomes continue to slide. According to the WGA West,
screenwriters in Hollywood earned a combined total of $331 million last
year, down nearly 25 percent from 2009. But some of them are doing
pretty well. A screenwriter who sells a draft to a major studio can earn
about $100,000, and a hot writer can score $1 million or more. Super
scribes such as
Alex Kurtzman,
Roberto Orci and
Simon Kinberg pull
in as much as $5 million annually in writers' fees (more when you add
in residuals and producing earnings), while other top screenwriters earn
closer to $2 million.
TV WRITER $3K-$6K A WEEK
In a gloomy Hollywood
climate, the WGA says things are looking relatively bright for TV
writers, who took in a combined total of $668.5 million last year, down
just 6.2 percent from 2012. And TV residuals are booming: Last year, WGA
members received $233.7 million in TV residuals, up 55 percent since
2012. Most staff writers work on 20-week contracts, at a rate of about
$3,800 a week, though more senior writers earn about $6,000 a week. But
the real money is in writing an entire episode on one's own. That pays
$24,788 a script, and considerably more if you create your own series
(see "Showrunner").
•••
BELOW THE LINE: The A to Z of Industry Pay:
ANIMATION DIRECTOR $200K
ART DIRECTOR $134K
ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR $101K
AWARDS SHOW PRODUCER $300K
BEST BOY $92K
BODY DOUBLE $33K
BOOM MIC OPERATOR $87K
CHAUFFEUR $56K
CAMERA OPERATOR $96K
CARPENTER $61K
COSTUME DEPT. SUPERVISOR $91K
COSTUMER $79K
CRAFT SERVICES FOREPERSON $74K
DOG HANDLER $54K
DIALECT COACH $125K
EDITOR $95K
FIRE SAFETY ADVISER $73K
FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR $192K
FOLEY ARTIST $88K
GAFFER $59K
GARDENER (STUDIO) $50K
GRIP $102K
HAIRSTYLIST $77K
HAIRSTYLIST TRAINEE $66K
LIGHTING TECHNICIAN (ENTRY-LEVEL) $53K
LOCATION MANAGER $112K
MECHANIC $59K
MAKEUP ARTIST $100K
MODEL BUILDER $68K
MUSIC MIXER $111K
NOVELIZATION WRITER $12,500 per book
PAYROLL ACCOUNTANT $66K
PERSONAL ASSISTANT FOR A CELEBRITY $80K
PROJECTIONIST (STUDIO) $72K
PROP MASTER $59K
PUBLICIST (STUDIO) $93K
SCENIC ARTIST $81K
SCRIPT SUPERVISOR $62K
SCULPTOR $75K
SET DECORATOR $104K
SOUND EFFECTS EDITOR $88K
TEACHER (ON-SET) $88K
TRAILER EDITOR $81K
WIGMAKER, CLASS 1 $59K
WIGMAKER, CLASS 2 $69K
WILD ANIMAL TRAINER $75K
