# Tartie Takes: All About the Money

An episode of [And That's What You REALLY Missed](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1645980188), 5 Mar 2026, 30 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/67adaf3b-fc3c-4c67-9613-af12015fa842/600d7994-b4bb-4362-b288-b403017ed33e/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=d5f905ac-eb40-4fc6-9d03-af120160041a

Last time, Jenna and Kevin talked all about the audition process and what it takes to land a role ... But what happens after you actually book the job? There's a misconception that once an actor lands a role on a hit show, they are suddenly raking in the big bucks. Jenna and Kevin break down how actors actually get paid. They explain the difference between series regulars and guest stars, what actors actually take home after union dues and paying their team, and share financial advice they got from the adult cast on Glee. If you've ever been curious about how the financial side of acting works, this episode is for you. For fun, exclusive content, and behind-the-scenes clips, follow us on Instagram @andthatswhatyoureallymissedpod & TikTok @thatswhatyoureallymissed! See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:01] Speaker 1: And that's what you really missed with Jenna.
[0:04] Speaker 2: And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
[0:09] Speaker 1: Welcome to and That's what you really miss podcasts. Hello Kevin,
[0:13] Speaker 1: Hello Jenna. I had so much fun talking last week
[0:15] Speaker 1: about auditions and airing our vulnerable dirty laundry, about how
[0:22] Speaker 1: hard enough to get a job and what it goes,
[0:25] Speaker 1: what goes into it. But it really is true. But
[0:28] Speaker 1: I think there's something really interesting about how people survive
[0:34] Speaker 1: once they get the job.
[0:36] Speaker 2: Yes, I think what I would love to do is
[0:41] Speaker 2: sort of break down the financial part of this. Yeah,
[0:46] Speaker 2: so if you listened to the episode before, well, if
[0:49] Speaker 2: you haven't, go back and listen to that first. But
[0:51] Speaker 2: here's the thing. So if we talk, let's take TV
[0:54] Speaker 2: like we were talking about mostly Yeah, sure. Yeah, when
[0:57] Speaker 2: you go to tests, like we said, you negotiate your contract. Yeah,
[1:00] Speaker 2: And I think, like with any job, you're talking about
[1:02] Speaker 2: what you're going to be making. And so for a
[1:05] Speaker 2: TV show, your agents and managers are negotiating with the
[1:09] Speaker 2: studio and network.
[1:10] Speaker 1: For a series regular role first, which is a regular
[1:13] Speaker 1: role when you are guaranteed within that contract that you
[1:16] Speaker 1: are negotiating a certain amount of episodes that you are
[1:20] Speaker 1: guaranteed to get paid forward, whether you are in them
[1:23] Speaker 1: or not. So as an example, so we can kind
[1:26] Speaker 1: of put this to you know, if people can understand it.
[1:30] Speaker 1: For Glee, when we were negotiating the contract, there were
[1:33] Speaker 1: twenty two episodes in a season back then. Right now
[1:35] Speaker 1: it's like eight eight, but twenty two episodes in a season.
[1:40] Speaker 1: Most of us were what do they call it, Kevin,
[1:43] Speaker 1: all episodes produced, all episodes produced? What were we do
[1:48] Speaker 1: you remember where we all eisodes produced? Or were we
[1:50] Speaker 1: like twenty out of yes, we were.
[1:52] Speaker 2: All episodes great.
[1:54] Speaker 1: A lot of times people like think about like a
[1:57] Speaker 1: Jama right who came in as a series regor. I
[1:59] Speaker 1: think she was not all episodes produced. I think she
[2:02] Speaker 1: was like you say, I don't know. This is make up,
[2:05] Speaker 1: make believe, you guys, make believe, but like ten out
[2:08] Speaker 1: of twenty two that she is guaranteed she will get
[2:11] Speaker 1: paid for ten episodes. She knows her minimum amount that
[2:14] Speaker 1: she's making. If she goes over that and they write
[2:16] Speaker 1: her into other episodes, she gets paid for them. Great,
[2:18] Speaker 1: but the same she yes, but she's not guaranteed anything
[2:22] Speaker 1: more than ten episodes of a season, so she can
[2:24] Speaker 1: then go okay, I know I'm making this this year,
[2:26] Speaker 1: you know, and plan for that.
[2:28] Speaker 2: And the other things you negotiate are like the length
[2:30] Speaker 2: of contract. So I think when we signed the Glee
[2:32] Speaker 2: contractors for six years, right, six seasons or seven seasons,
[2:37] Speaker 2: it was something again you don't have to it won't.
[2:41] Speaker 2: It's not saying it's going to go that long. You
[2:42] Speaker 2: hope it does. And then some extracurriculars for us was
[2:48] Speaker 2: recording contract you had to be free of any recording contract,
[2:52] Speaker 2: which I was not. And touring, yes.
[2:56] Speaker 1: Touring was also in our contract, yes.
