TV stars' salaries are skyrocketing during the streaming era. Find out which celebrities are making $1 million per episode on their shows
in “Space Force” have also secured paydays of at least $1 million per episode to grace the small screen with their latest projects. “At this particular moment in time there’s a feeding frenzy,” says Dante Di Loreto, Fremantle president of scripted entertainment for North America. “There’s a lot of money that has been dropped into the television universe because of new companies entering the market and a desire to make an impact really quickly.
“Every actor is available now,” says one agent. “They used to say, ‘No interest in TV.’ You can’t say that anymore. There are certain people who won’t do broadcast, and people who won’t do basic cable. But I wouldn’t even take someone like Leonardo DiCaprio off the table. Why wouldn’t Leo do an eight-episode limited series? It’s as good as a movie.”
For Apple TV, those huge salaries could be seen as the cost of getting into the streaming business — early marketing materials focused on giant close-ups of stars’ faces. “It’s almost as if what they were really paying for was to launch the service,” says one studio president. Moreover, if the first star who’s approached for a role passes on it, that’s now considered the benchmark for what that streamer or network will pay for the role — which means the reps for the backup choice, even if it’s a lesser-known or less-marketable lead, will demand the same deal. Says a casting executive: “I think there is a 2% tier of talent that warrants those kinds of numbers.”
Meanwhile, stars gravitating to streaming and even premium cable may be pulling down hefty salaries, but it’s all upfront cash. As the syndication marketplace has collapsed, and with very little backend in the streaming era, the opportunity for “Friends”- or “Seinfeld”-style gold mines have mostly ceased to exist.
Another example is Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who sealed a major deal with Amazon yet will next produce and star in the series “Run” for HBO. Broadcast isn’t going to get the A-list movie talent, who generally want to do limited series and demand those ultra-high salaries. Nonetheless, the networks are getting more flexible than they were in the days when they held the line at $125,000-per-episode salaries for top stars. Fox, for example, is shelling out $225,000 an installment for “Prodigal Son” star Michael Sheen, who was coming off premium cable and streaming series.
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