DEH Actors Salaries Question?

Seeing the huge amounts of money that shows such as DEH make per week I was just curious as to how well compensated the actors are in such a show. From what I understand , do they not sign a contract at the very beginning when they do not know the success of the show. As a show becomes a mega success such as in the case of DEH do the actors benefit during the course of their contract? What I don't understand is when contracts are due to be renewed I can imagine the huge increases that could be requested by an actor such as Ben Platt to continue doing the role yet most people leave after a year. To me that doesn't seem to be fair to such amazing actors as they are the ones who actually are responsible for the huge popularity of such a show. As well how do the salaries of the main star such as Ben differ from the other actors in the show who are equally as amazing yet are more supporting characters in the show. To me the actors best bargaining power is when their contract is up for renewal yet in the case of Hamilton for example most of the principal actors left after a year. Sounds like the producers are the main people who benefit from a mega popular show! Doesn't seem fair......

except for the original (workshop? i think) cast of Hamilton, where they ended up getting a perfectage i think, most casts don't really see a big return on them being in a hit, though in many cases when they resign contracts they can bargain a much higher salary (Idina going to London in wicked comes to mind)

Sad! Fake news!

Ben will survive. If he wants more money then he can choose to renew his contract and negotiate then.

Not really sure why any other cast member except Rachel Bay Jones should be being paid more than average. Most of the characters could be played as well by any half decent actor.

I wouldn't be shocked if Ben Platt receives a percentage of gross due to the nature of his role, his status as a Hollywood actor, and the length of time he's been attached to the role. That would only be speculation. We have no idea what Plat's contract entails.

I sincerely hope you're trolling.

Only giant giant stars (read: Bette Middler, Hugh Jackman, etc) have box office percentages put into their contracts. Sometimes a star will take a pay cut in their weekly salary in exchange for this, sometimes they get both like when Nathan and Matthew went back into The Producers and got allegedly $100k plus a piece of the weekly box office. But it's all negotiated before a show even enters rehearsals. Harry Connick Jr had box office points for On a Clear Day, but never profited from that.

I'm sure the cast of DEH got bumps if they were nominated since most standard principal contracts include clauses for nominations and wins. Supposedly some of last minute announcements of the original Hamilton cast leaving was in response to them asking for a lot more money and producers refusing since the show is the star and the audience doesn't care who they see in it.

Some people in this thread are overestimating Platt's pull to make any percentage of the box office. That's not happening. He's probably making in the neighbourhood of $7,000-10,000 (standard non-star lead pay) a week. (which may have seen a bump, or bonus, added after the Tony win). If he renews past his initial contract, he'll negotiate much higher.

northlandfan said: "In my opinion an actor such as Ben Platt should be making at least $20,000 a week and the rest of the cast maybe half that amount. Am I completely off the mark!"

Yes.

northlandfan said: "In my opinion an actor such as Ben Platt should be making at least $20,000 a week and the rest of the cast maybe half that amount. Am I completely off the mark!"

Yes.

Agreed, no one in that cast is making more than $5000 (except Platt), and more likely closer to just above $2000.

There is almost no post in this thread from someone who has any idea what they are talking about, except a few people who basically say nothing because they are (I suspect) too busy rolling their eyes at what they are reading.

Platt isn't even billed above the title, so to infer that his "Hollywood" clout would alter his pay is laughable. I'm sure he had a nice bump negotiated into his contact for the Tony win.

BrodyFosse123 said: "Unless an actor put in any of their money at any given time as an "angel" (silent) producer, all they receive weekly is their negotiated contract salary. Regardless of the billions the show they are employed at is grossing they don't see a penny more than their contracted salary. Producers and any one with negotiated points involvement benefits from any monetary compensation due to their show's success.

This situation caused a legal uproar with the original cast of HAMILTON and one that the original cast of A CHORUS LINE took legal action also, unsuccessfully, back in 1975-76.



"

As I'm sure BrodyFosse knows and IIRC, the issue with A CHORUS LINE was based on the fact that the cast has been central to the writing of the show. Their accounts of their own life stories were recorded during the famous "taping sessions" and then written into the show. Actors weren't necessarily playing themselves, since the history of one actor might be written into the role of another. But most had contributed to the book. (The cast may have lost in arbitration but I believe Michael Bennett eventually gave the original cast a small percentage of the Broadway show's gross. Perhaps because the controversy made him look bad.)