“Modern Family” Stars Demand More $$$ ..Or They Won’t Act

An age old battle for more money has begun once again– but this time it is with the cast members of the hit ABC television show “Modern Family”. The average television star earns between 40,000 and 70,000 per episode. In the television industry, actors typically sign contracts that range from five to seven years with annual pay increases of 4% to 6%. The payout to a more established stars can be in the six figures per episode but that is for more established stars…

The cast members are seeking a significant raise in pay and they have banded together to make sure their demands are met. The numbers stated previous sound great to the average working Joe, but in television when there is a huge breakout hit– the production company that produces the show makes a fortune really fast and those figures that the actors get become very small and minuscule.  As is the case with The Modern Family.

On Tuesday several of the show’s key cast members filed suit against the show’s producer, 2oth Century Fox Television, in an effort to void their contracts. It’s strange the world we live in where contracts can be voided or atleast attempted to be voided simply because the show is earning more than what was expected.

The actors who initially filed the suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday were Sofia Vergara, Jesse Ferguson, Ty Burrell, and Eric Stonestreet. Ed O’Neill, who many remember from his iconic role as Al Bundy joined in the cast effort to see a bigger payday recently as well.

So what got the commotion going and  caused the lawsuits to be filed???..ABC is bring in hundreds of millions in advertising revenue and 20th Century Fox Television has already sold reruns of “Modern Family” to the cable channel USA for $1.5 million per episode. Yep…that will do it…1,500,000 per episode is enough to make even the coolest person lose it.

“It’s a pretty natural instinct among actors who see the money flowing in to the network and the studio to want their share,” said Sandy Grushow who is currently chief content officer of consulting firm MediaLink and she is also a former head of both 20th Century Fox Television and Fox Broadcasting.

The cast members all have 4 seasons remaining on their current contracts and  the irony is the studio was offering them pay raises that would take them from rougly $65,000 per episode to $150,000. According to a source close to the situation they are looking for around $200,000. That is about what CBS’s hit show “Big Bang Theory” are paid. The cast has banded together and vowed to stand strong so they can’t be played against one another. Hey there is strengthen in numbers..

Cast members say the contracts that they signed violate California’s seven years law where a contract can not go past seven years.  The contracts expire at the end of June 2016, and all were signed before June 2009.

For now ABC executives seem not to be worried at all. They are waiting to see how it all plays out. 20th Century Fox is sure to charge them a higher fee for broadcasting rights to the show should the studio lose and have to write several larger checks for acting services rendered.

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