That blue wall is so...... BLUE!
I've done years of warm-up. So there's little anyone can say at this point to offend me. I've heard it all from audience members we've taken hostage for those long multi-episode tapings of the nameless shows that stop and start more frequently than geriatric sex!
So sure, let's talk money ;-)
$484 IS scale for an hour show such as TPIR. The \"multiple discount\" alluded to by Matt is a bewildering, antiquated concept that is always confusing no matter how it's explained. It was an item I helped study and present to the contract negotiators when the AFTRA codes were last negotiated with producers. It failed to be addressed because of the relatively few AFTRANs it affects (mostly just game show folk, because no other genre of show tapes more than 1 or 2 episodes a day). I found out when making my plea to the negotiating committee that Johnny Gilbert raised the same points and made similar suggestions (also to no avail) when he took on the same issue as his pet project somewhere around the 1980s
Here's the story on that wacky \"multiple discount\". Back at the advent of video tape AFTRA wanted to encourage the use of that new technology because of its efficiency and the flexibility it afforded members in scheduling their work. So an incentive was added to the contract that gave producers a financial break if multiple episodes were taped on the same day for broadcast in the same calendar week. That's how a daily show can yield an announcer (or model or scale host) less than 5-times scale for a week of shows, but they have to all be taped on the same day and all broadcast during the same calendar week to qualify. Now that everything is taped and shows do as many as 7 episodes a day, I've believed that such an incentive is clearly outdated. Although it's been years since I've worked for scale, I've been for phasing-out the multiple discount incentive because the higher the scale figure is for a job, generally the higher one can negotiate, using scale as a reference point.
Thankfully TPIR is rarely subject to the discount as taping is mostly one episode a day, and the two that are occasionally taped on the same day are not always broadcast in the same week. So the powers that be do NOT apply any discount on \"Price\" when computing scale. I'm happy to say I started as fill-in on TPIR at above scale, although it is NOT the highest paying job I've had. It's certainly fair and (don't quote me) I'd do it for far less to fulfill my dream as well as to establish my credibility and suitability for the show with the producers and owners.
Rod works under a great deal negotiated back in the Mark Goodson days that makes him the highest paid of our \"family\". On the other hand, Johnny O had NO agent and never asked for a penny more than scale (and never got it, from everything I've heard). He loved the work and the friendships too much for the money to have ever become an issue for him. With no kids to support and his always working multiple shows over many decades, he and Penny were well set, especially in consideration of their conservative West Virginia lifestyle.
I don't feel comfortable talking about anyone else except to say that SONY treats Charlie O and Johnny Gilbert fairly with well above-scale deals. And to clarify that Don Pardo is among the very last STAFF announcers on Earth, meaning that he is guaranteed an annual salary virtually for the rest of his life no matter how little time he actually spends behind a microphone. In his position, more work only minimally increases his compensation.
Class dismissed ;-)
Randy
tvrandywest.com