[2:58] Speaker 2: And so those are things that your lawyers, agents, managers
[3:02] Speaker 2: all work out and negotiate going into it. And especially
[3:05] Speaker 2: when if you have a show like Glee that was
[3:07] Speaker 2: such an ensemble with a bunch of people who nobody
[3:10] Speaker 2: had heard of before, you're not necessarily starting off at
[3:14] Speaker 2: a very high rate. But like for people like us
[3:17] Speaker 2: who are all brokesh, yeah, it's a lot. It's still
[3:20] Speaker 2: the most money we all had ever made, for sure
[3:23] Speaker 2: at the time, for sure.
[3:24] Speaker 1: I think. I think also just to clarify for people
[3:27] Speaker 1: that like a series regular job like we explained, where
[3:30] Speaker 1: you get guaranteed a certain amount of amount of episodes
[3:33] Speaker 1: that you are going to be in or get paid for.
[3:35] Speaker 1: Really there's that is what people want in order to
[3:40] Speaker 1: maintain stability in this career. For when you see like
[3:45] Speaker 1: a Law and Order SVU and you see like Rushka
[3:48] Speaker 1: Hardigay and Chris Maloney like they were the series regulars,
[3:52] Speaker 1: and then maybe a few of the other people, all
[3:55] Speaker 1: of the you know, special guests and guest stars that
[3:59] Speaker 1: were in the episodes like the Week if you will
[4:03] Speaker 1: totally right, all these celebrities you started out there or
[4:06] Speaker 1: came in and did roles, those are like special guests,
[4:09] Speaker 1: and those are one offs. They have no contract with
[4:11] Speaker 1: the show except for that episode, and there's no real
[4:15] Speaker 1: pay like I think that for example, going back to Glee,
[4:18] Speaker 1: I think Max Adler was not anything and he was
[4:22] Speaker 1: getting paid as like a guest star or a recurr.
[4:25] Speaker 1: And there's no contract or real contract there, right, so
[4:27] Speaker 1: he can go off and do other things and he's
[4:30] Speaker 1: not getting guaranteed that he's getting paid for any certain
[4:33] Speaker 1: amount of episodes. He's just there. So it's very unstable.
[4:37] Speaker 1: While it's a job and you're grateful for it and
[4:40] Speaker 1: you're working like there's no stability there, you're still constantly
[4:43] Speaker 1: pounding the pavement to find out where your next paycheck is.
[4:46] Speaker 2: So it's a good point you bring up, because you
[4:50] Speaker 2: when you are locked into a show, Yeah, that you are,
[4:55] Speaker 2: that's your first they're in first position for that show.
[4:57] Speaker 2: That means anything, any job that you make, get outside
[5:00] Speaker 2: of it, or offer, whatever it may be, has to
[5:03] Speaker 2: be run by.
[5:05] Speaker 1: That discription of the Yeah, exactly, and.
[5:07] Speaker 2: They get to decide whether or not you get to do.
[5:08] Speaker 1: It aka Ryan Murphy.
[5:10] Speaker 2: Yeah for us, I mean because they're hiring you, they're
[5:13] Speaker 2: paying you this amount of money. You're going to be
[5:15] Speaker 2: there for twenty two episodes. Yeah, they don't. You can't
[5:18] Speaker 2: go do other things because this is the job you've
[5:21] Speaker 2: been hired for.
[5:21] Speaker 1: You're under a contract, right, Yes, like a normal drop
[5:25] Speaker 1: right if you get a if you're on a salary
[5:27] Speaker 1: at a full time gig.
[5:29] Speaker 2: So and the other thing to think about that too,
[5:32] Speaker 2: And I guess this is just easiest to talk about
[5:35] Speaker 2: it in Glee terms. We shot in La. I lived
[5:38] Speaker 2: in La from La, so no problem. Nothing needed to
[5:42] Speaker 2: be considered in terms of travel for me or housing Jenna.
[5:47] Speaker 2: You did not What was that? Was that an additional
[5:50] Speaker 2: thing negotiated into your contract?
[5:52] Speaker 1: No, there's a sag rule when you are in a
[5:55] Speaker 1: union doing a union project that there is a relocation
[5:58] Speaker 1: fee if you are a series right together moving for
[6:00] Speaker 1: a job for a significant amount of time. So during
[6:03] Speaker 1: the pilot they put us up. They paid for all
[6:06] Speaker 1: of my housing and everything and my rental car. Once
[6:08] Speaker 1: the show got picked up, I was given a certain
[6:10] Speaker 1: amount of money and I don't think it was a lot,
[6:14] Speaker 1: but they gave me a certain amount of money to
[6:16] Speaker 1: move across the country to get things in place, to
[6:21] Speaker 1: get you started, get me started. But when you have
[6:24] Speaker 1: so little in your bank account and they don't give
[6:27] Speaker 1: that to you right away, it's on you to move.
[6:32] Speaker 2: Without it used ever to get paid, well, you do.
[6:36] Speaker 2: The way to the episode was being.
