How Parents of the ‘Stranger Things’ Cast ‘Collectively’ Worked Together on Salary Negotiations
The parents for the Stranger Things kids came together to renegotiate their salaries after the Netflix show's success.
During the Tuesday, May 28, episode of Michael Rosenbaum's "Inside of You" podcast, Gaten Matarazzo was asked whether the cast worked collectively to receive a pay bump.
"I think relatively everybody has those little specific things that they would like to see going forward," Matarazzo, 21, noted. "But it's a pretty collective effort."
The actor recalled their parents getting involved because most of the main cast was underage.
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"We are pretty grateful. What is also interesting is that all of our parents were talking about what would be best for all of us collectively going forward," he explained. "Because they were the ones who were negotiating before we turned 18."
Fans were introduced to the residents of Hawkins, Indiana, when Stranger Things debuted in 2016. The series focuses on a fictional town where a series of supernatural events cause mystery and mayhem. After appearing on the show, the main cast including Matarazzo, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton and Joe Keery quickly became household names.
Three seasons into the show's high-profile success, The Hollywood Reporter noted alleged paycheck raises for the cast. Winona Ryder and David Harbour reportedly made $350,000 per episode, while the younger cast would bring in $250,000. Meanwhile, the cast playing the teens such as Dyer, 29, Keery, 32, and Heaton, 30, were bumped up to $150,000. Brown, 20, however, was notably missing from the list because she allegedly negotiated her deal separately from the rest of the younger cast.
Matarazzo, who is currently filming the fifth and final season, admitted he is still not fully aware of what goes into getting a raise.
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"Even now we are like, 'I don't know what the hell all of this means.' We are still the age of college juniors who for the most part are living off of Ramen and Oreos. That hasn't changed," he quipped. "There's still so much that we are learning from our parents day to day. So it's really good that they were collectively quite close to each other and they could talk about what they could say going forward that would be best for all of us."
On Tuesday's podcast episode, Matarazzo weighed in on how being on Stranger Things changed his life financially.
"Of course I understand all the wonderful things it has done for me and my family. When it comes to financial security, that is just something that — growing up, it was a real struggle and then suddenly it is not. When you are that young, you can't really reflect or understand how incredible that is for your family and you," he explained. "But then there is a part of it where you are that young and you are suddenly the breadwinner for your family when you are 12. That is not something that is normal."
Matarazzo is grateful for Stranger Things because of the opportunities that came from it.
"Those careers are always about peaks and values. With this show it is quite clear and I am very well aware — and would like my professional team — to understand that I am very OK with Stranger Things being very likely the biggest thing I will ever do," he admitted. "And it will most likely be the thing I am remembered for even if I consistently work after this."
He concluded: "And I am so cool with that as long as it facilitates happiness going forward, security and more work going forward. What more could I ask for? I don't want to maintain a sense of relevance at this point when it isn't even something I particularly enjoy that much."
