featured actors pay

theatrefan18
#1featured actors pay
Posted: 5/19/19 at 11:39pm

I was wondering what featured actors in plays and musicals make on bway.  I think the equity minimum is around $2,000 a week, but I am curious if it is much higher for features- do they make $5-10K a week.  Obviously it would depend if they are a draw, but in most cases I would think that featured performers are not well known outside the bway community.  For example, what do you think the featured performers in Dear Evan Hansen or Kiss Me Kate make.  
Thanks in advance for any insight.

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SomethingPeculiar
#2featured actors pay
Posted: 5/19/19 at 11:56pm

An actor in a non-leading Featured role could range from minimum (about $2,100/wk) to $5K or more. It's totally case-by-case. Depends on the "name-level" of the actor, the show, what their costars are making, if they received a Tony nomination "bump," if they've re-negotiated for a second year, etc. 

Everyone at Kiss Me Kate earns $1,520/wk. Equity LORT Non-Rep Contract because Roundabout is a non-profit.

JSquared2
#3featured actors pay
Posted: 5/20/19 at 12:58pm

There is no Actors Equity Association distinction of a "featured" actor.  You are either on a Principal contract or a Chorus contract.  Chorus tends to pay around minimum (unless the agent can negotiate higher), and Principals can range from minimum to "the sky is the limit"  -- each case is different, and again it all depends on the actor and how much leverage the agent has to negotiate.

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Call_me_jorge
#4featured actors pay
Posted: 5/20/19 at 2:24pm

SomethingPeculiar said: "An actor in a non-leading Featured rolecould range fromminimum (about $2,100/wk) to $5K or more.It's totally case-by-case. Depends on the "name-level" of the actor, theshow, what their costars are making,if they received a Tony nomination "bump," if they've re-negotiated for a second year, etc.

Everyone atKiss Me Kateearns$1,520/wk. Equity LORT Non-Rep Contract because Roundabout is a non-profit.
"

I’m confused by your wording here. Surely not Kelli, Will, or even Corbin are earning that low of a salary.... do the lort agreements have the same distinction for Chorus and Principals or are they all on one contract?


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SomethingPeculiar
#5featured actors pay
Posted: 5/20/19 at 2:37pm

Everyone at Roundabout earns minimum, unless there has been a major change in the past 3 years.

"Keira Knightley is more or less paying Roundabout Theatre Company to make her Broadway debut in Therese Raquin, now in previews for an Oct. 29 opening at Studio 54. The movie star is making $1,300 a week — the scale rate for a main stem show at a non-profit theater — which likely doesn't cover her living expenses. (She does have a new baby, after all.) If Knightley headlined a commercial Broadway show, she could make between $50,000 and $100,000 a week, perhaps even commanding a portion of the box office receipts."

...

"Haimes: You have to do a play well and have — in most cases — a name-value star. But it's particularly tricky for us because of a couple of things. The name-value star has to do it for $1,300 a week and they have to do it in our subscription slot. On top of that, we really only cast "stars" who we think have the chops to do this work. Are we 100 percent right all the time? No. But I think we're 90 percent right. So we don't take any television star just because they're famous and plop them onstage to sell tickets if we don't think they can handle the work."