[6:39] Speaker 1: You filmed it right, you completed it. It's still it's
[6:42] Speaker 1: just it takes a long time to get paid, you know.
[6:44] Speaker 1: It's like anything. And I remember and Kevin, we all
[6:49] Speaker 1: had this experience where all of us were so you know,
[6:52] Speaker 1: our bank accounts were so low or in the red
[6:54] Speaker 1: at that point that we all came together and kind
[6:57] Speaker 1: of like I think a revealed to each other. We
[7:00] Speaker 1: were like, oh my gosh, when are we going to
[7:02] Speaker 1: get paid? And I think we all asked them together
[7:05] Speaker 1: if we could get our first our pilot check early
[7:08] Speaker 1: because half of us moved across the country or from
[7:11] Speaker 1: you know, Chris moved.
[7:12] Speaker 2: It was a it was episode it was episode two.
[7:15] Speaker 2: So we shot the pilot and when you had all
[7:17] Speaker 2: moved to La no, we had gotten the pilot script.
[7:20] Speaker 2: So many of us were I mean the pilot money,
[7:23] Speaker 2: but so many of us, like were in debt or
[7:25] Speaker 2: you spent your money moving whatever it may be, because
[7:28] Speaker 2: this was what four months after Yeah, so that money
[7:31] Speaker 2: was gone, right, so we were asking for an advance
[7:35] Speaker 2: on our first episode.
[7:37] Speaker 1: That's right, Okay, thank you for that, Thank you for yah.
[7:40] Speaker 2: And they did it, which was really nice of them
[7:42] Speaker 2: to do.
[7:43] Speaker 1: Yeah, they didn't have to do that.
[7:45] Speaker 2: No, they did do that.
[7:46] Speaker 1: But so yeah, so the series that is. And so
[7:52] Speaker 1: you know, going into your year, if you booked that role,
[7:55] Speaker 1: that was negotiated pre test, so then you know when
[7:58] Speaker 1: you booked that role, when they call you and say
[8:00] Speaker 1: you got the job, you know how much you're getting
[8:02] Speaker 1: paid at least for that first round of you know seasons.
[8:05] Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing, would you for us? Like nowadays,
[8:08] Speaker 2: things are automatically picked up for a full season, so
[8:10] Speaker 2: you know, going into it, I'm doing eight episodes or
[8:12] Speaker 2: ten episodes, so I know, this is how much money
[8:14] Speaker 2: I'm going to be making when you are just doing
[8:16] Speaker 2: a pilot. We were only getting paid or guaranteed for
[8:21] Speaker 2: that one episode, and so it is like a little
[8:24] Speaker 2: bit more money. It's like a tiny bit more. Then like, Okay,
[8:28] Speaker 2: let's say you got paid twenty grand to shoot this pilot. Yeah,
[8:31] Speaker 2: if it gets picked up, you're getting like seven No,
[8:34] Speaker 2: but you're getting like seventeen thousand. It's always a little
[8:36] Speaker 2: more for the pilot and then a little less for
[8:39] Speaker 2: the series.
[8:39] Speaker 1: Rag okay to start that's right, yeah, got it, get it.
[8:43] Speaker 2: And so for us, like we shot the pilot, got paid,
[8:45] Speaker 2: and that might just be it. And then like we
[8:48] Speaker 2: were originally told it was going to be a mid
[8:50] Speaker 2: season replacement show, meaning it would start after January. Seasons
[8:54] Speaker 2: always end around May, so you're doing a shorter season,
[8:57] Speaker 2: so we thought it might be a handful of episodes.
[9:00] Speaker 2: So again to us, so much money, great, But then
[9:03] Speaker 2: I don't know, well, it got picked up for thirteen episodes.
[9:08] Speaker 1: Right right, and then and then at some point do
[9:12] Speaker 1: you remember when we got picked up for the back nine,
[9:14] Speaker 1: which is what the additional of complete completes the whole
[9:17] Speaker 1: twenty two oh basically, but yes, you're again. The sentiment
[9:21] Speaker 1: is that, like we didn't there's so many different pieces
[9:25] Speaker 1: to like even when you book the series regular. You know,
[9:28] Speaker 1: back then it was a very standard pilot to series
[9:33] Speaker 1: order or thirteen you know episode series order or full
[9:36] Speaker 1: series order. And now I think it's evolved where you know,
[9:42] Speaker 1: streamers came out. Things have changed, you know, broadcast television
[9:47] Speaker 1: is like or the twenty two season episode season is
[9:52] Speaker 1: no longer. It doesn't exist.
[9:54] Speaker 2: It exists for some shows, but it's very very very rare.
[9:57] Speaker 1: You're booking a show and you get picked up for
[10:00] Speaker 1: eight episodes. They're going to shoot all eight episodes at once.
