SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - A 45% pay cut may decide the fate of The Simpsons

Gallery 2 · Posted: Oct 04 2011 07:53 pm

Simpsons May End This Season If Actors Don’t Accept Pay Cut

Quote:

In a rather ballsy move, Fox is apparently threatening to pull the plug on the show if the voice actors don’t accept a 45 percent pay cut, according to The Daily Beast. The series concludes its 23rd season in the spring, and it may be the end if Fox makes good on its alleged threat.

For Fox, there are some definite upsides to the show ending, the least of which may be the inevitable Blu-ray mega-collection (and eventual Blu-ray 3D mega-collection– c’mon, you know it’s gonna happen). The studio was recently reported to be in early discussions concerning the future of The Simpsons after its legendary run comes to an end. The possibility of an all-Simpsons TV channel was mentioned, although some sort of digital streaming program, possibly even subscription-based, seems much more likely given the direction the world is headed.

Fox has issued a statement on the news to Deadline, and it sounds like the original report is accurate: “23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world. We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come.”

So there you have it. In short: The show is too expensive to produce in today’s climate, and cutbacks need to happen. It’ll be interesting to see how creator Matt Groening and his talented cast respond; salary issues are nothing new for the series, but the grim financial outlook in recent times is a hard thing to argue with.

While I lost interest on the Simpsons YEARS ago, I do admit it would suck if the show ends under such circumstances. Then again, 45% seems a tad steep...

Also, am I the only one who's imagining The Simpsons on life support after reading this? Or a Terri Schiavo analogy would work better here?

Posted: Oct 04 2011 08:42 pm

wikipedia.org wrote:

Up until 1998, the six main actors were paid $30,000 per episode. In 1998 they were involved in a pay dispute with Fox. The company threatened to replace them with new actors, even going as far as preparing for casting of new voices, but series creator Groening supported the actors in their action. The issue was soon resolved and, from 1998 to 2004, they were paid $125,000 per episode. The show's revenue continued to rise through syndication and DVD sales, and in April 2004 the main cast stopped appearing for script readings, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode. The strike was resolved a month later and their salaries were increased to something between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode. In 2008, production for the twentieth season was put on hold due to new contract negotiations with the voice actors, who wanted a "healthy bump" in salary to an amount close to $500,000 per episode. The negotiations were soon completed, and the actors' salary was raised to $400,000 per episode.

7 years ago they were making 125K Now they make 400K. PER EPISODE. I can't blame Fox for this.

Posted: Oct 04 2011 09:55 pm

Me either. Especially when you consider that the quality and ratings of the show have been in a bit of a decline...

Posted: Oct 04 2011 10:05 pm

I watched the first episode of it I've seen in years just last Sunday. Said it was a new episode and I didn't care about the football game on so I decided to watch it. The quality of the show has really went down since I was a kid just based on the one episode. I don't think I even got a single laugh during the entire show, and I'm not likely to bother catching another if that is the best they can manage these days. Honestly the show has probably been on too long and they are running out of ideas, they need to call it quits, and let the show go out with some remaining dignity.

Posted: Oct 04 2011 10:19 pm

Beach Bum wrote:

I watched the first episode of it I've seen in years just last Sunday. Said it was a new episode and I didn't care about the football game on so I decided to watch it. The quality of the show has really went down since I was a kid just based on the one episode. I don't think I even got a single laugh during the entire show, and I'm not likely to bother catching another if that is the best they can manage these days. Honestly the show has probably been on too long and they are running out of ideas, they need to call it quits, and let the show go out with some remaining dignity.

I pretty much agree with this. I have caught a few new episodes here and there over the past few years and found myself wondering why they were continuing to drag it out.

