Aspiring actors and movie fans alike often wonder how much their favorite on-screen heroes and heroines get paid. It’s not uncommon to see a film with a budget in the hundreds of millions, but how much of that is actually for the A-lister?
Although big names can command enormous salaries for their talent and on-screen presence, many actors get salaries in the thousands, not millions. It’s still not a bad payday for your work of passion, but it’s far from the millions we see in the budgets. Here’s a quick breakdown of how actors get paid.
Negotiating Pay in Hollywood
Negotiating an actor’s pay is a careful dance involving agents, managers, and sometimes even suited lawyers. Each of these professionals plays a part in the two-step shuffle that is Hollywood wheeling and dealing. They each want to secure the best possible deal for their own respective party: the actor or the film studio. An established track record of awards, big box office hits, and the ability to draw an audience to a theater can improve an actor’s bargaining position.
Yet even with strong negotiating power, external elements like a producer’s budget and the presence of multiple bankable stars can limit how high a salary can realistically climb. If the producers only have $10m to spend, an actor can’t realistically expect half of that to go to them. If they want to secure an A-list actor but don’t have the budget, there are ways to incentivize them to say yes, such as a share of the film’s profits.
That can be a gamble, however, as not every film makes a profit, and Hollywood accountants can fudge numbers to ensure that a film never makes a profit. They might as well gamble online and place bets at a table or slot machine. Rather than gamble on a small movie making it big, they can read Casingdom’s trusted casino reviews and find an online casino to bet at. Instead of going into the studio to work on a film that possibly won’t make a profit, they can test their luck on blackjack or any other variety of game.
What do Agents Do?
We mentioned agents earlier, and they’re just as important in the game of negotiating salaries as the actor themselves. Some think they’re just middlemen taking advantage of stars, but they’re really interested in getting the actor as many opportunities and as much pay as possible.
Agents help actors find offers and help negotiate their pay. They serve as a wall of defense against an onslaught of horrible offers and uninteresting work. Someone like Matt Dillon doesn’t need to hear about every single offer that comes their way; there are simply too many.
Instead, the agent helps filter out the ones they know Matt isn’t interested in or doesn’t work with his schedule. If a script or offer comes across their desk that is right up Matt’s alley—or comes with a substantial paycheck—they pass it along. They’ll also help negotiate pay, such as telling a studio that they need to offer more money because of reasons X, Y, and Z.
Why Actor Salaries Vary So Much
This should be straightforward. Different actors command different pay. It’s the same as an apprentice electrician who just started and a master who’s been in the industry for 20 years with thousands of hours under his belt and the knowledge that can only be acquired through decades of hard work.
A new actor that no one knows will not put butts in seats at a theater. Movies need stars or competent actors who have a few films under their belt that show promise. Perhaps they are not a household name yet, but the industry has seen their potential and knows that if given the spotlight, they will rise to the occasion. There’s also screen time. An actor making a quick cameo, no matter how famous, is not going to demand as high a salary as the lead star.
Residuals and Long-Term Earnings
We already mentioned how some film studios will offer actors a share of the profits, but there are other ways for actors to earn outside of their typical salaries.
Residuals are the main way actors and other major workers on a film set earn after they’ve done the hard work in the studio. When a film or TV show airs on television, streams on a subscription service, or sells a physical or digital copy, it gets a small amount of money called a residual. Residuals can add up, and some writers and actors can often live off their residuals long after they’ve finished working.
However, the scale of these residuals can vary significantly based on union rules, the terms of the actor’s contract, and the origin of the residual, as outlined above. Residuals vary too much for there to be a set standard, with some actors not getting any residuals at all. Child actors are famous for not getting residuals on TV shows.