[10:02] Speaker 1: You're going to shoot them in order wherever you are,
[10:05] Speaker 1: and that's what you get paid for. Now, when we
[10:08] Speaker 1: talk about this, it's like writers also get paid by
[10:12] Speaker 1: the episode and by these kind of similar contracts because
[10:16] Speaker 1: they have the writers Guild. And so now as it's evolved,
[10:21] Speaker 1: you look at actors and writers and crews who are
[10:25] Speaker 1: getting paid for not twenty two but eight episodes, and
[10:30] Speaker 1: that's the only job you get all year, and some
[10:34] Speaker 1: of your existence is questionable because you're like, how do
[10:37] Speaker 1: I make it?
[10:38] Speaker 2: Well? You also in those contracts that has to be
[10:40] Speaker 2: negotiated if it's eight episodes or ten episodes, whatever it is, again,
[10:45] Speaker 2: they're in first position.
[10:47] Speaker 1: Yeah.
[10:48] Speaker 2: So I know plenty of people who have done shows
[10:53] Speaker 2: within the past couple of years where they only shoot
[10:56] Speaker 2: for a couple months and they have the rest of
[10:58] Speaker 2: the year, but they're not allowed to do any anything else.
[11:00] Speaker 2: Oh yeah, So I do think it's important for us
[11:03] Speaker 2: as viewers to just remember that, Like if you see
[11:08] Speaker 2: a show come out on Netflix, it becomes like an
[11:12] Speaker 2: overnight sensation and it's really big that does not correlate
[11:17] Speaker 2: and most likely does not correlate to a huge financial
[11:21] Speaker 2: success for those.
[11:22] Speaker 1: Actors in it, right, I could at least right right.
[11:25] Speaker 2: Up the gate. And and it takes a lot of
[11:27] Speaker 2: time between seasons. It takes a lot of time to
[11:29] Speaker 2: see if a show is going to get picked up
[11:31] Speaker 2: for another season. And so what happens is you have,
[11:34] Speaker 2: you know, somebody who always becomes famous overnight, and yes,
[11:38] Speaker 2: they got paid for these episodes, and it's a decent
[11:41] Speaker 2: amount of money and they're able to like survive for sure,
[11:45] Speaker 2: but like I think that's it, Like the glamor that
[11:47] Speaker 2: comes along with how it looks.
[11:49] Speaker 1: Yes, is very They're famous now, so they must be rich, right, yes,
[11:53] Speaker 1: and it's very easy to assume them. But like if
[11:55] Speaker 1: you look at somebody who's gotten famous overnight, the contract
[11:58] Speaker 1: that they were negotiating, they had no legs to stay on.
[12:00] Speaker 1: They're taking that contract whether they like it or not
[12:03] Speaker 1: for most for the most part, right generally, And I
[12:09] Speaker 1: think it's important to also remember to acknowledge that these actors,
[12:16] Speaker 1: we have teams, right, you have agents, you have managers
[12:19] Speaker 1: who all have to get paid. That comes out of
[12:21] Speaker 1: your paycheck, right, the paycheck that that you have negotiated.
[12:24] Speaker 1: So there are standards where agents and managers get ten
[12:28] Speaker 1: percent of your each, so twenty percent is coming off
[12:31] Speaker 1: the top of your paycheck.
[12:33] Speaker 2: And then you usually have an attorney on top of that.
[12:35] Speaker 2: An attorney will take five.
[12:37] Speaker 1: Percent of your yearly of your your your or five
[12:41] Speaker 1: percent of.
[12:42] Speaker 2: That now five percent of the earnings that they negotiated for.
[12:45] Speaker 1: That contract, right right right, And then you have taxes
[12:48] Speaker 1: of course if and you have you know, low low
[12:52] Speaker 1: union dues or union dus are also like SAG and
[12:56] Speaker 1: any union you are part of, they are percentage of
[12:59] Speaker 1: how much you make, so they're not taking like a
[13:03] Speaker 1: standard percentage. It's based off of how much you've made
[13:06] Speaker 1: for them that year. And then if you are lucky
[13:09] Speaker 1: enough to become successful and famous and become just notable,
[13:16] Speaker 1: right then there's having to keep that up. It's every
[13:20] Speaker 1: red carpet. It is publicists, which.
[13:23] Speaker 2: Are you guys. Publicists are so expensive.
[13:27] Speaker 1: And there's people are They're really there to pitch you
[13:29] Speaker 1: and protect you and really take advantage of the time
[13:34] Speaker 1: of your success and like get you in you know,
[13:37] Speaker 1: the media and and all the publicity.
[13:40] Speaker 2: It can also be like, you know, we see a
[13:42] Speaker 2: lot of bad publicity. Good publicity. Publicity can be used
[13:46] Speaker 2: to get the next job totally. It technically can be
[13:49] Speaker 2: an investment for your career and your future.
