Not sure if this is GQ, or CS, so moderators, do your worst!
I’m sure it varies star by star, but how do they get paid?
When they do a movie, do the get a lump sum? Paid every two weeks?
When they buy a mansion in the hills, do they buy it outtight, or do the get a mortgage?
I was wondering, because I read in EW, that Jude Law was pissed because he couldn’t get funding from the British government. I don’t know if how much he was looking for, but Jude’s been in a few decent movies. Could he afford to but say $2 Million of his own money into a movie?
I don’t know the stats on Jude Law, but the way most stars are paid is that they receive some “up front” money to do a movie (say, $1.5 million of a $6 million paycheck). They then receive a “drawing account” for their living expenses during the shoot (say- a figure I’m pulling from the sky- $25,000 per week) that covers such expenses as their personal assistants, grooming, souvenirs from location, etc.) that, depending on the contract, may or may not be deducted from their final pay-off. (The studio, of course, provides housing and meals during the location shoots.) They usually receive the lion’s share of their money at the end of the shoot. How the back-end works depends on the individual contract.
Jude Law probably has $2 million to spare, but while “don’t go into business using your own money” is good advice for most business endeavors it’s GOSPEL for show business. That’s how many many actors who should be very wealthy lost their shirts (John Wayne, Robert Conrad, Burt Reynolds, etc.). Also, Jude is in the middle of a very expensive divorce (Sadie Frost is asking for $9 million plus $90,000 per month in child support) so it’s not a good time to free up assets. None of this detracts from my main point, which is that Jude Law sure is pretty when he’s nekkid.
Ah…is this about Tulip Fever, the new Jude Law movie that isn’t getting the cash it hoped it would from the Brits due to a change in the tax laws?
From what I read they lost out on $13 million in funding so unless Law thought he had a huge hit on his hands (and had $13 million in his account…)
I guess it’s lump sum and doubt they get mortgage’s but I also imagine that each star of that level has a personal finance manager to handle these kindof things…
Many stars do have mortgages. Often it’s because they can make more interest by investing their money than they are paying in interest on their house (i.e. they can invest $2 million in XYZ Capital and make $500,000 per year while the interest they’re paying on the $2 million home they bought is only $200,000 per year, thus there’s $300,000 that they wouldn’t have had if they had tied up their $2 million).
Entertainer’s finances can be very interesting. Some mega-stars (Burt Reynolds, MC Hammer, Sammy Davis, Jr.) who earned tens of millions wind up broke while some who were never A list stars (Lyle Waggoner, Wayne Rogers, Khrystine Haje) become superrich.
Just like to mention that, when I was a screaming teenage boy, I went to see A.I. with several screaming teenage girls. Judging by our reactions, if Jude Law wished to turn that Gigolo Joe thing into a full-time gig, he would make a solid living.
FWIW, George Clooney paid cash (well, I don’t think he used tens and twenties, but I think you know what I mean) for his home. His justification was something to the effect of “I don’t want to face the prospect of having a mortgage payment and not working.”
I think I also read once that Burt Ward (from Batman & Robin) paid cash for a modest home when the money from his B&R gig started coming in.
for music stars it used to be quite common to be left with nothing after your career was over. E.g. the bay city rollers was once the biggest band in the world ca. 1975, now all their members have virtually no money through a crooked manager, complicated one way tax havens and a record company that is still holding onto royalties that are due them.
This was also due to the fact the artists only got paid after all the other expenses (recording, touring, staff, promotion, packaging etc) were paid. The record companies were very good at loading the bill in their favour.