MovieChat Forums > Baywatch (1989) Discussion > Pamela Anderson only makes $4000 a year ...

Pamela Anderson only makes $4000 a year residuals?


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11699717/Pamela-Anderson-gets-just-4K-year-Baywatch-residuals-bad-deal-young-actress.html

Wow! Maybe she needs to have words with The Hoff? (who apparently owns half of BW or something like that)

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The principal six cast members on Friends - Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry and Matt LeBlanc - earn $20 million a year on a deal that gave them 2 percent apiece on residuals, according to a 2015 USA Today report.

The creators of another iconic 90s show, Seinfeld, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld - make up to $400 million each cycle of syndication, New York Magazine reported in 2014.

Cast members Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards and Jason Alexander do not own a stake in the series, the International Business Times reported in 2013.

Ray Romano's royalties for the hit CBS series Everybody Loves Raymond earned the actor up to $18 million annually, according to the Yahoo report.

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THESE PEOPLE ARE IN A WHOLE DIFFERENT CREATIVE LEAGUE THAN HER...WHY IS HER CAMP SO INTENT ON MAKING HER INTO A VICTIM LATELY?

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So Pam Anderson makes more in royalties than the remaining Seinfeld cast. lol

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Bad actress or not, she is owed money if people watch reruns of her show. I think Friends was a shit show but I know it’s popular and people watch reruns so the cast deserve to get residuals. So does Pam.

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I AGREE...I DO NOT AGREE THAT JUDGING HER RESIDUALS AGAINST RAY ROMANO,JERRY SEINFELD OR THE FRIENDS CAST IS FAIR THOUGH...SHE CONTRIBUTED FAR LESS CREATIVELY AND WAS ON ONLY 5 OUT OF 11 SEASONS...SHE DEFEINITELY DESERVES HER RESIDUALS...AND PERHAPS HER MANAGEMENT DID A TERRIBLE JOB...BUT HER LEVEL OF PAYOUT SHOULD BE LOWER THAN PEOPLE WHO WERE INVOLVED FROM DAY ONE TO NONE.

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I’m sure The Hoff and whoever else get a decent pay check for reruns. Or at least they should.

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The original Star Trek cast made literally $0.00 for residuals (after the initial 5 repeat broadcasts or thereabouts)

Worse than Pammys crappy BW deal! (but apparently that was the norm back in the 60s as Shatner explains whenever it comes up. lucky for him and Nimoy they went on to make millions from the movies )

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SHE DESERVED BETTER.

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Instead of crying about how terribly she was treated, why isn't she complaining about how terrible her agent was?

She was already known from Playboy and Home Improvement at that point. She could have gotten a much better deal. And when that show became a hit, and she was the breakout star she could have renegotiated.

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ikr at the height of her BW fame her agent shouldve renegotiated a better deal as she became the face of Baywatch (more so than The Hoff!), surely her agent couldve got her a better BW deal when all that was going on..

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SHE APPEARED ON FIVE OUT OF ELEVEN SEASONS...SHE JOINED THE SHOW LATE AND LEFT THE SHOW EARLY...77 EPISODES COMPARED TO HASSELHOFF'S 206 EPISODES...ONLY THE DIE HARD PAM ANDERSON FANS CONSIDER HER THE FACE OF ANYTHING...BAYWATCH WAS,IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE THE HOFF'S SHOW.

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I dont think that actors should have any residuals at all. They were hired to do job and they were payed for it. Why on earth they now have to have residuals their whole live without doing anything?

It was studio or channel that made show. They gave money to it. They hired show runners and producers. They should have money coming from repeating viewings and selling this show. And they should put those money on making new shows. Not giving it to some stupid actors who were already payed. If actors or showrunners would put their own money into making shows - then they can have residuals.

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I agree.

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I guess bc its their image/performance thats made the show a success (if it is a success and goes on to be repeated ad infinitum) so should be compensated.

Which is especially true in PAs case as she was the big reason the show became such a hit

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They were payed for their job. And the thing is - it wasnt only actors that made shows successful. The most important is the WRITING. Thats why when writing declines in later seasons of successful shows - people just stop watching it. Even when the same actors stay - it just becomes boring and bad and people stop watching and show gets cancelled.

People and Hollywood in general underestimate important work of writers. If someone would not write those funny jokes for Friends for 10 years - that show would never be so successful. But I dont think that writers of Friends get millions. Actors and showrunners probably take everything.

Modern Family was so popular in first seasons. Because of jokes actors were given by writers. As years passed by - writing declined, jokes was not as funny and show started losing viewers very fast. Despite same actors still starring. Because actors dont make show successful only by being there.

So personally I dont think actors should have those free money. Not to mention that Pamela was not the only actor in Baywatch. There was like 20 main actors throughout its run. If not more. And then supporting. And when each one of them would want residuals, then showrunners get, then writers get, then studio gets... Of course it will not be that much when everything is split. People look at the Friends money and think every actors gets those. But its probably not that much from other shows.

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People and Hollywood in general underestimate important work of writers. If someone would not write those funny jokes for Friends for 10 years - that show would never be so successful. But I dont think that writers of Friends get millions. Actors and showrunners probably take everything.

Modern Family was so popular in first seasons. Because of jokes actors were given by writers. As years passed by - writing declined, jokes was not as funny and show started losing viewers very fast. Despite same actors still starring. Because actors dont make show successful only by being there.


This makes me think about movies - should an actor get fired because he wasn't funny or should someone rewrite the script? (e.g. Eric Stoltz being fired from Back to the Future)

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I don´t think people were watching Baywatch for the writing.

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@bozo Agree, the notion that actors shouldnt be paid residuals from past performances re-airing is ridiculous. I think the Seinfeld cast got pretty hard done but then again it comes down to negotiation skills. PA admitted she was never good with money.

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Totally agree. She got paid to do her job. If she wanted a big chunk of the back end she should have negotiated for some producing credits. She was popular enough she might have got them. I'd be curious to know some of the other deals the huge cast got over the years.

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That why actors these days demand to get producers credit on movies. They all want residuals. Then when something gets wrong like with Alec Baldwin they are like: "Ok I have producer credit but I dont do anything and am not responsible for anything. Get of my back".

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I would livk to konw what kind of money get actors from such iconic shows. And how they can since some actors stayed for 3-5 seasons while show ran for 10 seasons. Would they be payed for seasons they didnt star in? Like in CSI cast changed a lot. Same with 90210.

Buffy
Melrose Place
90210
Charmed
CSI

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Here's a question though. In this day and age, how much has Baywatch even aired around the world anymore? I don't really see it as in demand show anymore.

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Interesting point, I don't recall ever seeing any Baywatch repeats showing on any of the 80 or so UK 'freeview' channels (even the ones that show the 80s stuff that never normally gets shown on other more prestigious channels) , maybe its the same the world over??

So if it was still showing everywhere (say like the way Knight Rider or Columbo still does) shed be getting like 500k a year

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