1 hour ago, Broderick said:

I believe the current Writers Guild of America minimum for a head writer on a 60-minute serial is about $42,500 per week, or approximately $2,200,000 per year. Josh Griffith may earn more than the union minimum.

Josh is earning $40,000 to turn out that dross ? Unbelievable.

 

9 hours ago, Darn said:

Y&R is extremely top heavy with veteran players and unlike Days and GH, which also employ a decent number of veteran actors, their vets are on contract. How much do we think Braeden/Thomas Scott/Bergman, etc. are earning? 

Days has a lot of vets on contract Deidre, Drake, Mary Beth, Lauren, Galen, Suzanne,Stephen,Josh etc at least as many as Y&R so I don't think Y&R is exceptional in that regard.

Days seems to be using extras and I think the sets look better. 

Y&R's management of the budget seems suspect, although Days extreme taping schedule must make a big difference.

3 hours ago, Paul Raven said:

Y&R's management of the budget seems suspect, although Days extreme taping schedule must make a big difference.

One reason Y&R likely looks so wretched is that we're accustomed to something so much better.  (The bigger they are, the harder they fall.)  

9 hours ago, Broderick said:

I believe the current Writers Guild of America minimum for a head writer on a 60-minute serial is about $42,500 per week, or approximately $2,200,000 per year. Josh Griffith may earn more than the union minimum.  lol. 

No idea what coddled veteran actors are being paid nowadays.  But we know from court documents (Shattuck v. Moss) how much Ronn Moss, a 25-year veteran, was being paid by "Bold & Beautiful" for the 2011-2012 season ($700,000 per year), and we know how much he was offered (and subsequently turned down) for the 2012-2013 season (a one-year contract valued at $400,000 per year).  We can assume from his offer that salaries declined approximately 3/7, or 42%, from 2011 to 2012 for long-term veteran actors.  Assuming Moss had accepted the 2012-2013 offer of $400,000 and continued to work on the show, and assuming further audience erosion caused a further 25% budget decrease between 2013 and 2022, his $400,000 per year would now be slashed to approximately $300,000 per year. 

Extrapolating Moss's numbers to a 60-minute serial such as Y&R, you could have easily have had a veteran actor making $800,000 per year for the 2011-2012 season.  His/her offer for the 2012-2013 season would've been approximately $460,000, based upon the Ronn Moss contract formula of 3/7 decrease from 2012 to 2013.  Assuming that viewer erosion in the subsequent nine seasons has caused a 25% decrease in salaries from the 2012-2013 season to the 2021-2022 season, that veteran would now be earning approximately $350,000 per year.  So I'd guess the older codgers may still earn somewhere between $300,000 to $500,000 per year.  (The variables, of course, are that traditionally salaries are higher on a one-hour serial than on a 30-minute serial, but the lucrative foreign market of "B&B" might make that particular show's budget more in line with the budget of an hour-long serial.)        

Wow, they really slashed Moss' salary that much from one year to another? No one would accept that big of a salary cut. I mean, I get he would still be earning 400k which is a lot of money, but still.. no surprise that he refused.

4 hours ago, Broderick said:

One reason Y&R likely looks so wretched is that we're accustomed to something so much better.  (The bigger they are, the harder they fall.)  

Exactly. I wonder also if Y&R people just are not good in handling such a smaller budget since they were used to the much bigger one? Maybe they should hire some new people who would be better at handling smaller budgets and then still have a better quality on screen than what they have now.

Edited January 12, 20223 yr by Manny

I know some of these actors are getting six figures a year, but that's a spit in the bucket when considering the cost of living in LA and NYC

Edited January 17, 20223 yr by Frank2803

8 hours ago, Frank2803 said:

I know some of these actors are getting six figures a year, but that's a spit in the bucket when considering the cost of living in LA and NYC

If I was a veteran soap person who stayed when they started to cut casts by the mid 1990’s, I would have made damn sure to save as much as possible for the inevitable negotiations of reduced salary.  Especially when they started small with early cuts in the early 2000’s.

I did agree with Kim Zimmer though when she refused to renegotiate mid contract.  I know they publicly blamed her for cutting cast members, but she had a contract and it wasn’t due to expire for at least a year.  It’s not her fault the show was so mismanaged.

On 4/30/2020 at 6:12 PM, Dylan said:

Is YRs budget still 80m?

If that's how much it cost to produce the modern day young and the restless, I can only imagine how much an actually well produced and written primetime show amounts to!

On 1/12/2022 at 2:00 AM, Broderick said:

No idea what coddled veteran actors are being paid nowadays.  But we know from court documents (Shattuck v. Moss) how much Ronn Moss, a 25-year veteran, was being paid by "Bold & Beautiful" for the 2011-2012 season ($700,000 per year), and we know how much he was offered (and subsequently turned down) for the 2012-2013 season (a one-year contract valued at $400,000 per year).  We can assume from his offer that salaries declined approximately 3/7, or 42%, from 2011 to 2012 for long-term veteran actors.  Assuming Moss had accepted the 2012-2013 offer of $400,000 and continued to work on the show, and assuming further audience erosion caused a further 25% budget decrease between 2013 and 2022, his $400,000 per year would now be slashed to approximately $300,000 per year. 