Banned Joined: Sep 13 2008 Posts: 3129

Douche McCallister wrote:

wikipedia.org wrote:

Up until 1998, the six main actors were paid $30,000 per episode. In 1998 they were involved in a pay dispute with Fox. The company threatened to replace them with new actors, even going as far as preparing for casting of new voices, but series creator Groening supported the actors in their action. The issue was soon resolved and, from 1998 to 2004, they were paid $125,000 per episode. The show's revenue continued to rise through syndication and DVD sales, and in April 2004 the main cast stopped appearing for script readings, demanding they be paid $360,000 per episode. The strike was resolved a month later and their salaries were increased to something between $250,000 and $360,000 per episode. In 2008, production for the twentieth season was put on hold due to new contract negotiations with the voice actors, who wanted a "healthy bump" in salary to an amount close to $500,000 per episode. The negotiations were soon completed, and the actors' salary was raised to $400,000 per episode.

7 years ago they were making 125K Now they make 400K. PER EPISODE. I can't blame Fox for this.

This would bump them down to 255K an episode; They could live a middle to upper class life style off for a year off one episode.

Now math time! there have been 69 played episode since 2008-current
69 * 400,000 = 27,600,000

I would take the pay cut. I'm sorry but even if the show ends in like 5 or 6 years they'll still have enough to live out the rest of their days

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Quote:

Dan Castellaneta (Homer, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, and others), Julie Kavner (Marge and others), Nancy Cartwright (Bart and others), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Moe Szyslak, Chief Wiggum and Apu Nahasapeemapetilon), and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, Ned Flanders, and others) each earn about $8 million annually for about 22 weeks’ work.

Even under Fox Studio’s proposed downgrade, they would still be making around $4 million apiece, which goes a long way in the fictitious town of Springfield, and even in the allegedly real city of Hollywood.

But the actors have long argued that they deserve a taste of the plentiful syndication and merchandising profits because they’ve contributed creatively to the success of The Simpsons almost as much as Brooks and Groening. The latter two benefit greatly from the show’s back-end revenue, and will continue to get even richer off the second round of syndication deals once new episodes are no longer being produced.

But Fox has consistently refused to compensate the main cast members beyond their generous salaries, and once production ends, the studio will continue to reap billions for years to come (with Fox drawing on a valuable archive of around 500 episodes), while the actors will receive little more than their union-mandated residuals.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/04/the-simpsons-money-dispute-may-shut-down-fox-tv-s-long-running-hit.html

They absolutely deserve the money they are paid if Fox continues to earn money off the show.

The primary voice actors are paid as much as a "good" NFL quarterback and given the fact that QB's aren't featured in many reruns, it seems fair. That last part about not seeing any of the syndication/merchandise money should clear this up.

Seriously, think about it. They earn 8 million bucks a year. Consider what other actors and actresses earn and it seems very fair. Oh, and for anyone who would say that they are just voice actors... please, you couldn't replace a single one of them without destroying the show.

If the show is going downhill, it should be canceled and the conversation should stop right there. Otherwise, just don't give them raises until revenues pick up.

Gallery 2 · Posted: Oct 05 2011 12:10 pm

It's always about this:

Posted: Oct 05 2011 01:09 pm

I have no problem having them get paid for reruns, but if they are making 8 million a year and complaining that they might have to go down to 4 million they can suck it up. I'd kill all of them to make 4 million a year, and if you can't find a way to save enough to live the rest of your life on 4-8 million a year you are doing something wrong. So cancel the show but give them some sort of real money for the rerun situation or tell them to shut the fuck up and be glad they have a job and aren't working for minimum wage at McDonald's.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Beach Bum wrote:

I have no problem having them get paid for reruns, but if they are making 8 million a year and complaining that they might have to go down to 4 million they can suck it up. I'd kill all of them to make 4 million a year, and if you can't find a way to save enough to live the rest of your life on 4-8 million a year you are doing something wrong. So cancel the show but give them some sort of real money for the rerun situation or tell them to shut the fuck up and be glad they have a job and aren't working for minimum wage at McDonald's.

The entire Hollywood world makes too much money, but if you want to compare apples to apples, it isn't about what you earn vs what they earn. It is what they earn vs what their peers earn for similar type work.

They are the absolute best at what they do in a field that pays a lot of money. Beyond that they have solidified the positions of being completely irreplaceable. They shouldn't have pay reductions unless the show's profits aren't rolling in. That does not seem to be the case.

