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How Much DOES An Actor Make?
Wow! Everybody hears about how much actors make…all those millions of dollars! Especially lead actors on a TV series. So they’re all raking in big bucks, right?
Well, hang on…not so fast.
Actors in most films and TV shows based or produced in the US are members of unions called the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and/or the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (AFTRA). Generally, the two unions are lumped together (whether they like it or not) as SAG/AFTRA. Both set certain minimums for pay based on the type of show, size of the part, and so on. For our purposes, let’s look at the rates for a one-hour drama series like Moonlight.
Let’s start with guest stars…like Lola, Leni, or the teenage vampire. They’re considered “Major Role” performers, and are guaranteed a minimum of $6,527 for their work. For supporting roles like Josh, Carl or Guillermo (in other words, they show up in multiple scenes in multiple episodes, but not in every episode), they’re paid per episode they’re in at a minimum of around $3,500. For a supporting role in an episode, like Lola’s gatekeeper/assistant at Club Valis or the mobster after Leni, they’re called “3 day performers” (because their role can generally be filmed in 3 days or less) and they’re guaranteed $1,920 for their work on the episode.
Sounds like pretty good money, right? Sure…as long as you don’t mind averaging only a week or two of work a year. Yep. The average union actor makes just over $4,000 a year. If an actor is very busy and books several TV episode appearances, a couple commercials or a small role in a mid-size film, they may be able to make $50K a year before expenses (we’ll get into that later).
Now, about those series leads. In Moonlight, you’re talking about Mick, Beth, Josef and Coraline. They’re referred to as Contract Players, since their agents negotiated a longer term contract with the studio and production company. The contract covers a myriad of things from salary (including raises), accommodations (size of dressing trailer or other facilities), assistants, stunt doubles, nudity clauses (some guys refuse to take their shirts off…thank goodness Alex isn’t one of them!), their cut of any merchandizing (anybody want a Moonlight lunchbox for their MickMeals?), requirements for personal appearances, expenses covered, guaranteed payouts (if the show is supposed to run 13 episodes and is cancelled after 2, does the star still get paid?) and other various issues. Contracts can be for various lengths of time. Secondary leads such as Coraline may only have a year (one season) contract, while you can be assured Mick and Beth are contractually signed for 6-7 years. The funny thing about those contracts, though, is that while they’re tough for an actor to get out of, they’re easily dumped by studios if a show is cancelled.
Salaries for contract players are wide open. While union minimums are about $6500/wk, some big name actors have commanded high six-figure salaries per episode, and on Friends, each got a whopping $1M/episode! For Alex and Sophia, though, while both are accomplished performers, neither is a big name yet. Salaries for unknowns are more in the range of $20K-75K per episode. (I know…that’s a big range, but some even start lower or higher. It’s just a basic estimate.)
Just for sake of example, let’s say an actor gets $50K per episode. Wow! For a full season of 22 episodes, that means they’d make $1,100.000.00! They’re a millionaire, right?
Wrong.
Remember those “expenses” I mentioned earlier? Here’s where they come into play. At that level, an actor can expect to pay at least 30% income tax, so that’s $330K. Agents are paid 10% of pre-tax income and managers (if they have one…most do) are paid 15% pre-tax income. In other words: Income: 1,100.000 MINUS Taxes: 330,000 Agent: 110,000 Manager: 165,000 TAKE HOME PAY 395,000 Now, before you panic, agent and manager fees are largely tax deductable, so much of that can be written off, as can other expenses (yes, there’s more) such as publicists, stylists, personal assistants, photo sessions, headshots (those pictures actors hand out to EVERYONE), lessons (acting, movement, stunt training, dialogue coaches for accent reduction, etc) and so on and so on.
Still, after taxes and expenses, an actor is lucky to take home half of what they make. And it can take years, if ever, for an actor to get a break and land a major series like Moonlight. Character actors like Jason Dohring are lucky since it’s often easier for them to pick up supporting roles and be less typecast than leading men and women. Let’s face it…no matter what else they do, Henry Winkler will always be The Fonz and Sara Michelle Geller will always be Buffy. If a star is very lucky, they’ll get a couple series in their career. Think Richard Dean Anderson as both MacGyver and as Jack O’Neil in Stargate SG1 or Bruce Boxleitner in Scarecrow and Mrs King then in Babylon 5.
Alex O’Loughlin graduated with his BA from Australia’s premiere acting program, the National Institute of Dramatic Arts, in 2002. Within two years, he’d starred in Oyster Farmer, Feed and Mary Bryant (all in Australia). He then moved to Los Angeles and within three years had landed the lead on a major network drama. In the last year alone, he’s done a season on The Shield, a supporting role in August Rush, a major supporting role in the to-be-released Whiteout, and a season as the lead of Moonlight. That success is due to an incredible blend of talent, looks, dogged determination, daily dedication, business savvy and just plain luck. When asked how he felt about getting the role in Moonlight, his first comments centered on the fact that this was the first year he’d actually made any money and how it was how nice it was to be able to pay the bills and not have to wash dishes anymore.
Behind all the apparent glamour and big money in Hollywood are hundreds of thousands of struggling actors waiting tables and painting houses while they go to audition after audition where they’re told they are too tall, too short, too dark, too blonde, too…whatever. (The average is about one role booked for every 50-75 auditions). When they are lucky enough to get that big break as a series lead, it’s generally 8 days of 16-hr shoots for each episode. And you’ll end up shooting a bikini beach scene on one of LA’s 35 degree days or a ski scene when it’s 110 in the shade. And the jobs of more than 200 people are on your shoulders. If you can’t make the show work, or if you get sick or injured, there will be unpaid mortgages and cancelled health insurance because of you. And if you’re really good, and you make it big, you’ll never be able to eat uninterrupted at a restaurant again. Photographers will snap pictures of you when you yell at your kids and publicly wonder if you’ve gained or lost weight (Is she pregnant?? Is it cancer???) Your cousin comes for a visit? You have a new lover!!
Bottom line – only the biggest names make the big money. Most actors struggle for years before they find any success, and their hard earned paychecks must stretch until the next role is won. So as tempting as it might seem to chuck it all and move to Hollywood, a word to the wise.
If there’s anything else you enjoy doing, do it. Leave the starving and the struggling to those who can’t NOT act. To those who are willing to “live on a couch for a year and eff up” their back or who are willing to pack their bags and fly across an ocean on 24 hours notice.
Leave it to Alex and Sophia. They’ve earned it. |