10 Actors Who Got Way Less Money Than They Should Have:
The SAG-AFTRA union, which is made up of the Screen Actors Guild as well as the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists, called a strike at the beginning of this month. It’s the very first time since 1960 that both actors as well as writers have gone upon strike at the same time.
In the past few weeks, a lot of stars have talked about how ridiculously low their residuals are. This is mostly because of streaming. Some of them have also been honest about how little they were paid at first. So, here are 10 artists who were never paid enough for their roles:
The writers have been on strike for 87 days, and the actors have been with them for 14 days. However, the differences between the groups and the companies are still as deep as ever.
Priyanka Chopra:
The actor tells Insider that she was paid a lot less than her male co-star within a Bollywood movie where they both had parts.
“A producer-director told me, ‘Well, you know how it goes with the big boys in these kinds of big tentpole movies. This is the limit for the girl, so we can’t go any higher than that.’ It was only 5% of what was getting.”
Natasha Portman:
Within 2017, the actor claimed Marie Claire UK that her co-star in the romantic comedy No Strings Attached, Ashton Kutcher, got paid three times greater than she was. She said, “I knew, so I went alongside it, because Hollywood has this thing with “quotes.”
“His pay was three times as much as mine, so they stated he ought to receive three times as much. I didn’t get as angry as I should have. We are compensated a lot, so it’s hard to complain, yet the difference is crazy.”
Abdi Barkhad:
The actor’s role as Captain Phillips, which got him Golden Globe as well as Oscar nods, only paid him $65,000, according to the New Yorker. When filming was over, he went back to selling cell phones within a Minneapolis mall. When he was in Los Angeles to promote the movie, the company put him into a hotel and gave him clothes to wear.
Taraji P. Henson:
In an interview on The Real, the star talked about how much she was paid for her role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
She received $150,000 for the part that got her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod. After taxes as well as her team, she had about $30,000 left, which was the same amount as her son’s college fees.
Taraji said on the show Ladies First alongside Laura Brown that she asked for $500,000 at first, but the studio turned her down and gave her $100,000 instead.
They agreed upon $150,000, yet she points out that her co-stars Brad Pitt as well as Cate Blanchett made a lot more. “I’m not saying that they shouldn’t have paid Cate as well as Brad the amount they deserved,” she said.
“They earned it, because when this rolls out, people will come because of Brad, as well as that’s how they’ll find me. I also bring something to the table, and I thought what I was requesting for at that point in my work was fair.”
Michelle Williams:
The Hollywood Reporter says that Michelle received $625,000 for her role within All the Money within the World, which got her a nod for a Golden Globe. Mark Wahlberg, who was in the same movie, made $5 million, which was almost ten times what she made.
Even worse, she was only paid $1,000 for the reshoots, while Mark’s pay went up by $1.5 million. Mark gave $1.5 million to the Time’s Up cause after the story went public.
Michelle said something to Entertainment Tonight about Mark’s gift. “It’s not about me today. My fellow actors stood by me and spoke up for me.
My political friends taught me how to use my voice, as well as the most powerful men who were in charge heard and took action. If we really want a fair world, we all have to work hard and make sacrifices.
Oprah:
When she first started out, the TV host was not paid nearly enough for her work within The Color Purple. Insider says that she was only paid $35,000 to play Sofia. She was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress because of how well she did in the role.
Hilary Swank:
On Chelsea, Chelsea Handler’s Netflix talk show, the star said that she was only paid $3,000 for Boys Don’t Cry, even though she got an Oscar for Best Actress for her work in that movie. “I got $3,000,”
“You have to make $5,000 a year to get health insurance,” she said. “So, I didn’t know I had no health insurance till I went to get a medication filled.
“That’s $160,” they said. I said, “Uh, did you look into my insurance?” They said, “Mmm-hmm. I had an Academy Award but no health insurance.”
Emma Thompson:
Emma and Jimmy Fallon talked about the Christmas movie Love Actually upon an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “I don’t think I was paid very well for that,” she said.
Even though she didn’t say how much she was paid, the star said that she never watches the movie again because it reminds her of how little she was paid.
Kimiko Glenn:
The actor has said for a long time that she and many other stars on Orange Was the New Black didn’t get paid enough. She said this in a recent TikTok: “People continued to be bartenders.
Still, people had second jobs. They were well-known as fuck. They were popular all over the world and couldn’t go outdoors, yet they had to keep working because they were unable not to. We couldn’t afford to take cabs to set!”
She said on Instagram that she made $900 per day when she was shooting, which added up to $1800 per month. Anyone who lives in a place with a high cost of living knows that’s not even close to enough to get by.
Mark Cook:
In a recent TikTok post, he said that he got $7,500 per episode of Dollface, while the regulars on the show got $100,000 per episode, even though he was just one step below the regulars.
He also said that taxes and 10% for his boss, 10% for his agent, as well as 5% for his lawyer would be taken out. Also, a huge sign with his face was put up on Sunset Boulevard. “Do you know how much they charged me to be on that billboard? Zero.”
Writers and actors do get set residuals for their work upon streaming services, yet they aren’t directly tied to how well a show does, and even the most famous artists have been known to get pennies for some of their work.
But now, both groups agree that a set surplus is not enough to show how much their members have helped the streaming services.
WGA Suggested To AMPTP Implement A Viewership Based Royalty Plan:
In its suggestion to the Alliance of Motion Picture as well as Television Producers, the WGA suggested implementing a “viewership-based” royalty plan to the one that was already in place.
The union says that was turned down. SAG-AFTRA went one step further and suggested that actors should get 2% of the money made from streaming material. The guild says that this idea was also flatly turned down.
During Those 35 Years The Companies Have Never Give Us A Real Answer:
“This offer was on the table upon June 7, the first day of talks. “The companies have never given us a real answer, not just during those 35 days of negotiations but also since then,” Crabtree-Ireland said.
“Their answer was that they didn’t want to talk about it. So it will be hard to come to a deal when the companies won’t even talk to you about it.
The AMPTP gives another tale, saying that the 2% income share had been brought up “numerous times” yet the companies had “fundamental objections” to the idea.
Even though they are ready to increase residuals from streaming material, studio sources say that a blanket income share “creates a one-size-fits-all approach” that is “unworkable.”