Also, I don't recall anyone mentioning the fact that these guys did a Simpson's movie. No doubt once that happened they went from being TV stars to Movie stars... expectations change when you move into films.

Posted: Oct 05 2011 02:58 pm

GPFontaine wrote:

Beach Bum wrote:

I have no problem having them get paid for reruns, but if they are making 8 million a year and complaining that they might have to go down to 4 million they can suck it up. I'd kill all of them to make 4 million a year, and if you can't find a way to save enough to live the rest of your life on 4-8 million a year you are doing something wrong. So cancel the show but give them some sort of real money for the rerun situation or tell them to shut the fuck up and be glad they have a job and aren't working for minimum wage at McDonald's.

The entire Hollywood world makes too much money, but if you want to compare apples to apples, it isn't about what you earn vs what they earn. It is what they earn vs what their peers earn for similar type work.

They are the absolute best at what they do in a field that pays a lot of money. Beyond that they have solidified the positions of being completely irreplaceable. They shouldn't have pay reductions unless the show's profits aren't rolling in. That does not seem to be the case.

Also, I don't recall anyone mentioning the fact that these guys did a Simpson's movie. No doubt once that happened they went from being TV stars to Movie stars... expectations change when you move into films.

This. I would even argue that its not what they earn vs. their peers--they've clearly set themselves apart at this point. It's what they earn vs. the overall profits they help produce. To me at least, accepting a higher pay cut for a percentage of merchandising profits seems reasonable.

I dunno. It seems like Fox has a lot more to lose at this point. Its not like the actors will ever have trouble finding work--or for that matter, it's not like they ever need to work again, between money earned and continuous residual profits.

Posted: Oct 05 2011 03:19 pm

SoldierHawk wrote:

I dunno. It seems like Fox has a lot more to lose at this point. Its not like the actors will ever have trouble finding work--or for that matter, it's not like they ever need to work again, between money earned and continuous residual profits.

This is how I feel about it.

I'm like most of you though, I don't even think the show is that good anymore anyway. I don't in anyway go out of my way to watch new episodes. It's usually a last case, can't find anything else to watch, sort of thing.

Posted: Oct 05 2011 06:19 pm

They know they are irreplaceable. If you know that you make higher and higher demands until the other side has to close shop. My thoughts are that the actors, while enjoying the pay receive currently, are asking for more money because either A. They will get it or B. The show closes up shop and they can retire or work on other projects. They really have nothing to lose in this scenario.

Posted: Oct 05 2011 08:37 pm

It'd better have one hell of a series finale though, something 1000 times better than that shit movie.

Joined: Dec 06 2007 Location: Connecticut Posts: 11244

Douche McCallister wrote:

They know they are irreplaceable. If you know that you make higher and higher demands until the other side has to close shop. My thoughts are that the actors, while enjoying the pay receive currently, are asking for more money because either A. They will get it or B. The show closes up shop and they can retire or work on other projects. They really have nothing to lose in this scenario.

This article wasn't about the actors demanding more money, it is about the studio demanding less pay. The studio already agreed to contracts where they are, they should not reneg at this point. Simply don't agree to higher pay.

Posted: Oct 06 2011 09:22 am

They should just let the show die at this point, it's long past being good anymore and is now just an anachronistic mess that Fox is beating the tiniest bit of life from.

Posted: Oct 06 2011 10:44 am

I wonder what the animators in Korea make annually...probably a few rice-balls and new mats for their cages.

Posted: Oct 06 2011 11:30 am

Realistically, the show won't end. If FOX doesn't want to pay the contracts, someone else will pick up the torch.

But yeah, you people who are complaining that the voice actors make too much clearly don't understand the industry. The Simpsons is a HUGE cash cow for its overlords, and the voice actors didn't just arbitrarily decide they deserved to go from making $30,000 an episode to $400,000 an episode over ten years. They hired lawyers and agents to find out what the show's overall revenue was and whether or not they were being paid fairly for it.

