How Much do Actors get Paid

A lot of children grow up with the dream of becoming actors and actresses. I know I did. They take part in every musical and every play in school hoping that some big star from Hollywood might land up in their local amphitheater and give them their big break! And then you'll be followed by fans everywhere you go, 'star on the boulevard', designer jeans, a spanking new house in the best part of Beverly Hills. All the good life! But then again few people get such big starts! Does anyone know how much actors get paid when they start their careers?

An Actor's 'Salary'

The top stars can ask for pretty much any amount they feel is right. They, along with their agent and other experts in this field, assess their own brand value and the effort they are putting in and ask the producers for that much money. The compensation of a big actor depends on several things. Some may choose to take their compensation after the completion of the movie and then have nothing to do with it. Another option which seasoned actors may also choose is to enter a profit sharing agreement with the producers. That means whatever the profit the movie producers make through various channels like ticket sales, merchandise sales (in case of superhero films), DVD sales and sale of rights to TV channels, the actor may choose to take a part of it. In such a case the actor may settle for a lower salary. The salaries vary a lot as the terms and conditions of signing are different. They may ask for a signing on fee even before the shooting of the film hits the floors.

As far as commercials are concerned, it again depends on the brand value of the actor and the size of the brand he or she is endorsing. They may also choose to take the compensation in kind rather than in cash. This means that if an actor is endorsing a certain brand, he or she may choose not to take a small cut in his earnings in return for free samples of the product he or she is endorsing.

How Much do New Actors Get Paid?

Now it is easy to imagine that someone who is just starting his career will not get paid as much as say, Will Smith or Scarlett Johansson will.

The salaries of lesser known actors really depends on the rate demanded by the actor's union, called SAG (Screen Actors Guild). The SAG aims to protect the interests of all the budding actors and protects them from being exploited by the producers like getting them to work at extremely low rates. They are the ones who decide what must be the base salary of an actor and based on that the producers have to give the daily or weekly wages to the actors who are performing in a movie or a TV series or a commercial.

Hence, if an actor chooses to be a registered member of the SAG, he will stand to get a daily wage of $716 a day or $2483 a week (October, 2005). While some websites give an average median annual earnings for a new actor, those figures are largely suspect, as the actor may or may not be employed for the full year. If he is employed for the full year, then he will have quite a good life indeed, even at these rates, but very few are employed for the whole year.

But then here's a sneak peek into the salaries of the top 10 richest actors.

So as you can see, while the starting salary of an actor is not all that great and the chances of a full-time employment are quite low, there is a huge opportunity to grow in this field. I guess initially it depends on the producer, but with hard work and dedication, it will depend on what you ask for!