Startrek.com

[Alelou]

Are you sure you're not confusing the writers of the books with the actors? I didn't think any contemporary SAG member would sign on as a regular without some residuals being a standard part of the deal.

The books, last I heard, had a much lower royalty rate than usual, or maybe they'd switched over to work-for-hire.

[WarpGirl]

Well as far as I know the actors gice up residuals but make it up in convention appearences and merchandice stuff. A set fee for appearences. A set fee for using their faces for stuff and voices for video games.

[Silverbullet]

Alelou, actuallly, not sure. Do know that the more clout an actor has they can be paid per episodde better than on e without clout. Doubt if Conner, Blalock, Park, Keating would have any clout at all. Being more or less unknowns. Might have signed a contract for a salary as a series does have the charm of a steady paycheck. Being unknown and hoping the series would gain them exposure they probably would not have insisted on residuals hopig that the Series would be successful and they would be the ones who made it successful. They could then ask for residuals when Contract renewal time came.

Of course that could have been the Kiss of Death. Many actors who thought they were in the drivers seat because they were popular on a series found themselves out of the series and out of a job.

A Brad Pitt can ma ke demands but a Conner Trinner can't.

An unkown writer isn't going to get an advance like an established writer.

I have always wanted to know what salary each of the actors received. was it per episode or a Season. For that matters wonder what each Contract held in the fine print.

[Alelou]

But those are all separate contracts with separate entities. I don't think that's how it works anymore. If it is, we've had a few actors' strikes for no good reason.

[WarpGirl]

Like I said I read it years ago. But I do know that Trek isn't like friends was or the L&O shows. It certainly wasn't like The West Wing. God I miss that show, and I hate politics.

[Silverbullet]

Think Actors strikes benefited the Spear carriers. big Names got BIG pay, some got a percentage of the Gross too. Little guys needed the protection of the guild so they could get at least a decent wage for small parts and the like. Guess Conner, Jolene and the rest may have benefited from the Strike.

But when an actor rexceived Millions to do a movie the Strike would do that actor no good. the litttle guy needed it.

Writers strike was what got me. given some of th episodes I have seen on some TV shows the writers should be ashamed to pick up thier paycheck.

[Aquarius]

I don't think Trek actors get residuals. I think they get paid extra for conventions and other stuff like that, but I don't think they get paid with re-runs al la other TV shows.

They all get 'em, that's standard in contracts now. In fact, if I remember correctly, Shatner and Nimoy had a lot to do with that. Remember, TV was still a young industry back then, nobody knew yet that there was so much money to be made selling reruns in syndication, so nobody was really thinking to ask for that when they signed with a studio. By the 70s, so many independent TV stations had popped up and they were showing reruns of old shows to fill in gaps where they had no local programming to offer...which is one of the reasons Star Trek got such a leg up in popularity. Actors and agents realized that there was a crap-ton of money being made, and they were missing out, so lawsuits started a-flying, and people were being shrewder about the contract terms they were negotiating. Residuals may not seem like a lot, but there isn't an actor that doesn't get them these days.

[Silverbullet]

Think, though, that a series starting to cast might say,sign a Contract with no residuals and yo get role and contract. Ask for residuals norole, no contract. Young Actor just starting nout neeedfs explosure anda steady paycheck is goingto cave. Same as the Casting Couch for a your aspiring Actress wh9oo needs the role and the paycheck. f... or no contract or role. she he hops on the Casting couch. Hell of a lot of Hollywood female stars got started that way. Unless they wer a betty Davis or some other hot property who could go anywher and get signed on.

[Aikiweezie]

Think, though, that a series starting to cast might say,sign a Contract with no residuals and yo get role and contract. Ask for residuals norole, no contract. Young Actor just starting nout neeedfs explosure anda steady paycheck is goingto cave. Same as the Casting Couch for a your aspiring Actress wh9oo needs the role and the paycheck. f... or no contract or role. she he hops on the Casting couch. Hell of a lot of Hollywood female stars got started that way. Unless they wer a betty Davis or some other hot property who could go anywher and get signed on.

Sure, that's the old way of doing things. The way it is now, actors who sign on to a a series know that you need 4 seasons, or approx. 100 espisodes for a show to have a chance to go into syndication. So I am sure that they would put something into their contract that states that they get a piece. Again, at the Stargate convention in Chicago in August Connoor Trinner was asked if he gets anything from the residuals of Enterprise and he said, "Yes, but it's not as much as you'd think." Of course, it's probably more per annum than I made in a year as a Department Head at at Community college!!

[Aquarius]

Think, though, that a series starting to cast might say,sign a Contract with no residuals and yo get role and contract. Ask for residuals norole, no contract. Young Actor just starting nout neeedfs explosure anda steady paycheck is goingto cave. Same as the Casting Couch for a your aspiring Actress wh9oo needs the role and the paycheck. f... or no contract or role. she he hops on the Casting couch. Hell of a lot of Hollywood female stars got started that way. Unless they wer a betty Davis or some other hot property who could go anywher and get signed on.

I think the actors' union would have something to say about that.

Someone in one episode with no lines? I'm sure the rules are different. That's like working as a temp in a business--they're gonna pay you, but you aren't entitled to benefits.

One of the recurring characters that appears in more than 50% of a season's episodes? That's different. As a regular or semi0-regular on a show, you'd want to make sure that's in your contract.

Two seasons is generally the minimum you need to successfully sell a show in syndication, before anyone will consider buying it; four seasons is practically a guarantee that it'll sell. Of course there are exceptions when you consider the niche channels like SyFy and Chiller; SyFy will run a show like Moonlight that only had 13 episodes, and Chiller runs Hex, which only had 20.

[WarpGirl]

Like I said I read it a while ago maybe ENT was different.

[Aquarius]

It makes absolutely no sense that they would trade residuals for con appearances. First, the studios don't own Creation or any other entity that would throw a con, so the studio would have absolutely no control over how much an actor got paid for an appearance, or if an actor even chose to appear at a con. Creation has been licensed to handle official Trek stuff, but other than that, one entity has no control over the other. There may be a clause in their contracts requiring them to make x number of PR appearances per season, including con appearances, but from a legal standpoint I can't see them eliminating their residuals for that, since actively promoting the show makes everybody more money. Regardless of how long ago it was, I think what you read got misinterpreted somewhere along the line. My first college courses included broadcasting and its history; I can't see a case for Enterprise being different.

Now, keep in mind, if the show's ratings had gone up and generated more sponsor dollars, each actor would've been in a stronger bargaining position at contract renewal time, and could've negotiated for even more residuals and other benefits. But we know the opposite happened, ratings declined, so compared to, say, the cast of TNG, the Enterprise actors probably didn't get jack.