Extrapolating Moss's numbers to a 60-minute serial such as Y&R, you could have easily have had a veteran actor making $800,000 per year for the 2011-2012 season.  His/her offer for the 2012-2013 season would've been approximately $460,000, based upon the Ronn Moss contract formula of 3/7 decrease from 2012 to 2013.  Assuming that viewer erosion in the subsequent nine seasons has caused a 25% decrease in salaries from the 2012-2013 season to the 2021-2022 season, that veteran would now be earning approximately $350,000 per year.  So I'd guess the older codgers may still earn somewhere between $300,000 to $500,000 per year.  (The variables, of course, are that traditionally salaries are higher on a one-hour serial than on a 30-minute serial, but the lucrative foreign market of "B&B" might make that particular show's budget more in line with the budget of an hour-long serial.)        

Thank you for that information from Shattuck v. Moss. That pay cut Ronn was presented must have really stung and I can understand why he eventually turned it down given it was apparent he would be facing a further cut in 12 month's time. That said, it's now been 10 years and he 'missed out' on approximately $2,500,000.00 - $4,000,000.00 in income. 

On 1/12/2022 at 3:44 AM, Paul Raven said:

Josh is earning $40,000 to turn out that dross ? Unbelievable.

 

Days has a lot of vets on contract Deidre, Drake, Mary Beth, Lauren, Galen, Suzanne,Stephen,Josh etc at least as many as Y&R so I don't think Y&R is exceptional in that regard.

Days seems to be using extras and I think the sets look better. 

Y&R's management of the budget seems suspect, although Days extreme taping schedule must make a big difference.

Louise Sorel once said in an interview that Ken Corday was known for paying his actors very well and that it had always been the case for her first run between 1992 - 2000. When she had her first return in 2009 she said things had changed...but she also took the job, so it wasn't so bad as to not be worth it. 

From a 2008-2010 Corday contract for a new character on the show (I will not divulge who it is, but, yes, I have a copy of their contract).

This talent was paid a minimum of $105,300 to appear on Days. 

Subtract 10% of this person's agent...

Subtract 15% for this person's manager...

Subtract 25% for taxes...

This person on a network TV show could have netted $52,650 in their first year on Days BEOFRE factoring in their living expenses. 

Corday vets may have been well paid, but unless a newbie was a fan favorite and on 3-4 times a week, they weren't really making a ton of money (in TV or soap terms).

Compensation per episode:

            (a)       First contract year:               $1,350.00

 

            (b)       Second contract year:         $1,450.00

 

            (c)       Third contract year:              $1,550.00

 

            (d)       Fourth contact year:             $1,700.00

 

8.         (Redacted)

 

9.         Number of average guaranteed episodes per week:

            

            (a)       First contract year:               1.50 per week

 

            (b)       Second contract year:         1.50 per week

 

            (c)       Third contract year:              1.50 per week

 

            (d)       Fourth contract year:            2.00 per week

21 hours ago, titan1978 said:

I did agree with Kim Zimmer though when she refused to renegotiate mid contract.  I know they publicly blamed her for cutting cast members, but she had a contract and it wasn’t due to expire for at least a year.  It’s not her fault the show was so mismanaged.

Agreed. And even in the midst of it all, she was still touting GL as the greatest thing since sliced bread (there was a brief creative high, so to speak, in the first half of 2005 when the negotiation drama was unfolding). She wasn't acting all bitter and airing out grievances like some other veteran actors from other soaps had done... 

Kim Zimmer likely took a *risk* when she opted not to renegotiate "mid-contract".  P&G probably had a stipulation in her contract that she could be dropped at the end of any 13-week cycle, or at the end of a 26-week cycle, or at the end of a 52-week cycle.  When she refused to renegotiate, they could've exercised their option and dropped her entirely, cutting her annual salary to $0.  (She was evidently confident they wouldn't do that, due to her popularity, and took her chances on holding out to the end of her contract before renegotiating.)  

I don't remember a time Kim wasn't complaining in public, tbh. But she was right about the show, and right not to re-negotiate. I thought at one point she had had some contractual protection written in re: the cycles, more than most; I think she def was unable to be dropped every 13 weeks. But I may be wrong about that. I could swear she wrote about having that buffer zone in her book and knowing she'd get paid even if they dropped her, but I'm too lazy to pull it up rn.

Edited January 18, 20223 yr by Vee

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy documents from 2017 for a contract actor on DAYS give the following data:

Jan-Dec 2015 Income $166.000
Considering the number of episodes this would mean roughly $1.400 per episode

Jan-Dec 2016 Income $113.000
Considering the number of episodes this would mean roughly $1.100 per episode

Projected income for 2017 is given as $112.000

Edited January 18, 20223 yr by Sturen9a

Kim was definitely on a longer cycle, 26 or 52 weeks guaranteed, This was pretty standard,i think for actors who went into a second 3 yr contract..

Newbie soap actors today wouldn't be earning much at all. Hopefully they have good saving habits.

I remember SPW did a 'stars at home' feature in one issue and I was underwhelmed with some of their rather ordinary houses/apartments.

Guess we always expect TV/movie stars to be living in the lap of luxury.

On 1/11/2022 at 12:59 PM, Darn said:

I wonder why we Y&R's budget cut is so apparent onscreen. GH doesn't look nearly as cheap and I'm pretty sure that show is produced for even less. Actually none of the other soaps look as cheap as Y&R, what's the deal? Y&R is rather top heavy with veteran talent. Maybe that's where the majority of the budget is going.

Y&R's sets are pretty bad now but DAYS definitely looks the cheapest. 

52 minutes ago, Sturen9a said:

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy documents from 2017 for a contract actor on DAYS give the following data:

Jan-Dec 2015 Income $166.000
Considering the number of episodes this would mean roughly $1.400 per episode

Jan-Dec 2016 Income $113.000
Considering the number of episodes this would mean roughly $1.100 per episode

Projected income for 2017 is given as $112.000

Who was that?!