[13:52] Speaker 1: But also it's haaren makeup every every carpet, hair and
[13:56] Speaker 1: makeup all these things that are you just like you
[13:59] Speaker 1: don't see from the outside. And so it's to keep
[14:04] Speaker 1: up this life of like you're asked to go to
[14:08] Speaker 1: these red cards. You're asking these things and you don't
[14:09] Speaker 1: you show up and they're sending no. I will say,
[14:13] Speaker 1: like Glee was pretty good about like publicity events, Like
[14:16] Speaker 1: if we had publicity events, they would cover hair and
[14:18] Speaker 1: makeup for us, which was.
[14:19] Speaker 2: Like, really, I think most things do.
[14:21] Speaker 1: If you are doing publicity for a show, the.
[14:24] Speaker 2: Thing you worked on, yeah, they will almost always provide
[14:29] Speaker 2: hair and makeup. Probably not a styling budget.
[14:32] Speaker 1: No, but if they're if you're like a recurring or
[14:34] Speaker 1: a guest or on the show, but you're asked to
[14:36] Speaker 1: come to this red carpet that's on you. They're not
[14:38] Speaker 1: covering that, they're not getting your car to get there,
[14:40] Speaker 1: they're not giving you hair and makeup. So anyway, there's
[14:43] Speaker 1: just all these pieces that also I think are important
[14:47] Speaker 1: to touch upon when people see the success of somebody.
[14:51] Speaker 2: And I think it's also this isn't a poor me
[14:53] Speaker 2: for us, no, no at all. I think it's just
[14:56] Speaker 2: presenting the realities of like you don't stay out publicist,
[14:59] Speaker 2: You don't have have to have a stylist, you absolutely
[15:01] Speaker 2: do not. But it is something as horrible as it
[15:06] Speaker 2: is that can't impact your like higher ability afterwards, because
[15:11] Speaker 2: like the pictures that are seen of you go into
[15:14] Speaker 2: people considering you for other opportunities. Question Jenna, how and
[15:29] Speaker 2: your experience is like styling work. For example, you know
[15:33] Speaker 2: I mean stylist. I think I've gotten more and more famous.
[15:35] Speaker 1: Yes, I get stylists. But styling works where like they
[15:41] Speaker 1: if it's if it's a handful of events that you're doing,
[15:44] Speaker 1: like you're doing Award season and they're coming up with
[15:46] Speaker 1: like four really big dresses for you, they have to
[15:49] Speaker 1: go pull jewelry to match, shoes to match, things to borrow,
[15:55] Speaker 1: clutches and purses to borrow. So if they're doing like
[15:58] Speaker 1: one really big event, like or a big round of events,
[16:03] Speaker 1: they'll do a big poll for you. They'll come over,
[16:05] Speaker 1: you'll do a big fitting, right, and you'll pay them
[16:08] Speaker 1: in one lom sum for all of that. Or there's
[16:12] Speaker 1: some people who like they worked on retainer, so like
[16:15] Speaker 1: they get paid, you know, you pay them a bunch
[16:19] Speaker 1: of money and then they work when they are needed.
[16:22] Speaker 1: And there's also like you get paid by the event,
[16:25] Speaker 1: and you know you can pay yourselves by the event.
[16:27] Speaker 1: Glee covered some of that, but they didn't cover all
[16:30] Speaker 1: of it because we went to so many of us
[16:33] Speaker 1: and some of them were personally personal invites and were
[16:36] Speaker 1: because of Glee, but not promotingly and to like like
[16:40] Speaker 1: the treund generated, like the nonprofits of them, of the
[16:43] Speaker 1: world that you want to be a part of, you
[16:45] Speaker 1: want to be there for that's on you. So I
[16:47] Speaker 1: remember the first season of Glee, I didn't have a stylist.
[16:50] Speaker 1: I didn't get to work with my amazing stylist, Samanda.
[16:52] Speaker 1: Like I also like I was trying to save money.
[16:55] Speaker 1: We weren't making that much money, Like it was a lot,
[16:58] Speaker 1: but it was still not I need to sustain for
[17:00] Speaker 1: other things that were priority, And so I would go
[17:05] Speaker 1: and I would buy dresses at Bloomingdale's. Yeah, for all
[17:08] Speaker 1: these events, all the first season of Glee, I picked
[17:11] Speaker 1: out all those things. They may not have been the
[17:13] Speaker 1: right things, but I picked them out and I bought
[17:14] Speaker 1: them for myself. And I had that obviously. And then
[17:18] Speaker 1: also like that contract allowed me to do that, whereas
[17:22] Speaker 1: like some TV contracts, like people, I didn't have a family,
[17:26] Speaker 1: I didn't have kids, Like I didn't have a house
[17:28] Speaker 1: and mortgage, Like we were kind of running free in
[17:31] Speaker 1: this way where it was like that was the priority
[17:34] Speaker 1: of like where we're spending money was like my family
[17:37] Speaker 1: and my rent. But if it was this phase of
[17:41] Speaker 1: my life, I think I would have to spend very differently.
