Fun with contracts!

[DramatistDreamer]

Some of these sound more like perks, rather than contractual arrangements, lol.

[will81]

Sorry it isn't actually letting me upload any picture of any kind. Not sure why. These are all jpgs. Seemed to have happened after the last big update. I also have an article that states Julia simply temp/subbed the week of Oct 3 - 7, 1977 for an ailing Kathy Breech. Nothing to suggest she ever was contracted to the show

[John]

Okay thanks. I looked back and it was wikipedia that said Duffy had the role from July-Nov 77. Wikipedia isnt always 100% so Thanks for the clarification

[titan1978]

They were and still are a thing.  An example from the We Love Soaps interview with Denise Alexander-

 

“Denise Alexander: I had been working a long time. I had a very strong contract and the network was cutting back on a lot of people and guarantees where you were going to get paid even if you didn't do the episodes. They were letting people go but they offered me a raise. Because I had been kind of a big noise in the field, and had a great agent who was very trend setting in how he negotiated for his clients, I had a three show guarantee. They could not book me for four shows more than half a dozen times a year. They had some storylines coming up and didn't want those restrictions.”

 

They often (well, who knows in the current soap climate) used to work people outside their guarantees.  Especially newer actors that proved popular, because the show could get away with it.  Only the elite performers like Denise and some others mentioned already had clauses to keep the shows from working them too much for their liking.

[will81]

Ah great thankyou for that. I thought they might be. It is interesting how they worked them over or under those guarantees. Bill Bell seemed to do this a lot from what I can tell

[titan1978]

I was thinking the same thing.  I wonder if Corday gave that special credit to Dee and Wayne as a courtesy, not out of any demand on their parts.  Some of these credits might have been a respect thing.  Although vanity is not uncommon in stars.

 

The talent can negotiate perks into their contracts.  Many prime time actors negotiated things like keeping their wardrobe each season and even jewelry in some cases.  I can only imagine the perks in the stars of a show like Dynasty’s contracts.  Or Sex in the City.

@JAS0N47 has a wonderful site dedicated to DAYS, and he has so many interesting contract histories and episode counts posted there.

[DramatistDreamer]

 

I can see some negotiation going on for an actor to be allowed to keep some clothing and shoes (I am dubious about the jewelry though, I don't see Cartier or Harry Winston giving pieces away but perhaps at a reduced rate?).

Actors having their wardrobe cited in the credits happened frequently on ATWT, the announcer (Dan Region e.g.) would even state it during the closing credits. That seems to benefit the sponsor mire than anyone else.

[yrfan1983]

Nia Peeples talks here about how YR tried to fire her in 2008, but it was during the wrong phase of her contract cycle so it didn’t work

 

https://www.soapcentral.com/yr/news/2009/0427-peeples.php

 

[BingCherry]

I remember reading that Larry Bryggman's contract on ATWT allowed outs to do stage and film work as long as they were in the NY area 

[Paul Raven]

Yes, well worth a read.

 

I think that contracts these days are very different than those in the 80/90's.

Back then if you were on say, a 2 a week guarantee. that was per 13 week cycle, Therefore you had to appear 13 times in that cycle. So it could be 1 day in 1 week and 4 days the next so long as it averaged 13 in that time period. But nowadays?

 

Another thing I wondered about is performers going recurring and what they are paid per episode. I read that at one time they had to paid the same rate as when on contract. So someone who was on $ 1500 per episode would receive that for a one shot appearance. 

 

That makes me think of someone like Bill and Susan Hayes and how their payments work as it was years since they were on contract but I can't imagine they would be paid the same rate as some newbie on recurring.

Edited February 4, 2021 by Paul Raven

[DaytimeFan]

 

Dano was incredibly popular and 'mainstream' in the 1990s so I can see why ABC wanted her - they'd tried to buy the rights to the Felicia Gallant character, but P&G wouldn't sell them. It was ABC executive Angela Shapiro who thought up the 4 soap deal. 

 

Louise Sorel has said that Corday paid very, very well in the 1990s. I can only imagine what she thought of the pay when she returned in 2009. 

 

 

Guarantees were and are a thing. It's an effective way for the soaps to budget their talent and it's a way for the actors to not get overworked. I don't know how much the Bell soaps rely on guarantees, mind you, as there were years where certain actors worked heavily and then would be backburned for a year and there's no way that would have balanced out within a guarantee. In the 1990s Jeanne Cooper had some pretty slow years, but she undoubtedly got paid the same. Whether it was in her contract or just a perk but a Lincoln town car picked her up in the morning to go to CBS Television City and drove her home at night. 

 

Cycles vary. The 13 week cycle is the most common, but more experienced vets can get 26 week cycles, and some vets didn't have cycles at all. 

