# Are the actors we see on The Actor's Studio paid for their appearances? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 19, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-we-see-on-the-actors-studio-paid-for-their-appearances/423325 "2007-10-19T19:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-we-see-on-the-actors-studio-paid-for-their-appearances/423325/1 "2007-10-19T19:50:32Z")
If they are paid, how much? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-we-see-on-the-actors-studio-paid-for-their-appearances/423325/2 "2007-10-19T22:01:59Z")
If they’re paid it’s probably scale minimum, currently around $800 per day for “principal actors”; _The Tonight Show_ (I can’t provide a cite but I honestly remember reading this about a year ago in “something somewhere”) pays about $1,200 per guest, nothing to sneeze at for a night’s work by our standards but a trivial amount to an actor on a TV series or motion pictures. They pay this because 1) it’s higher than SAG minimum, which means that they don’t violate the actors contracts with their union in any way and 2) to non-famous people [like the yodellers or birdcallers or whatever) it’s a good bit of money [and for them they usually pay transportation and lodging as well, while for actors it’s usually paid for by the producers of whatever they’re promoting if they don’t already live in LA]). Since Actor’s Studio could be construed as “for educational purposes” it’s possible that they are allowed by their union to waive the appearance fee altogether. If it is paid, my guess (and only a guess) is that it’s very little and probably consists mostly of expenses for any non NYC residents. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-we-see-on-the-actors-studio-paid-for-their-appearances/423325/3 "2007-10-19T22:27:48Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] If they’re paid it’s probably scale minimum, currently around $800 per day for “principal actors”; _The Tonight Show_ (I can’t provide a cite but I honestly remember reading this about a year ago in “something somewhere”) pays about $1,200 per guest, nothing to sneeze at for a night’s work by our standards but a trivial amount to an actor on a TV series or motion pictures. They pay this because 1) it’s higher than SAG minimum, which means that they don’t violate the actors contracts with their union in any way and 2) to non-famous people [like the yodellers or birdcallers or whatever) it’s a good bit of money [and for them they usually pay transportation and lodging as well, while for actors it’s usually paid for by the producers of whatever they’re promoting if they don’t already live in LA]). Since Actor’s Studio could be construed as “for educational purposes” it’s possible that they are allowed by their union to waive the appearance fee altogether. If it is paid, my guess (and only a guess) is that it’s very little and probably consists mostly of expenses for any non NYC residents. [/QUOTE] SDunds right. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-actors-we-see-on-the-actors-studio-paid-for-their-appearances/423325/4 "2007-10-20T01:15:51Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] They pay this because 1) it’s higher than SAG minimum, which means that they don’t violate the actors contracts with their union in any way [/QUOTE] SAG is for film actors. AFTRA is for television actors. (We’re talking about the actual camera, not the venue.)