[17:45] Speaker 1: I think there's something also that, like I always thought like, oh,
[17:48] Speaker 1: you know these people who like Friends and Seinfeld you
[17:52] Speaker 1: see on TV all the time everybody talked about residuals
[17:55] Speaker 1: where they would just live out the residuals for the
[17:57] Speaker 1: rest of their lives. I'm sure that Friends could probably
[17:59] Speaker 1: do that, right. Like it was a small cast, they
[18:01] Speaker 1: had a really good, really good syndication across multiple channels.
[18:06] Speaker 2: Comedy snore. Really can long running comedies.
[18:09] Speaker 1: Your half hours, yes, gold half hours, yes. But for
[18:15] Speaker 1: I always thought like, oh, every Tivy show that has
[18:18] Speaker 1: success like must be that those stars must be set
[18:21] Speaker 1: for life.
[18:22] Speaker 2: Mm hmm.
[18:23] Speaker 1: I was grossly wrong, grossly wrong. And I remember Romy
[18:33] Speaker 1: and Mike and all the adults in the show being like,
[18:36] Speaker 1: save you money, put it in real estate, don't spend it.
[18:42] Speaker 1: I didn't listen to most a few of those, and
[18:46] Speaker 1: I did put my money in real do we did
[18:48] Speaker 1: do that, Kevin did. But I was wrong. And I
[18:52] Speaker 1: think that's also like something a misconception that like, once
[18:55] Speaker 1: you're famous, once you've hit it, like you're just good forever.
[19:00] Speaker 1: And that's just absolutely untrue. And I stand here humble
[19:05] Speaker 1: by that because it's tough. It's really tough.
[19:11] Speaker 2: The fame aspect of it is like if you're lucky
[19:14] Speaker 2: enough to get a job and you're lucky enough to
[19:15] Speaker 2: be on something that is doing really well, yeah, we
[19:20] Speaker 2: had the security of knowing we had twenty two episodes, yeah,
[19:24] Speaker 2: or like if you don't now and now I think
[19:28] Speaker 2: also there's like a different relationship with social media. There's
[19:30] Speaker 2: opportunities to make money there where there weren't before totally
[19:34] Speaker 2: also getting flown out to fashion shows, which wasn't happening
[19:38] Speaker 2: when we were and Glee, and that doesn't mean they're
[19:41] Speaker 2: making money for that, right, They're getting a free trip
[19:43] Speaker 2: out of it, and it looks good for them, right,
[19:46] Speaker 2: and maybe getting some free clothes, but it's like you
[19:49] Speaker 2: aren't necessarily making any money.
[19:51] Speaker 1: Off of that.
[20:00] Speaker 2: Residuals also work differently nowadays on streaming. They are it's
[20:05] Speaker 2: a completely different model and you don't normally you don't
[20:08] Speaker 2: get residuals and you're paid upfront, so like you're paid
[20:12] Speaker 2: your episode fee and then like that's all you get.
[20:18] Speaker 1: Residuals. Also, like for people just basic term is like
[20:23] Speaker 1: you make money every time it airs again on repeat
[20:26] Speaker 1: and at a different rate every time right, or whatever
[20:29] Speaker 1: channel it's on where it's being played. But sorry, keep going.
[20:33] Speaker 2: Like growing up, you'd hear about syndication deals for friends
[20:36] Speaker 2: or Seinfeld. Syndication is also a whole separate thing, which
[20:39] Speaker 2: was fascinating. So syndication also works. It's not just you're
[20:45] Speaker 2: a regular on this show, so you're all getting the
[20:47] Speaker 2: same thing. Syndication is based off of how much you
[20:51] Speaker 2: are in that episode, like how significant you are in
[20:55] Speaker 2: that episode, so somebody somehow is calculating.
[21:00] Speaker 1: The episode.
[21:03] Speaker 2: Yeah, and then yeah, like it's based off of that
[21:08] Speaker 2: for syndication, which is I mean, it's fascinating to like
[21:12] Speaker 2: I couldn't believe that. I was, like, that's how it
[21:14] Speaker 2: works for real. And then over time your residuals become
[21:20] Speaker 2: less and less because they're worth less as each airing
[21:24] Speaker 2: goes on. But this is also for like series regular people.
[21:29] Speaker 2: You know, for for films, it's a lump it's a
[21:32] Speaker 2: big lump sum because you're doing one job, so you're
[21:34] Speaker 2: getting paid and that's obviously negotiated at the same time
[21:37] Speaker 2: that you're testing or in final callbacks or whatever it
[21:41] Speaker 2: may be. Just like a TV show, guests are you
[21:46] Speaker 2: usually know up front before you even go to the audition,
[21:49] Speaker 2: because there's per union rules. This is how much a
[21:52] Speaker 2: guest star gets paid at a minim range or range,
[21:57] Speaker 2: or if you're like famous, then you can break that
[22:01] Speaker 2: and they can pay you extra. Nowadays, a lot of
[22:03] Speaker 2: times on auditions they'll actually post even for a series regular,
[22:07] Speaker 2: they'll put in the so if you missed the last episode.
[22:12] Speaker 2: This is a little tidbit that we forgot to mention.