 

 

B&B had those fashion show credits in the late 2010s that featured the core 4 of Flannery, McCook, Moss, and Lang at the beginning - but by that point nobody could complain that they were somewhat featured. 

 

Y&R would have been a wholly different animal. Can you imagine those egos? Given the number of heavy hitters in that cast perhaps it would be alternated with a "Starring Eric Braeden....with Doug Davidson as Paul Williams and Melody Thomas Scott as Nikki Newman" on one day and a "Starring Peter Bergman...with Jess Walton as Jill Abbott and Jeanne Cooper as Katherine Chancellor" on another? 

[sheilaforever]

Not sure if it was a contract clause because I think Brad and Bill Bell have always relied on a good working relationship with their top-stars on B&B, so it could have a mutual understanding and not fixed in writing. 

 

Heather Tom has been a director at B&B for years as well. La Flannery started as early as 1991 (?)...

[titan1978]

I love it when the shows mess up things like this.  The contract favors the production, but sometimes the talent gets to win one.

I can’t imagine him signing a contract that didn’t allow him to do stage work.

 

I wonder if they even had to specify this in the old days, when the show was taped live and a half hour.  All those New York soaps had actors working on the show and the stage all the time, and they had the time to do it because of the schedule back then.

[titan1978]

I know I read about someone, maybe Tracey Bregman, who said their rate was pretty much the same, it just wasn’t guaranteed.  They could use her or not, but unlike her contract days, she only gets paid for actual use.  I highly doubt SSH and BH are making starting wages, but maybe not the same episode $ that Alfonso was making when she left, or Deidre Hall.  But who knows?

 

I remember when DAYS went to the Gary Tomlin production model, especially in the first year or so, and it became so obvious that stories and characters would be dropped for a bit because they didn’t want to work them over their guarantees.  They worked that out for the most part while he was still there, but at first it was a little jarring.  From what I read around here, it wrecks havoc with Ron Carlivati though.

I wonder if ABC had let Kimberly McCullough direct at GH if she would have stayed longer like Flannery?

[mikelyons]

The original SEARCH FOR TOMORROW guarantees called for an actor to appear 2 times during a 13 week cycle, except for Mary Stuart. She appeared in every show for $1,000 a week. 

 

Generally, most American soaps will use a weekly guarantee, while UK soaps use a yearly guarantee due to larger casts. An actor on a UK soap is promised a set number of yearly episodes (a minimum of 50) as part of their contract. Sometimes UK actors with lower lower guarantees are well-paid, but want to do a ton of theatre, outside projects, etc. If I recall, B&B and Y&R use a yearly guarantee (pay or play) versus a weekly guarantee. 

 

I have a 2009 test option for a DAYS actor which sets forth the following: Year 1.) $1,350 for an average of 1.5 guaranteed performances per week; Year 2.) $1,450 for an average of 1.5 guaranteed performances per week; Year 3.) $1,550 for an average of 1.5 guaranteed performances per week; Year 4.) $1,700 for an average of 2 guaranteed performances per week. 

Direct language from the Corday/DAYS option contract regarding cycles: "Corday shall have three (3) options to extend Player’s engagement and the term of this Agreement (the “Term”) for periods of thirteen (13) weeks each, followed by six (6) options to extend the Term for periods of twenty-six (26) weeks each.  All such options are separate, dependent, irrevocable, and consecutive and are exercisable by Corday in its sole discretion.  The initial period together with the periods covered by the three thirteen (13) week options are herein referred to collectively as the “first contract year”; the periods covered by the first and second twenty-six (26) week options are herein referred to collectively as the “second contract year”; the periods covered by the third and fourth twenty-six (26) week options are herein referred to collectively as the “third contract year”; and the periods covered by the fifth and sixth twenty-six (26) week options are herein referred to collectively as the “fourth contract year."

"The option for each subsequent period shall be automatically exercised unless notice of termination is given by Corday at least four (4) weeks (with respect to thirteen [13] week cycles) or six (6) weeks (with respect to twenty-six [26] week cycles) prior to the end of the then current period.  During the Term (on a one-time basis), a cycle may be increased or decreased by a period not exceeding four (4) weeks in order to conform to periods of Corday’s network agreement."

 

Most soaps are crafty about how they use an actors guarantee. If an actor only has a 2 episode guarantee, but appears in less than half of that episode, the show considers it a half of performance (hence the 1.5 in the above option agreement). In theory, an actor could appear in half of four episodes to create a 2 episode guarantee. DAYS has been using the half episode trick since the 60s. 

 

Cars to and from the studio are usually done as a courtesy to actors who have a very early call time. Several actors on Y&R who were first up had town cars provided to and from Television City. Jeanne Cooper was always scheduled to start around 10AM-11AM as a courtesy to her and the production coordinators stuck to this. Generally, all perks are negotiated by your agent.