# Did the Surviving Castmembers of Gilligan's Island Make any Money on the DVD Sales? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-surviving-castmembers-of-gilligans-island-make-any-money-on-the-dvd-sales/302718 "2005-05-06T17:02:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-surviving-castmembers-of-gilligans-island-make-any-money-on-the-dvd-sales/302718/1 "2005-05-06T17:02:12Z")
The question is in the title. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-surviving-castmembers-of-gilligans-island-make-any-money-on-the-dvd-sales/302718/2 "2005-05-06T17:04:08Z")
Probably not. They weren’t getting anything from syndication. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Surb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Surb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Surb)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-surviving-castmembers-of-gilligans-island-make-any-money-on-the-dvd-sales/302718/3 "2005-05-06T17:06:39Z")
It seems to me I watched an interview with Sherwood Schwartz and he said one of the motivations for “Rescue From Gilligan’s Island” was for them to get some compensation. Again, I am going from memory and may be totally off. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-surviving-castmembers-of-gilligans-island-make-any-money-on-the-dvd-sales/302718/4 "2005-05-06T18:53:12Z")
Leonard Nimoy once commented on the number of people who thought he (and the rest of the cast) were making lots of bucks on the reruns of Star Trek. He said that for the actors the residuals ran out after 7 years. That’s the way the contracts were drawn up at that time. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-surviving-castmembers-of-gilligans-island-make-any-money-on-the-dvd-sales/302718/5 "2005-05-06T19:24:16Z")
But since DVD technology didn’t exist in 1960-whatever, their contracts couldn’t have included OR excluded a share of the DVD sales. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-surviving-castmembers-of-gilligans-island-make-any-money-on-the-dvd-sales/302718/6 "2005-05-06T20:05:55Z")
> [@](#): > > [Dallas/Ft. Worth Star-Telegram](http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/entertainment/movies/video_dvd/11131206.htm) > Do the actors on old shows get paid when the series come out on DVDs? > > “They get residuals based on the [union] agreements in place at the time,” said Paul Brownstein, who’s known as “the raider of the lost archives” for his work with classic-TV DVDs, which has sometimes led him to the garages of people who once worked on the shows. … ---
**Author:** ![chefjef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e480ec/32.png) [@chefjef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefjef)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-surviving-castmembers-of-gilligans-island-make-any-money-on-the-dvd-sales/302718/7 "2005-05-06T20:09:27Z")
Wow - this is a really good question and has me stumped. I guessing no but what do I know. Interesting. I think they were in the wrong era but who knows.