How much do regular but minor actors in TV series make?

Cafe Society
1

I realize salaries probably vary quite a bit, but I’m wondering how much actors who play regular or recurring but minor roles on TV series make.

I’m thinking of people who play minor roles like doormen, secretaries, maids, etc., and have been on the show for a very long time. These characters add to the continuity of the show, but never have any real storylines or deep character development. I’m thinking of people like Abraham Benrubi, who plays Jerry on “ER” (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0072344/), or Paul Wilson, who played “Paul” on “Cheers.”

How good is a gig like this for an actor?

2

I have no idea in terms of numbers, but I bet it’s a good chance that the mandated minimums (aka “scale”) could be discovered from a close inspection of The Screen Actors’ Guild homepage. Note also that actors who have speaking roles are also entitled to residual payments every time an episode is rerun, so even though they may not get paid much for a week’s work, if they’re on a hit they’ll be getting checks for years afterwards even while they’re sitting on a beach somewhere.

–Cliffy

3

It’s an amazing gig. I don’t know what SAG scale is, but UBCP (Vancouver) scale is $526 Cdn. plus %110 buyout instead of royalties, and Vancouver is a cheap place to shoot! (note that UBCP changes its regulations almost constantly, so I may be wrong). Many (most) actors don’t even get one day of acting work per month, so they need the high daily rate. When an actor gets a gig that more or less guarantees him a day or two of work every week (plus plenty of free time to pursue other gigs), it’s pretty sweet. If I were to get such a role, I’d be ecstatic.

4

$526 per what?

5

Per day, I would assume.

6

Too much. Sorry, I know you want hard figures and all that, and this is SDMB, but if a character is recurring with a speaking part, even a sassy waitress or doorperson, if she’s smart she can probably retire on that income. Sounds crazy, right? But I know quite a few kids who paid for school and bought apartment complexes from recurring but minor roles on crappy teen shows- in Canada!

7

$526 per day, yes.

Actors playing minor characters get paid so well, you may as well chalk it up to a glitch in the system. The system, of course, is to protect actors from being paid next to nothing; even with the union rules in place, most actors are poor.

8

Here are some SAG rates:
http://www.entertainmentcareers.net/acting/sag_rates.asp

However, that is for a nameless, one-time character who has a small speaking part.

If you are Norm in Cheers, or even Paul in Cheers, your rate was negotiated by your agent. The more often you appear, the more popular you are in the show, that all determines how much the producers are willing to pay. $10,000 to $20,000 per week would not be out of line for a new, semi-regular character on a hit show. My guess is that later in the series, Norm and Cliff were getting WAY more than that on Cheers.

But there is a fine line…two actors on CSI got fired (and then re-hired when they begged to get their jobs back) after a failed attempt at bluffing for more money.

Sharona (Bitsy Shram) from the show MONK can tell you the perils of thinking you are invaluable to a series and hold out for more money…they canned her ass and found a new actress for the part.

By the way, to get a SAG card, I believe you need to have three spoken lines on a show. I remember sitting with actors watching a television show and when the bellboy brought the food:

“Your dinner, sir.”
My friends would yell, “one line”.

“Yes sir, the steak is rare.”
My friends would count, “second line”.

"Thank you sir. "
And my friends would all yell, “SAG CARD!”

And working as an extra in Hollywood, it was always a really BIG deal when an extra was given speaking lines. I remember a women who was hired as an extra was so thrilled she burst out in tears when at the last minute, they told her she had three lines. She knew she would finally be elegible to get her SAG card.

9

Ann Morgan Gulbert said in a Dick Van Dyke memoir that she actually made more money playing Millie Halper as a non-contract role than she would have gotten under contract with 6th or 7th billing.