# 'Star Trek' (TOS) actors being paid for reruns--how was it determined? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290 "2012-03-30T15:44:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/1 "2012-03-30T15:44:39Z")
In an interview on Tom Snyder’s old “Tomorrow” program, DeForest Kelley and other cast members talk about the show, and at one point Kelley mentions that for Season 1, they were paid for the original broadcast and six reruns. Then, for Seasons 2 and 3, they were paid for the original broadcast and ten reruns. And then that was the last money they’d ever see from the original series. Did he mean six (or ten for S2 and S3) reruns of each episode, or just six reruns from the season. (The interview used to be on youtube. Still might be.) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/2 "2012-03-30T15:47:58Z")
Probably for an individual episode and the rate of pay is not the same as what they got for the work on the episode. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/3 "2012-03-30T16:16:36Z")
It all depends on the contracts they signed. For example, with The Honeymooners, only Audrey Meadows’ agent had the foresight to include rerun residuals so she was the only actor of the four to get paid for those thousands of reruns (Jackie Gleason may have also gotten money as a creator of the show, I don’t remember, but not as an actor). ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/4 "2012-03-30T17:27:13Z")
As an aside in a later interview he gave Kelley pointed out that Shatner & Nimoy were the only ones who got mega-money for the movies (as in millions). He wasn’t being bitter or anything, just practical in reminding everyone that Kirk and Spock were the Star Trek movie ‘dealbreakers’, the only ones who could command a big paycheck because without them there was no movie (Shatner especially). Though I’d bet that Kelley certainly (and deservedly) got the third highest pay. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/5 "2012-03-30T17:29:29Z")
“I’m an actor, dammit, not an agent!” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/6 "2012-03-30T17:42:25Z")
The world is a sadder place without De Kelley. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/7 "2012-03-30T18:16:53Z")
According to his autobiography _I Am Spock_, one of the big reasons they were having so much trouble getting Nimoy in for the first movie was that they weren’t even following his contract. He had not received the royalties his contract stated were his for their reuse of his character. And this, not some idea that he didn’t want to play Spock anymore, is what actually led to his death scene in the second movie. With all the animosity, the directors thought they had to offer Nimoy something more to get him back, and offered him an awesome death scene (something he says all good actors want). And Nimoy accepted not because he wanted to kill Spock off, but because he assumed it was going to be the last movie, and wanted Spock to go out with a bang. He cites as proof his willingness to improvise the “Remember” scene when they wanted a hook for a possible third movie. That was the best $0.99 biography I ever read, BTW. I fully recommend it to any Star Trek fans. And I don’t recommend the autobiographies of many of the other actors. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/8 "2012-03-30T18:35:08Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > That was the best $0.99 biography I ever read, BTW. And it looks great on the shelf next to his first memoir, _I Am Not Spock_. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-actors-being-paid-for-reruns-how-was-it-determined/617290/9 "2012-03-31T01:41:50Z")
Followed of course by, _ **"I am also Scotty"** _