How Much Do the Office Actors Make in Royalties?
The office actors make from $1 million to $20 million in royalties each year. The amount depends on their role and contribution to the series.
After NBC bought the program and put it into cable television syndication, the actors, producers, and creators split $500 million in revenue.
The amount each cast member makes from the royalty is unclear. However, they certainly receive millions of dollars in royalties each year.
According to Backstage, the royalties for The Office are determined according to the SAG-AFTRA guidelines.
After the popular show is distributed, syndicated, or purchased for streaming sites, the actors get what’s left of their salary, called royalties.
Their royalty money is determined by the SAG-AFTRA. It calculates residuals based on formulas that consider an actor’s contract.
It also includes the production type and the market where the show appears. After each episode is rerun, the payout amount is reduced.
So, by the 13th rerun, the amount decreases to 5% of the original fee the actor was paid for his/her appearance in an episode.
This 5 percent will be paid every time an episode is run forever. So, in general, only the main cast will receive the royalty amount.
Whereas, the background actors, guest actors, or the actors who were in extra do not usually receive the royalty amount like others.
According to the Marketplace, if each of the stars of the hit sitcom shows Friends received residuals at the normal SAG-AFTRA rates, they would get around $10,000 in royalties for each episode.
Now with 236 episodes in reruns, that would add up to a total sum of $2,360,000 per actor. In actuality, the cast negotiated even higher and earns close to $20 million a year in syndication.
Therefore, the amount they receive as royalty also depends on the negotiations during their time on the series.
Also, the less successful show also gets their reruns income, but the amounts are often small and do not add much value to their life.
Like for example, The Punky Brewster Cast receive $2 annually as part of their royalty money. The show Degrassi actor Drake got $8 according to Ask.
Similar to this, Two and a Half Man ended in 2015, but it still earns the money by syndication as well as the amount paid by various streaming services.
Reportedly, the lead actor Charlie Sheen earned up to 100 million dollars from his royalty income. The show is still popular among the audience and gets millions of views every year.
