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I think we all assume that any actor with a decent recurring role in a hit TV show is earning thousands an episode. I often look up actors on IMDB while I’m watching something where I know I’ve seen them before, and it’s amazing how many times you see they have gone years without being in anything. Some may be doing theatre, but a lot of familiar faces are often only in 1 thing a year, or go a couple of years without being in anything then have 2-3 episodes. I really feel it’s not a viable career for most. Yet the execs make millions.
This actor - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2895488/?ref_=tt_cl_t_12 - Susan Park, for example.
She was in the first Fargo TV series in 2014, 5 episodes, which is where I remember her from. Then between 2014 and 2020 she was in a total of 29 TV episodes. Let’s be generous and say she earned $10000 per episode. That’s only $48333 a year on average. And 11 of those were 2016-2017, so between 2017 and 2020 she was in 6 episodes. She then was cast in Snowpiercer in 2020 and has been in other stuff since (High Desert most recently). She also did some minor film roles, I doubt the pay was much for those.
So this is an actor I recognise who has been in some major TV shows, yet is out of work a lot.
I mean, technically $30,000 / 8 = $3,750 an episode, but I doubt each episode represents, say, 80 hours of work for an actor. $3,750 @ 80 hours = $46.875 per hour.
But, figure more it’s like 160 hours… $23.4375 an hour? So… the same as whatever side job an actor has to support themselves?
I think we all assume that any actor with a decent recurring role in a hit TV show is earning thousands an episode. I often look up actors on IMDB while I’m watching something where I know I’ve seen them before, and it’s amazing how many times you see they have gone years without being in anything. Some may be doing theatre, but a lot of familiar faces are often only in 1 thing a year, or go a couple of years without being in anything then have 2-3 episodes. I really feel it’s not a viable career for most. Yet the execs make millions. This actor - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2895488/?ref_=tt_cl_t_12 - Susan Park, for example. She was in the first Fargo TV series in 2014, 5 episodes, which is where I remember her from. Then between 2014 and 2020 she was in a total of 29 TV episodes. Let’s be generous and say she earned $10000 per episode. That’s only $48333 a year on average. And 11 of those were 2016-2017, so between 2017 and 2020 she was in 6 episodes. She then was cast in Snowpiercer in 2020 and has been in other stuff since (High Desert most recently). She also did some minor film roles, I doubt the pay was much for those. So this is an actor I recognise who has been in some major TV shows, yet is out of work a lot.
I mean, technically $30,000 / 8 = $3,750 an episode, but I doubt each episode represents, say, 80 hours of work for an actor. $3,750 @ 80 hours = $46.875 per hour.
But, figure more it’s like 160 hours… $23.4375 an hour? So… the same as whatever side job an actor has to support themselves?