Veteran actor speaks out against large paychecks

Hollywood is not glamorous. Sure, there are a few dozen people whom the tabloids love to photograph. Those people who grace the grocery store lanes every week. But what about the millions of other people who work in the industry? They rarely get any recognition. They do not get magazine covers, endorsement deals, And most struggle to meet the rent. Including actors and actresses. If you can land on a successful television show, for example, then you maybe get five years of financial stability before being jobless and in financial trouble once again. And once you've gotten one recognizable job, there is no guarantee you can get another one ever again.

It is to that end that I break one of my personal blogging rules and encourage you to read this very lengthy letter, by actor Peter Coyote, about actors and pay. The actor, whose IMDb I'm sure has at least one project that you've seen or heard him in, wants leading actors to use their power to leverage more pay for the acting professional. In his essay, he writes:

Also, let’s relate to the non-celluloid world for a moment. Once an actor reaches the six or ten million dollar mark for several months work, they are financially secure for life unless they are morons or have extremely bad habits. By the time they’re earning 15-20 million, some measurable percentage of those earnings is meaningless.

I cannot speak from personal experience on this matter, since I have not been a starving, penniless actor waiting tables while waiting for my big break (which is so true of most of the Los Angeles serving community), I've certainly heard enough and read enough to be sympathetic to their plight, and be slightly envious of the huge price tags given to the A+-list.

To clarify (my favorite phrase to say on this blog), I'm not saying that we need to set a price standard or make mandatory cap off salaries. But when you get people like Brad Pitt, who can make $20 million in just one year (see Forbes), you have to wonder exactly why these talented actors are being paid for as much as they are. They do a great job, the fair lot of them. But $20 million for one year? That is way too much money. As Coyote said, once you've hit six million, you are set for life. (I'd say for less even, but, L.A. is expensive to live in, so I'll give him that.)

Do you know what the main difference between a "star" and an "acting professional" is? A star will work for large sums of money. An acting professional will work because it is work. Just like most Americans will work for the sake of just having a job to carry out. The acting professional can relate to the gaffer, the grip, the lighting person, the electrician, the stage manager, and every one else who works on a production and makes just enough money to get by. They rarely make enough "cushion" money. They have no $20 million to fall back on. They have to pay rent, mortgage bills, student loans and the like. It takes dozens and dozens of people to make just show work. Have you ever sat through the credits for a TV show? Or how about a movie? You know how the credits for a film are about six minutes long? Every single person plays a vital role in making that movie. Without them, there would be no movie, just like without the actors there would be no movie.

And while the actor is the most visible and high-profile element of a project, that does not change the fact that there are people who work as hard, sometimes harder, and get paid a disparaging amount.

Most of the time, it is not the actor's "fault" that they get the paycheck that they do, it is their agent. But I think the agents and the movie studios, the people who bankroll any project, can help share the wealth, with at least the other actors on film.

Tomorrow: Product placement in television newscasts: crude, inevitable or both?