Did they really get a raise from $750g's an episode to a cool million per ep? No offense to the show, I mean, I watch it all the time, but $1 million for 22 minutes seems to be just dumb. I mean, as if $750000 wasn't enough for them, what the hell was NBC thinking?

p.s.: By the way, that thread topic should read 'Is it true that the Friends cast got a raise?.... I'm very tired right now.

they wanted a mill last season and negotiated up to 750K per person per episode for 2 years. I think thats it. I don't think there have been any other negotiations

When you consider that Friends has been a NBC flagship for years and that the show appeals to the most profitable demographic I don't think it was unreasonable for the cast to ask for that much money.

-Gonnosuke

Wow! They film the show in one take with no rehearsals?! That has got to be worth big bucks.

a lot of people watch the show. 1 mil (or 750,000) for 22 min is not accurate. its a whole week of rehersing, etc. I agree it is a lot of money, but its the public is who is making them worth so much. Thats the beauty of national broadcasts.

They are like internet stock and athletes. What they do is not deserving of that amount of money. However, the revenue they generate is phenomenally high. They know it and demand a piece of it. Call it a monopoly on yourself. Call it profit sharing. Think about it, if they are making 750K/episode, imagine what the network is making.

BothanSpy

Exactly.

I don't see how anyone can complain about how much these folks make per episode. First of all, why do you care how much they make? Does it affect your enjoyment of the program?

Second, what if I told you that NBC makes $100 million per episode with advertising revenue and syndication deals. Then would they be "worth it" to pay out $6 million per for the talent?

I just made that number up, but the point is that the "talent" that makes the show worth watching obviously deserves a pretty good sized cut of what revenue the show brings in. If the show is a flop, they shouldn't be demanding raises. However, the show is a HUGE hit, both on the network, in syndication, and on home video. Asking for a raise in this situation (regardless of how much you make) is not unreasonable. The fact that that NBC agreed to pay them that much just shows you how much the show actually means (in terms of viewers and $$$$$) to the network.

And, as others have mentioned, they aren't being paid $750K for 22 minutes of work... any more than the star of a movie is paid for 90 minutes of work.

I think the writers need to get a good chunk of change as well. The actors are the ones delivering the lines, the writers are the brains behind the operation.