Summary
- SNL contracts in 1999 were so bad that agents and managers advised their clients to reject them.
- The contracts could tie new cast members to the network for as long as 12 years and allowed NBC to move them to other shows.
- SNL also gained control over cast members' potential movie projects, paying them fixed amounts for multiple films.
Over the years, Saturday Night Live has had a pretty mixed reputation at times. After all, SNL fans can't stand some eras of the show, some of its cast members have had strange feuds, and it has aired many controversial sketches.
Despite all that, the fact remains that SNL has starred many popular stars and the show has launched a lot of careers. As a result, it seems like every young comedic actor dreams of joining SNL's cast. However, SNL once tried to get new cast members to incredibly bad deals.
Saturday Night Live Contracts Were So Bad That Stars Were Advised To Reject The Show
A weekly publication that was first published in 1987, The New York Observer has covered a wide array of subjects. One example of that is in 1999, when the publication revealed something astonishing about Saturday Night Live. According to the publication that is now known only as Observer, SNL offered new cast members awful contracts that year.
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According to Observer's article, SNL's contracts for new cast members in 1999 would lock the stars up for many, many years. In fact, Observer reported that the deals were so one-sided that agents and managers were advising their clients to reject SNL.
Who were the best Saturday Night Live cast members from the 1990s, according to Watchmojo?
| Cast Member: | Ranking: |
|---|---|
| Chris Kattan | #10 |
| Cheri Oteri | #9 |
| Darrell Hammond | #8 |
| Tim Meadows | #7 |
| Molly Shannon | #6 |
| Ana Gasteyer | #5 |
| Mike Myers | #4 |
| Will Ferrell | #3 |
| Phil Hartman | #2 |
| Chris Farley | #1 |
"Anyone joining the cast of Saturday Night Live for the 1999-2000 season must sign a strict new contract with NBC that could tie them to the network for as long as 12 years. Talent agents and managers have been advising clients who are up for jobs not to sign–but the young, eager comics haven’t been able to resist the lure of the legendary show, prohibitive contract or not. The new contracts went out last month, when Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels held auditions."
Charlize Theron Broke A Contract That Opened Her Up To A $20 Million Lawsuit, Here's How Much She Ended Up Paying
When Charlize Theron broke the rules of a contract she signed, a company tried to make her pay $20 million.
For their piece, Observer spoke to a manager whose client auditioned for SNL's 25th season, which began in 1999. According to that agent, the show's contract was so bad that they didn't even think it was real.
“When I got the agreement, I thought I got the wrong agreement. I was like, What is this? To me, this is about NBC not having the right to own you.”
No matter how terrible managers found SNL contracts to be that year, they still didn't want to speak out publicly. As Observer revealed, the manager only spoke to them on the condition of anonymity. "This manager, like others in this story, requested anonymity, fearing the wrath of NBC and Mr. Michaels."
Considering that young performers reportedly were asked to sign twelve-year deals, that seems bad enough. However, according to Observer, there was another aspect of SNL's contracts in 1999 that made them worse. Even though SNL cast members were signed to star in the sketch comedy show, NBC gained the right to move them to other shows.
"The new contract for first-year Saturday Night Live players is quite different from the one offered new cast members prior to the start of last season. Saturday Night Live contracts have been traditionally long-term deals, running five or six years. But under the new contract, NBC can take a Saturday Night Live player off the show any time after his or her second year on the program and put him or her in an NBC sitcom. A cast member does have the option of saying no to the first two shows proposed by NBC, but must accept the third, sources on both sides of the contract said. And NBC dictates the length of the sitcom contract, which can run as long as six years."
Amazingly enough, there is yet another reason why SNL's reported contracts in 1999 were bad. According to Observer, the contracts gave NBC and Lorne Michaels even more control over newly signed performers.
Which Saturday Night Live stars became the most successful, according to Screen Rant?
- Bill Hader
- Julia Louis-Dreyfus
- Dan Akroyd
- Mike Myers
- Chris Rock
- Will Ferrell
- Bill Murray
- Robert Downey Jr.
- Eddie Murphy
- Adam Sandler
Throughout Saturday Night Live history, several of the show's performers have become movie stars. As a result, it is safe to assume that many people who dream of starring in the show see it as a potential stepping stone to a movie career. According to Observer, the 1999 contracts also gave Michaels and NBC some control over new cast members' potential movie projects.
"The new contract would also give NBC and Mr. Michaels considerable say in the movie careers of Saturday Night Live cast members. Under its terms, SNL Films, a production company co-owned by Paramount Pictures, NBC and Mr. Michaels himself, has a three-movie option that would pay the star a set $75,000 for the first film, $150,000 for the second and $300,000 for the third. Those rates used to be negotiated at higher rates. The network can also pay a star similar rates to say no to a movie being made by another studio."
One agent who spoke to Observer summed up what this part of the contract meant NBC and SNL could do.
“Now you can tell them, ‘Sorry, you can’t do the Farrelly brothers’ $10 million movie. You have to do the SNL fart movie for $75,000!'”
Lorne Michaels Defended Saturday Night Live's Worst Contracts
Based on Observer's reporting, it seems pretty clear that most people in the business were amazed by SNL's contracts in 1999. To the publication's credit, however, they reached out to Lorne Michaels for his take on the controversy. Unsurprisingly, Michaels defended the contracts that were being offered at that time.
According to what Observer wrote to sum up Michaels' take, people were making too big of a deal about the contracts.
"Mr. Michaels said he feels this is a lot of hullabaloo over nothing. First of all, he said, he’s never been a stickler for contracts when one of his stars has wanted to pursue something else."
Observer then went on to quote Michaels, who brought up the accurate fact that he has a long history of being accommodating to some of his cast members.
“We’ve been very, as they say in Hollywood, talent-friendly. So the idea that the whole culture of the place is changing is just idiotic. When Mike Myers wanted to take a half-season off because he was going through something personal, he did. When John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd wanted to leave with a year left on their contracts, they did.”
According to Observer's article, Michaels also told the publication that the contracts could be negotiated and would be changed.
"As far as movie payments go, Mr. Michaels said those will, of course, be negotiable. He could not guarantee that NBC wouldn’t pillage his talent for sitcoms, but didn’t think it would happen. Either way, he said, the part of the contract that lets the network sign a star for another five- or six-year contract will probably be retooled. 'There will be a different contract,' Mr. Michaels said."
