'Modern Family' actors resolve contract dispute with studio
All six adult actors get raises, and the show will go on
Sofia Vergara and the rest of the "Modern Family" adult cast have reason to get excited now that their salaries have been raised.
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When I ran into "Modern Family" co-creator Steve Levitan early at ABC's press tour party, he seemed very relaxed and happy for a man whose show was in the middle of a very public salary dispute between his six adult stars and the studio that pays their salaries.
When asked how the negotiations were going, Levitan insisted, "Very close, very close," and it turned out he wasn't just putting a happy face on things. Within an hour, he received news that the negotiations had gone from "very close" to "finished."
The Hollywood Reporter has the full salary details, but the short version is this: the five adult actors other than Ed O'Neill got significant raises on their per-episode salary, while O'Neill (who was being paid more than them at the start) got a smaller raise so they'll all be paid the same salary. The other five also got a cut of the show's back-end profits, which O'Neill was already entitled to; his reward for playing along was getting his profit participation increased even more.
The show is a license to print money for ABC, for 20th Century Fox Television, for Levitan and partner Christopher Lloyd, and now for its six adult stars. This was always going to be resolved. Much as some of us might have hoped for a Luke/Manny buddy show to take the original series' place, "Modern Family" is too valuable to get shut down for long by this kind of negotiation.
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupEdward Copeland
July 28, 2012 at 2:50AM EST Reply to CommentI've come late to the series, catching up with the series and am loving it. I'm almost done with season 2. Any idea if season 3 hits DVD before the new season debuts?
Doug They usually schedule those things around the same time, so probably.
July 28, 2012 at 4:57AM ESTleemats Season 3 comes out on September 18. Season 4 debuts on September 26.
July 28, 2012 at 11:33AM ESTTom
July 28, 2012 at 6:57AM EST Reply to CommentNow wait for the kids to hit them up in a season or two.
Bill
July 28, 2012 at 7:49AM EST Reply to CommentWow, they had only been making $65,000 per episode. Certainly not small potatoes, but surprising for a show this successful.
Barry I wish I could 'only' make $65k a week...
July 28, 2012 at 8:05AM ESTAdam Start making a company millions of dollars per week and maybe you can! ;)
July 28, 2012 at 8:44AM ESTevolution1085
July 28, 2012 at 10:11AM EST Reply to CommentConsidering the kids are consistently more funny than the adults (because the kids aren't written as massively broad egomaniacs), it would have been nice to see the adults fight for the kids to get a raise too...Oh well, Alan could have written this blurb the day the negotiations stalled, and inputted the salary info when it came out, because all this was a foregone conclusion.
JeffL
July 28, 2012 at 10:38AM EST Reply to CommentI feel sorta bad for Sarah Hyland in all of this. Everyone keeps talking about the '6 adult actors' -- Hyland is 21. She *plays* a kid, but she's just as much an adult as Bowen, Burrell and the rest. But they didn't see fit to include her in the walk-out, it appears.
Mahmoud Fayed "but she's just as much an adult as Bowen, Burrell and the rest."
July 29, 2012 at 1:16PM ESTNope. Just because she's legally an adult doesn't mean she's AS much of an adult as actors that have a good 10 years on her, at least. Sorry.
JeffL
July 28, 2012 at 10:40AM EST Reply to CommentI feel sorta bad for Sarah Hyland (Haley) in all of this. Everyone keeps talking about the "6 adult actors," but Hyland is 21. She *plays* a kid, but she's just as much an adult as Bowen, Burrell and the rest, although they didn't see fit to include her in the walk-out. Wonder if that will make for a tense set?
Brubarian I mean... there's also volume of work to consider. I don't think anyone could really justify giving Sarah Hyland more scratch. Since the series' inception, Luke, Manny, and Alex have all gotten an increased, dynamic work load. Haley has stayed pretty flat (minus the season 3 virgin story with Phil), if you ask me.
July 28, 2012 at 2:41PM ESTJeffL
July 28, 2012 at 10:40AM EST Reply to CommentSigh. Sorry for the double post.
belinda
July 29, 2012 at 11:29AM EST Reply to CommentI wonder how much the kids make by comparison, given they're pretty much equally indispensable to the show, even if they, by being 'kids', don't have as much clout as the adult actors do. But it's not like the show could actually fire them as a group either and replace them all with fake new kids. (with perhaps the sole exception of Hyland, since they could explain her absense away with college. But the rest of the kids? Can't fire 'em all.)
Lee
July 30, 2012 at 2:03AM EST Reply to CommentMaybe it's just my dirty little mind, but I've chuckled every time I've seen the phrase "adult stars" in stories about this dispute.
Anyway, as a fan, glad they've resolved this and that the actors will be rewarded for their good work.
lilkunta
March 10, 2013 at 1:37PM EST Reply to Commentseason 4 episodes havent been good. is that the actors fault or the writers fault ? i bet all those pay increases are regretted now.
lilkunta
March 10, 2013 at 1:38PM EST Reply to Comments4 episodes havent been good.
is that the writers fault ?
and the cast got pay increases for these sorry episodes ?