And as it's been pointed out, actors make very little off of syndication deals. In the early days of syndication, actors were only compensated for the first two reruns of a show. So actors of heavily syndicated shows like Gilligan's Island and The Brady Bunch were getting fucked over while the producers and studios were reaping in extra profits.

If the Simpsons ends, it should end because there's no market for it. Not some bullshit excuse that it's too expensive.

But again, it's very unlikely it'll end. If FOX doesn't want to pay for new episodes, they'll reach a deal with some other network that will.

Posted: Oct 06 2011 12:15 pm

The last episode I watched, several years ago, had reeeeeaaaaly half-assed voice acting. And the lines they were delivering were almost as bad. The poor delivery actually killed the one line in the show that would, otherwise, have elicited a laugh. I also saw a piece of an episode that had Milhouse and Bart running down stairs that was just a loop of them running in front of a piss-poor animation of moving down a 3D rendered stairwell. It was a long fall from the earlier years of ambitious animation and fantastic voice acting.

They should have killed the show at season 15. That was the last season that was still watch-able and had a few laughs. Not big ones, but better than the "none" of the last eight.

I watched the movie only twice (it was a gift, because I was known to love the show), the second time with the audio commentary, just to see what the hell they were thinking. The biggest laugh from them, the part they thought was just fantastic, was when they showed Bart's dick...
No... just no.

And I remember when they were showing pre-release footage to some gathering, and Lisa says "Ugh, they've got ladders!" and the crowd just roared with laughter. Neutral

THAT ISN'T A JOKE YOU IDIOTS!! Evil

That is a declarative statement with nothing humorous contained within.

The people running the show and its current fans makes me sad.

Posted: Oct 06 2011 09:16 pm

So we are all agreed this horse turd should end and they should change the name of the block to "Seth MacFarlane Domination"

Posted: Oct 06 2011 09:43 pm

Well if they do cancel The Simpsons, that'll free up a time slot and allow me to pitch my idea for a cartoon to Fox. My idea is about a family with 2.5 kids and they are disfunctional. The father is an overweight idiot with a wife out of his league. The two older kids are a brother and sister who fight a lot while the baby (boy or girl) is mischeivious but usually ignored. There's probably a pet somewhere too.

So fucking original, huh? There's not a cartoon on Fox like that anywhere in their lineup.

Posted: Oct 06 2011 10:39 pm

sidewaydriver wrote:

Well if they do cancel The Simpsons, that'll free up a time slot and allow me to pitch my idea for a cartoon to Fox. My idea is about a family with 2.5 kids and they are disfunctional. The father is an overweight idiot with a wife out of his league. The two older kids are a brother and sister who fight a lot while the baby (boy or girl) is mischeivious but usually ignored. There's probably a pet somewhere too.

So fucking original, huh? There's not a cartoon on Fox like that anywhere in their lineup.

This is a show I can get behind.

Posted: Oct 07 2011 03:12 pm

It's just time for the Simpsons. Is there a viable market for them besides die hard fans? Do real "Animation Domination" fans sit there and glue their eyeballs to FOX for the whole two hours? I know I don't. Not anymore.

But that doesn't mean that the Simpsons are bad. I'm just saying that it's time.

Gallery 2 · Posted: Oct 08 2011 06:53 am

Well, turns out that time may be further away than expected:

Threat averted: Fox renews 'Simpsons' for 2 years

Quote:

The terms of the cast's new deal were not announced. The Hollywood Reporter, citing unidentified sources, said the actors accepted a 30 percent pay cut in the $440,000 they'd received for each of 22 episodes per season.

Shearer said he'd told producers he'd be willing to accept a 70 percent pay cut, but in return the actors wanted "a tiny share" of the billions of dollars in profits the show has earned through syndication and marketing. The show's creators, Matt Groening and James L. Brooks, have profit participation but the actors have been rebuffed in efforts to join them.

Posted: Oct 08 2011 12:58 pm

i know im asking for a lot, but i wish the actors would be "i wont do another show til the quality picks up" instead of asking for more money. cant someone ask for more quality?!