Infamous/Unique Contract Clauses

[yr9190]

Eric Braeden always asking for the writers to let Victor win.

Susan Flannery being the only one aloud to slap co-stars on the show, but no one else can slap her (except KKL apparently)

[DRW50]

It's nothing shocking but it always kind of cracked me up how much the soap press reported on Deirdre's 1991 return stipulating that she would be get the dressing room with a bathroom/shower (which meant Drake Hogestyn was kicked out).

[DRW50]

People already know all about it, likely, but the grandmother clause was done when Eileen Fulton saw Barbara Berjer, who was only in her 40's, somehow aged into a great-grandmother bracket, and then killed off as a result. This was in the early 70's. This was written about at times, and then became a big controversy in 1986 when Lisa's son Tom and daughter in law Margo lost their second child. This upset many viewers, and Eileen got tons of hate mail, even though she had stopped bothering with that clause years earlier and had nothing to do with the decision to give Margo a miscarriage.

[ellabelle]

Supposedly Dorothy Lyman (Opal) made a bunch of demands of AMC/ABC after she won an Emmy, and TPTB balked over her demands because she was asking for things that even Susan Lucci didn't ask for.

Back in the 70s or early 80s, Susan Lucci demanded the first day of school and her children's birthdays off. She was apparently the first person who'd ever asked ABC for that, and she's said they teased her about it, but they gave it to her.

[darraholic]

Was Heather Locklear's "Special Guest Star" part of her contract?

[DRW50]

Gloria Loring was the first soap star to have guaranteed outs and NBC primetime guest appearances in her contract.

[Khan]

Man, I wish Susan Lucci had been my mom.

[DaytimeFan]

No. That was courtesy of Aaron Spelling. Heather, initially, was a short term recurring actress on MP to give the show a shot in the arm. Then, as the show took off like a rocket Spelling decided that he wanted to differentiate her from the rest of the cast, listed alphabetically.

Linda Dano's OLTL contract: crossovers across the then 4 ABC soaps, all her travel expenses covered and 6 spots on The View a year.

[Susan Hunter]

Not infamous, but Rosemary Prinz got special billing in the main titles of 'AMC' and 'How to Survive a Marriage'.

[Paul Raven]

At some point in the 80's La Lucci got a number of TV movie appearances each season.

Erika Slezak got the annual 6 week summer vacation.

[will81]

Victoria Principal worked as an entertainment agent in the 70's before Dallas, when she signed on to play Pamela Ewing she had them remove the clause that allowed CBS the right to consent and profit from her outside projects, which is why she was able to do whatever she wanted outside the show and retain full control of her image and career, she knew her contract inside and out and was the only actor on the show doing commercials and movies of the week, at least in the early years of the show.

[John]

Yeah Erika Slezak had that until her kids went to college. ES on days she filmed was always the first one to film and in most cases was out of work by late Morning unless it was a big shoot like Todd's execution, a wedding or funeral

[Khan]

I've said before how I thought VP was one of the smartest actresses working in primetime (Donna Mills being another). I haven't always agreed with her choice of projects, but (cosmetic surgery and divorce nightmares aside) I do admire her ability to control her own "brand" in a largely male-dominated medium.

[MissLlanviewPA]

Roger Howarth's infamous "no sex" clause from 1996-1998 on OLTL, due to his perception (from what I understand) that Todd would only be comfortable sexually with Blair after the gang rape, and of course, his completely understandable position that a gang rapist, even if his character evolved over the years, shouldn't be brought to the point where he would have sex with just anyone.

Kassie DePaiva had it in her contract that she sing on the show a certain amount of times a year (although I don't think they followed it to the letter later on--and I don't think she necessarily minded, either).

Genie Francis was able to get the same amount of vacation time as Tony Geary during Wendy Riche's tenure, but left under similar circumstances as Beverlee McKinsey did under JFP's watch, IIRC.

[ChitHappens]

He also has a say on what stories he wants. I was told that Carly was supposed to be the person to hit Jake on the road, but Tony decided it s/b Luke.

ANDREA