Salaries of Film Stars
A film star earns a salary that enables him to live anywhere in the world with homes strewn about the globe. Production studios pay high prices to attach a star's name to a particular project because they know just the star's name alone can ensure the film brings in enough money to turn a profit.
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Role of SAG
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The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is the trade union for all working screen actors in the United States. The guild has worked to secure salary minimums for actors, standards for working conditions, hours of work and what constitutes a day's work on the movie set. The guild also offers actors who maintain proper working credits, health insurance, pension and tools for actors such as workshops and contract assistance. The guild has been instrumental in securing competitive wages for working actors, not just Hollywood stars with fame across the world.
Highest-Paid Actors
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A movie star has instant name recognition that equates to a strong box office draw. For this reason, stars like Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio can command well more than $20 million for a single film. According to Forbes, Depp was the highest-paid actor between June 2009 and June 2010, earning more than $75 million for various films including "Alice in Wonderland" and "Public Enemies". The second highest earner between June 2009 and June 2010 was Ben Stiller. The actor earned a total of $53 million for such films as "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" and "Little Fockers." Tom Hanks was the third-highest paid actor during that same time span with a total income of about $45 million for films including "Angels and Demons" and "Larry Crowne".
To demonstrate the wide range in pay among film stars, the 10th-highest paid actor on the list -- George Clooney -- hauled in $19 million during that time frame.
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Back-End Pay
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Film stars are able to negotiate contracts that pay them not only a base salary of appearing in a film but also net them an extra payday based on the movie's box office numbers. This income is referred to as "back-end pay" and it can raise a film star's take from a given movie by millions of dollars, depending on how successful the film is. Usually the more prominent the star, the more the film studio is willing to negotiate a higher back-end percentage because of the guaranteed draw from the star's association with the film.
Stars as Producers
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A star who puts her own money into a film as a producer can stand to earn additional millions from percentages of the movie's box office numbers. This percentage stands to be substantially higher than any back-end pay deal negotiated with the studio since the star's own money is directly responsible for the film's creation. Successful films can earn billions of dollars across the world, leaving huge potential for additional profit for the star who wisely invests money in a film.
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