[22:14] Speaker 2: So like when you first get your audition, we talked
[22:17] Speaker 2: about receiving an email, but in that email is all
[22:20] Speaker 2: the information you need. It is a synopsis of the show.
[22:23] Speaker 1: It's when it's shooting, when it's shooting, the studio you're
[22:29] Speaker 1: going out.
[22:29] Speaker 2: For, the studio behind it, the network or the film studio,
[22:32] Speaker 2: whatever it may be, the writer, director, producers, everything you
[22:35] Speaker 2: need to know, and sometimes nowadays the range of what
[22:40] Speaker 2: you could be making. So it could be you're auditioning
[22:43] Speaker 2: for the show it's a series regular, and the range
[22:47] Speaker 2: is ten thousand to fifty thousand. Yeah, yeah, whether that's
[22:52] Speaker 2: a game or not. From the studio, you know, they
[22:55] Speaker 2: don't ask for more than fifty because you're not going.
[22:57] Speaker 1: To get it.
[22:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, And guests are sort of the same thing. It's like, Okay,
[23:01] Speaker 2: there's a minimum that you can get, and then there's
[23:05] Speaker 2: all other kinds of things that we could get into
[23:07] Speaker 2: about because it is low budget, a super low budget,
[23:10] Speaker 2: and there's different union rules where it's like there's okay,
[23:13] Speaker 2: you're getting six dollars a week to do an ultra
[23:16] Speaker 2: low budget movie.
[23:17] Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I've done I've done movies and projects
[23:21] Speaker 1: where I've lost money.
[23:22] Speaker 2: Oh for sure, I have two. Yeah, I want to
[23:25] Speaker 2: do it.
[23:25] Speaker 1: But that's you're doing it for the love of the job.
[23:28] Speaker 1: And if you have the luxury to take a job
[23:30] Speaker 1: where you can lose money, that is a luxury, right,
[23:34] Speaker 1: that is a privilege. And so I just want to
[23:37] Speaker 1: reiterate again what you said Kevin earlier about like you know,
[23:43] Speaker 1: there's this like standard of what people what came before us, right,
[23:50] Speaker 1: and how the industry standard of what people were making.
[23:55] Speaker 1: And I don't want this to come as complaining, like
[23:58] Speaker 1: we come from a place of privilege, and Hollywood also
[24:01] Speaker 1: is a place of privilege. Ye, But yeah, I mean
[24:05] Speaker 1: I think that there's people like you've taken We've all
[24:09] Speaker 1: taken jobs because we have to, right, and not because
[24:12] Speaker 1: we want that particular role. We've taken jobs that we're
[24:17] Speaker 1: able to because we want to do it. And it's
[24:19] Speaker 1: not a lot of money, but it doesn't really matter.
[24:21] Speaker 1: You like the piece, you like the person who's doing it,
[24:24] Speaker 1: whatever it is, you know. But there's like I think
[24:29] Speaker 1: there's this lack of transparency across money in general and
[24:33] Speaker 1: society but also within Hollywood about how people survive. And
[24:38] Speaker 1: then with social media, this like misconception that fame comes
[24:42] Speaker 1: with with people being rich, and that's at least actors,
[24:50] Speaker 1: and that's not always the.
[24:52] Speaker 2: Case, and most working actors are not the big stars.
[24:57] Speaker 2: I think, you know when you talk about like, oh yeah, totally,
[25:00] Speaker 2: Jennifer Lawrence is getting paid ten million dollars for a movie. Oh,
[25:03] Speaker 2: she's only keeping fifty percent of it, and that's still
[25:05] Speaker 2: five million dollars totally. That is a ton of money. Still,
[25:10] Speaker 2: But for most people who are regularly trying to work
[25:15] Speaker 2: and who are whether they're doing guest stars or co stars,
[25:20] Speaker 2: or they may be a regular on a streaming platform
[25:23] Speaker 2: for a couple episodes. You know, you still have your
[25:26] Speaker 2: regular bills and things to go about your and your
[25:29] Speaker 2: daily life. And so it's fifty taking a fifty percent
[25:33] Speaker 2: including taxes, and you know.
[25:37] Speaker 1: The yeah, it goes away really quickly, yes, yes, yeah, yeah.
[25:43] Speaker 2: It's a very very very very very very small percentage
[25:46] Speaker 2: of the people who are making tons of money. Like
[25:51] Speaker 2: it's it's it's like the point zero zero one percent
[25:54] Speaker 2: of you know, our union.
[25:57] Speaker 1: And I think like, as act like we have to
[26:01] Speaker 1: make we have to stretch out our pay for a
[26:04] Speaker 1: really long time, right, So like when you get a
[26:07] Speaker 1: really big check, you're like, oh my god, this is amazing.
[26:10] Speaker 1: I needed this, And then you're like, how long can
[26:13] Speaker 1: I make this last? Because you just don't know where
[26:16] Speaker 1: your next job is going to, where you don't know
[26:18] Speaker 1: how much you're gonna make on your next job if
[26:19] Speaker 1: you get a next job, Like it's just it's this game.
