‘The Pitt’ Is Case Study For Fixed-Fee Cast Payment Model Amid TV Industry Push To Cap Talent Costs https://t.co/X30kLlSdXM
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) November 9, 2024
The series’ unusual casting process that resembled hiring practices at a general company, where people apply for a position at a fixed salary denoted in the job listing.
The method expedites casting as it eliminates back-and-fourth salary negotiations. That saves time, which is a factor, particularly for anthology series.
It also allows for a show with a large ensemble series such as to stay within budget in the new post-Peak TV environment, in which trimming production costs has become imperative.
Anthologies’ Guest Star Attractions
Fox’s Accused, a pure anthology, with each episode featuring a new cast, so the Guest Lead carries the story in that episode. That role pays $150K. If there are two equal co-leads in the episode, both make the same $150K. If the second role is a smaller, it pays $100K.
CBS’ Elsbeth, Special Guest Stars get $100K an episode.
Peacock’s Poker Face, for the upcoming second season, is paying $75K for the episodic Lead Guest Stars. In Season 1, they paid $150K for the guest-starring gig.
Max’s upcoming medical drama The Pitt
• has 10 series regulars,
• to be budgeted north of $4 million an episode.
• unusually large (for streaming) order, straight-to-series for 15 episodes.
• a fixed two-tier salary system. Besides the lead, and executive producer Noah Wyle, the remaining nine series-regular roles were put out for casting with a per-episode fee attached — $50K an episode for some and $35K an episode for the rest are in the low- to mid-range for TV salaries.
• The entire season of The Pitt is believed to take place over the course of a single day, in the vein of ’24’.
• The actors have been asked to be present even if they don’t have lines in a scene. That translated into 7 out of 8 shooting days per episode for most of the cast.
Casting Budgets‘ Increased “Rigidity”
• In the post-Peak TV era, we may never again see entire casts of five or six making $1M an episode.
• media companies may be looking to cap actor salaries at around $400K per episode.
• the ongoing squeeze is not expected to impact the so-called “No.1 on the call sheet”. It’s the rest that are feeling the effects of budget trimming.
• if the budget for a role is $60K and an actor is unwilling to take it because they feel undervalued, the producers will just move on to the next actor on the list.
