The 90s was a decade that was home to a number of shows that fans remember fondly. Whether it was a hilarious sitcom, a memorable reality show, or even an underrated series that some have forgotten about, the decade had a ton of great stuff on television every single day.
Seinfeld remains arguably the best show from the decade, with many people citing it as one of the best of all time. The cast of the show became superstars thanks to the series, and while they made millions, they wound up losing out on so much more due to their inability to add one specific detail to their contracts.
Let’s take a closer look at the cast of Seinfeld and see how they missed out on making millions of dollars.
‘Seinfeld’ Is One Of The Biggest Shows Of All Time
The 90s was a decade that had no shortage of incredible shows, and getting solid ratings during the era was a Herculean effort. The fact that Seinfeld, a show about nothing, came along and conquered the decade like it did is a testament to the writing of the show and the performances put on by the cast. Though it has been off the air for years now, the show is still incredibly popular.
Starring Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards, and the incredible Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Seinfeld got off to a slow start, but once it hit its stride, it never let up and it rode its massive success all the way to the finish line. There is no shortage of amazing episodes, and there is certainly no shortage of quotable lines from the series. Much like Friends, it has remained part of pop culture for years.
Naturally, the show becoming a huge success meant that the stars were going to start making a ton of money. This led to a negotiation process that would lead to an unthinkable salary at the time. It also unknowingly caused them to miss out on even more money down the line.
The Stars Got A Massive Raise At The End
It’s common to see actors from popular shows making sizable salaries, and the lead actors on Seinfeld made sure to get theirs while the show was still in its prime. In fact, they set a lofty bar that all television performers are trying to reach. Sometimes, it gets matched, but rarely does it get exceeded.
It has been reported that the cast was making $1 million per episode of the show, which is a legendary number. Again, only the top performers in history have made a salary like this, with the leads from The Big Bang Theory and Friends matching this number, to name a few. It was a display of how great the show was and how important the cast was to its immense success.
As sweet as this sounds, the truth is that the cast wound up missing out on a lot more money as time went on. This was all thanks to the network being unwilling to give them a portion of the show’s profits.
They Don’t Bank On Profits And Have Missed Out On Millions
According to Jason Alexander, “Julia, Michael and I, during our big renegotiation for the final year, asked for something that I will go to my grave saying we should have had, and that is back-end participation in the profits for the show. It was categorically denied to us, which forced us to then ask for ungodly salaries. We make very little, standard Screen Actors Guild residuals for the reruns.”
So, how much did they miss out on? According to CNBC, Jerry Seinfeld, who also co-created the show, made $400 million from 1995 to 2015. The rest of the cast, meanwhile, only got standard SAG residuals. As great as it is to have a legacy like theirs, it sure does seem like they should have been compensated more.
For comparison, the cast of Friends were getting paid $1 million per episode while also banking on profits thanks to their negotiating skills. They still make around $20 million per year thanks to what they were able to negotiate with the network. For the cast of Seinfeld, this has to sting. Had they gotten a piece of the pie, they could have made considerably more money than they have since the show ended.
As remarkable as it was that the Seinfeld cast was making $1 million each episode, they lost out on so much more thanks to not securing a portion of the profits.