[26:23] Speaker 1: And so you know, I think my advice would be
[26:25] Speaker 1: for actors who you live below your means, as long
[26:29] Speaker 1: as you can save your money as much as you
[26:32] Speaker 1: can while also living your life, and also like invest
[26:34] Speaker 1: in real estate or invest it, you.
[26:36] Speaker 2: Know, I mean, And it's also you know, the thing
[26:38] Speaker 2: is you are lucky enough to get any job wherever
[26:41] Speaker 2: it is is great because you're actually getting to do
[26:43] Speaker 2: the thing you want to be doing regardless of the money. Yeah,
[26:47] Speaker 2: but you do need to live. And I think the
[26:48] Speaker 2: other thing is is that like, even if you're on
[26:52] Speaker 2: a TV show or a movie that is not twenty
[26:54] Speaker 2: two episodes, it's also just great exposure for you and
[26:59] Speaker 2: you're usually able to hopefully springboard into some other opportunities
[27:04] Speaker 2: adjacent to that thing to make more money. So, you know,
[27:08] Speaker 2: work begets work most of the time. But it's a
[27:12] Speaker 2: really unpredictable career. Yes, I know so many people who
[27:18] Speaker 2: you know, stuck it out as long as possible and
[27:20] Speaker 2: be like, I can't do this anymore because which is
[27:23] Speaker 2: fully one.
[27:24] Speaker 1: There's so many unknowns, right, and like in your.
[27:27] Speaker 2: Life is like your your career is not in your
[27:30] Speaker 2: hands ever.
[27:31] Speaker 1: Now that's what I hate about it.
[27:32] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[27:35] Speaker 1: Well, I hope this was informative for people, and I
[27:38] Speaker 1: hope that it pulled back the curtain a little bit
[27:40] Speaker 1: on the experience of like the process from trying to
[27:43] Speaker 1: get the job, trying to lock in the job, and
[27:46] Speaker 1: then also once you get the job and keeping the
[27:49] Speaker 1: job and then staying afloat because it's so so real.
[27:54] Speaker 2: I think my last final.
[27:56] Speaker 1: Note that I would like to say before we please is.
[27:59] Speaker 2: That the amount you work or the amount of money
[28:03] Speaker 2: you receive for your work does not determine the value
[28:06] Speaker 2: of you and your work. And so I think it
[28:09] Speaker 2: can feel and that goes both ways. Somebody to catch
[28:13] Speaker 2: a break and get a bunch of money for something,
[28:16] Speaker 2: and you're like, how did they get that? So it's
[28:18] Speaker 2: important to, like, I think, remain as humble as possible
[28:22] Speaker 2: through all of that. And the other thing is like, yeah,
[28:25] Speaker 2: if you're someone who's struggling to get work and you're
[28:27] Speaker 2: just going from small thing to small thing, that doesn't
[28:30] Speaker 2: mean you're not worthy of like work. And so I
[28:33] Speaker 2: think it's important to be able to know you're worth
[28:37] Speaker 2: outside of financially what you may be getting from acting. Yes,
[28:43] Speaker 2: because it is it's and it's ever changing business and
[28:48] Speaker 2: everyone's trying to figure it out, and as wealth is
[28:51] Speaker 2: being hoarded more and more at the top, it's it's
[28:54] Speaker 2: a hard it's.
[28:55] Speaker 1: A hard place to be, harder than ever.
[28:57] Speaker 2: Yeah, but at the root of it, it's like people
[28:59] Speaker 2: who who love community, who love the arts, and who
[29:04] Speaker 2: love getting to do this and we get to play
[29:06] Speaker 2: dress up and use our imagination and find connection with
[29:09] Speaker 2: one another and share that with other people. So it's
[29:12] Speaker 2: like a really beautiful thing and sometimes we get to
[29:14] Speaker 2: get paid for it and it's wonderful.
[29:15] Speaker 1: Okay, and Kevin, before we really go, we have the
[29:19] Speaker 1: assignment for you guys for next week.
[29:22] Speaker 2: Okay, Pop Demon Hunters.
[29:25] Speaker 1: We're doing it. We're doing it.
[29:26] Speaker 2: Yeahs oscars our next weekend. So it's like the last
[29:30] Speaker 2: movie I had to see. Yep, and it's on Netflix,
[29:33] Speaker 2: so get into it. I feel like we're the last
[29:36] Speaker 2: two people.
[29:37] Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Actually, I think everybody else has seen it already.
[29:41] Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay, so if you haven't or if you have
[29:43] Speaker 2: watched it again, kay, Pop Demon Hunters, that's what you
[29:46] Speaker 2: really missed. Thanks for listening, and follow us on Instagram
[29:49] Speaker 2: at and that's what you really miss pod. Make sure
[29:52] Speaker 2: to write us a review and leave us five stars.
[29:54] Speaker 2: See you next time.

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