FILM EARNING DROPPED ? BUT AFTER SONY PICTURES CRISIS HOLLYWOOD MIGHT GET BLOW UP WITH ITS BOX OFFICE EARNING FROM ASIAN COUNTRIES ? Read Hollywood Reporters Staff File... How bad is the decline in actor salaries over the past decade? Despite the huge sums still being raked in by such superstars as Robert Downey Jr. (his $75 million comes from his 7 percent, first-dollar slice of Iron Man 3, as well as his $12 million HTC endorsement deal) and Sandra Bullock (a 15 percent, first-dollar deal on Gravity and about $10 million more for her summer hit The Heat), most actors are feeling a definite squeeze, especially those in the middle. If youre [a big star], youre getting well paid, says one top agent, but the middle level has been cut out. Sometimes with a hacksaw. Leonardo DiCaprio made $25 million (including bonuses) for The Wolf of Wall Street, while co-star Jonah Hill got paid $60,000. Granted, thats an extreme example — Hill offered to do the part for scale (and got an Oscar nomination for his trouble). See more Highly Paid Film Stars But studio cost-cutting has meant that mid-level stars are being nickel-and-dimed in ways that would have been unheard of in the gilded 90s (i.e., Marvel Studios reportedly offering Mickey Rourke a mere $250,000 to star opposite Downey in Iron Man 2). Before breaking out the violins, though, remember that even mid-level stars are far better off than most other actors. According to the most recent SAG statistics, the average member earns $52,000 a year, while the vast majority take home less than $1,000 a year from acting jobs. See more 10 Highest Grossing Movie Sequels AGENT $200K-$10M Like everyone in Hollywood, the talent agencies have been tightening their belts. Your biggest concern used to be, Would I get a $100,000 bonus or a $200,000 bonus? recalls one veteran agent wistfully. Ha! Things have changed. Those bonuses still happen, they just require a hot client (or five). CAA generally pays more than WME, UTA, Gersh, ICM and Paradigm, yet salaries increasingly are tied to what an agent brings in. And an agency will overpay to lure a top agent (and his clients). Generally speaking, though, starting agents can expect to earn $50,000 to $65,000; more senior agents make around $200,000; partners make $400,000 to $700,000; and board members — like CAAs Bryan Lourd and WMEs Patrick Whitesell and Ari Emanuel — can earn as much as $10 million. In rare circumstances, bonuses based on client earnings can turn mid-level agents into $1 million-a-year employees. In short, top talent breeds top salaries. Tracey Jacobs at UTA is said to be earning upward of $9 million — and she reps Johnny Depp. Read more Studio Perks of the Hollywood Exec: Home Screening Rooms, Private Jets, Huge Expense Accounts AGENTS ASSISTANT $10-$13 AN HOUR At most agencies, you start in the mailroom, hope an assistants desk opens up, then dream of ascending the assistant ladder so you can be on the receiving end of middle-of-the-night email rants from top agents. At CAA, though — where Richard Lovett has five assistants and Kevin Huvane has four — you start as an assistant and move up to the mailroom agent-training program. ANIMAL ACTOR $5K-$108K Crystal the monkey earned $108,000 in 2012 for appearing in nine episodes of NBCs Animal Practice. Thats more than most of the below-the-line talent featured in this story and twice as much as the average actor, who earns $52,000, according to SAG-AFRTA. But most animals work for peanuts: The day rate for a dog or cat in Hollywood is $400, with most earning $5,000 to $10,000 a year.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 23:39:09 +0000
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