‘The Pitt’ Is Case Study For Fixed-Fee Cast Payment Model Amid TV Industry Push To Cap Talent Costs
EXCLUSIVE: Max’s upcoming medical drama The Pitt is already making a lasting impression, months ahead of its debut. And it’s not only over the headline-making lawsuit from the Michael Crichton estate alleging ties to his creation ER — something The Pitt auspices and studio Warner Bros TV vigorously deny.
The intrigue has to do with 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 — in this case $50,000 and $35,000 per episode. That technique is also employed by several current episodic crime anthology series including CBS’ Elsbeth, Fox’s Accused and Peacock’s Poker Face for their Guest Star of the Week, who are getting between $75K-150K. (More on the sizes of each of these fixed fees in a bit.)
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Although a fixed episodic fee model is not a major industry trend yet, it has been gaining momentum. “Certain shows lend themselves to it, with The Pitt a perfect example,” one talent rep said. “Shows with big casts rotating in and out.”
The method expedites casting as it eliminates back-and-fourth salary negotiations. That saves time, which is a factor, particularly for anthology series that have a big new role each episode that needs to be filled while staying in continuous production.
It also allows for a show with a large ensemble series such as The Pitt — which has 10 series regulars — to stay within budget in the new post-Peak TV environment, in which trimming production costs has become imperative. The industry-wide cuts have resulted in many new series opting for a handful of series regulars, converting the rest of the roles into recurring ones at a lower price point.
The practice has become a major challenge for rank-and-file working actors amid the ongoing Hollywood contractions that is seeing lofty series-regular jobs dry up as TV volume declines — a process that has accelerated since the end of the SAG-AFTRA strike a year ago today.
‘The Pitt’ Paradigm
The Pitt, from ER alums John Wells, Noah Wyle and R. Scott Gemmill, was conceived under a different business framework that could usher in a wave of new, modestly budgeted, broadcast-style dramas to streaming.
Asked in September what constitutes a Max (vs. an HBO) drama, Casey Bloys, Chairman & CEO, HBO and Max Content, told Deadline, “I think a good template for a Max drama would be what John Wells is doing with The Pitt which is, for lack of a better word, network drama, ongoing, close-end storytelling done at a price that is reasonable.”
Said to be budgeted north of $4 million an episode, The Pitt first drew attention with its unusually large (for streaming) order when it was picked up straight-to-series for 15 episodes in March. That is 50%-100% bigger than a typical streaming drama order and close to the size of a broadcast season — once 22 episodes across the board and now around 18 for many network series. (Doing more episodes brings the per-episode budget of a series lower with better cost amortization.)
Then came the surprising way the casting for The Pitt was done through a fixed two-tier salary system. Besides the lead, played by series’ 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, I hear.
According to sources, this is not a new payment model being introduced by WBTV but rather a one-off situation under unique circumstances — a large number of series regular roles to cast on a tight schedule and a modest budget, leading to the decision to create the tiers.
The sizes of the paychecks, at $50K and $35K per episode, are in the low- to mid-range for TV salaries. But amid industry contraction and a dearth of highly sought-after series-regular jobs, with 15 episodes on-air many went for them, making for a competitive casting selection.
The entire season of The Pitt, set at a Pittsburgh hospital, is believed to take place over the course of a single day, following the action in real time in the vein of 24. To accomplish that, the actors have been asked to be present even if they don’t have lines in a scene. I hear that translated into 7 out of 8 shooting days per episode for most of the cast, which also is unique to this specific project and above industry standard.
Anthologies’ Guest Star Attractions
Fox’s Accused, from Sony Pictures Television and Fox Entertainment, is a pure anthology, with each episode featuring a new cast, so the Guest Lead carries the story in that episode. I hear that role pays $150K. If there are two equal co-leads in the episode, I hear both make the same $150K; if the second role is a smaller, it pays $100K. Over its two seasons to date, Accused has featured such established guest stars as Michael Chiklis, Margo Martindale, Felicity Huffman and Sonequa Martin-Green.
As Deadline has reported, the now-independent Fox a couple of years ago adopted a financially disciplined approach to drama series, capping their cost at $3M-$4M per episode for domestic productions.
On CBS’ Elsbeth, from CBS Studios, Special Guest Stars get $100K an episode, sources said. These are typically known actors who play a pivotal role in their episode opposite series regulars Carrie Preston, Carra Patterson and Wendell Pierce. High-profile performers who have guest starred on the show, currently in its second season, include Nathan Lane, Blair Underwood, Michael Emerson, Arian Moayed and Jane Krakowski.
I hear for the upcoming second season, Peacock’s Poker Face, from MRC, is paying $75K for the episodic Lead Guest Stars opposite the show’s only series regular, star Natasha Lyonne.
That is a change from Season 1, when I hear the mystery comedy-drama paid $150K for the guest-starring gig that went to such well known actors as Judith Light, who won an Emmy for her role; S. Epatha Merkerson; Adrien Brody; and Chlo? Sevigny.
The fixed episodic fees only apply to the top guest stars on anthology series; compensation for the remaining one-off cast is determined on a case-by-case basis.
Casting Budgets‘ Increased “Rigidity”
Hollywood’s push for cost-cutting has resulted in a major TV production budget correction that has impacted every area, including casting.
In the post-Peak TV era, we may never again see entire casts of five or six making $1M an episode like the stars of Friends and The Big Bang Theory, a salary range also commanded by movie stars in the early days of the streaming wars.
I had heard rumblings that media companies may be looking to cap actor salaries at around $400K per episode, but there have been recent examples of A-list names getting more for new series, especially on streaming.
Industry insiders agree that the ongoing squeeze is not expected to impact the so-called “No.1 on the call sheet” as studios and platforms continue to pay market value for big stars to lead their shows. It’s the rest that are feeling the effects of budget trimming.
“There is no cap on the No. 1s but the rigidity of the other budget items makes the rest vulnerable,” one talent rep said. “The studios don’t want to overpay for supporting roles.”
When acting “quotes” — determining each performer’s going rate based on previous work — were eliminated a few years ago, it initially helped boost compensation, especially for actors from underrepresented backgrounds. But now it is starting to hurt.
With quotes irrelevant and the number of acting jobs depressed, studios can hold firm, one agent lamented, explaining that 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.
“It’s more about the budget than about the person,” the rep said.
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