Do the celebrities who appear as guests on talkshows receive a payment for appearing on the show or do they do it for free for the publicity? What about the non-celebrities who appear?
I believe all guests on a talk show get paid – all actors are, by Guild rules. However, talk shows only give the minimum Guild payment – a few hundred dollars. The actors are doing it primarily for the publicity.
All guests are paid a flat rate based why they’re there. A few years ago, Letterman had one of his staff memebrs as a guest. She was getting married so Dave had her on every day for a week so she could earn some honeymoon money. She got a different rate because, each night, she did more stuff. The first night she just did an interview. The following nights she did a song and then a ventriloquist act. The more you perform, the more you get.