The streaming boom has radically changed TV compensation, with no sign that demand — or salaries — will be fading anytime soon for top small-screen talent. Newer streaming services are still ramping up their TV offerings as companies make a bid for eyeballs around the globe, and established streamers are doing their best to remain competitive with them and traditional TV counterparts.
That is leading to some hefty upfront paydays for some of the biggest, A-list feature stars making their way to TV. The last time Variety wrote about bulging TV salaries, it referenced the growing “$1 million club.” Now that number is shifting closer to $2 million. At the top of that list, Robert Downey Jr. is rumored to have made at least that — if not more — for A24’s Vietnam War thriller “The Sympathizer,” for HBO. Chris Pratt is said to have pulled down $1.4 million for his Amazon Prime series “The Terminal List.”
And the hunger at the streamers for A-list talent only gets more vociferous when another star has a huge hit — witness Kate Winslet and “Mare of Easttown,” the kind of show every outlet is anxious to have. “You’re seeing a lot of pressure at Apple, Amazon, Hulu, to cast these major names and their shows, and for that they’re willing to spend a ton of money,” says one rep. “It all depends on how much leverage you have and how badly they need you.”
One casualty of the changing TV ecosystem: Those tremendous paydays that came from…