Drama Behind The Scenes on The Simpsons
Fox's schedule next fall might be missing it's longest running animated series.
Doh!!!!
The Simpsons have already been slated to take its normal Sunday night timeslot next season. Though it seems like there might be a delay to production.
The problem?
There's still no deal with the voice talent responsible for the Simpsons characters!
While talks are in progress and a new deal will hopefully be drawn out soon, production has already been on hold for months. This will most likely result in the show's 20th season having only 20 episodes instead of the usual 22.
And if a deal isn't reached soon, the number of episodes will continue to drop for next season.
Those greedy little fuckers!
The voice actors on The Simpsons already make SO much money! What, do they want Fox to cancel the show because it's become to expensive to produce????
Is THAT what they want????
The "key" talents responsible for the main character voices on the show are rumored to be making around $360,000 an episode!!!
That's almost $8,000,000 per season!!!
EACH!!!!!
The new deal could raise the salaries to around $500,000 an episode, including several bonuses.
Just four years ago, production was stopped when cast members didn't show up for two table reads. Back in 2004 they were looking to increase their salaries from $125,000 an episode. We think they've gotten a pretty good raise since then.
And if you recall back to the late 90's, the cast (who was making $30,000 per episode in 1998) started to ask for a large raise. But, 20th Century then went as far as hiring casting directors in five cities to find potential replacements if a deal wasn't made.
As for the talent, they insist they are only asking for a small portion of The Simpsons empire, which is actually worth several billions of dollars.
Whose side are U on in this fight???
[Image via WENN.]
Brizoke!
Hanged Self With Shoelaces
1st
I love the Simpsons……That is alot of $$ though
PLEASE, DONT STOP THE SIMPSON!! NOOOO.
Greedy bastards. I hope the producers don't give in. (this "first" shit is getting old AND is stupid)
eat my shorts perez!!!
what a bunch of fuckers. that's just what they are !
firstt!
yayyy
Granted you make a lot of money from gossip, you should shut your fat trap.
amnightlife.com/lifestyle
oh please stop bitching Perez, I don't see you complaining about the cast of Friends getting $1 million per episode, and the Simpsons is a huge cash cow. Stop hating cause they're making more money than you.
I'm with the cast. Give them a bigger slice of that cake, bitches.
I'm on my side!!! I want to see The Simpsons next season, and I better damn well see them! And they better be damn good, or I will be pissed of!!!! Dammit!
Ugh. This is disgusting. Hollywood and fame totally corrupts people. Most people don't even make HALF of $360,000 a YEAR. And they get it just for reading a script and talking? UGH. They don't even have to act. You can't see them.
I think that the people who do the voices have every right to ask for more money, they are definatly not greedy. The Simpsons has made sooooo much money over the past 20 years and the talent has earned them that money cuz the show wouldn't be as successful without them. Plus, I think FOX is getting off easy cuz you forget that some people do a few character voices so they save money!
IM,ON,THE,SIDE,THAT,SAYS,PEREZ,RECENTY,CONTRACTED,HIV
HOW,COME,YOU,DONT,SEE,A,BIG,PICTURE,OF,HIM
WITH,THE,LETTERS,AZT,PHOTO,SHOPPED,OVER,HIS,FAT,CHINS?
the greed of people is astounding. i love the simpsons, truly, but that seems over the top. work for the love of working america or hate it because you have to get by. taking advantage of what you have is bullshit. im sure all of the people out there who are successful and content or just trying to get there would agree.
So, it's ok for writers to go on strike for months for more $$, but not the people who voice a cartoon? The Simpsons are a total cash cow for FOX, I agree they make a killing now, but really, who cares how much they ask for at this point?
$360,000 is too much for each episode. That's crazy.
Greedy little fuckers! LOL.
They can go to work in théie pajamas, for fuck's sake!
I definitely side with the voice talent. They should receive a portion of what THEY are making for Fox. In the long run, that is not a lot of money. Look at the cast of various shows through the years. i.e. Friends. Their voices are as just as recognizablle as any faces on major television shows, and they get millions an episode, plus 20 seasons and that is all they make, that is disgusting. They should be making millions per episode.
The show would be nothing without their voices. How many shows have lasted 19 years with the original talent? None. Pay them what they want.
thats too much f'in money…
people are so fucking greedy
IM,ON,THE,SIDE,THAT,SAYS,PEREZ,RECENTY,CONTRACTED,HIV
HOW,COME,YOU,DONT,SEE,A,BIG,PICTURE,OF,HIM
WITH,THE,LETTERS,AZT,PHOTO,SHOPPED,OVER,HIS,FAT,CHINS?j
How long does it take those actors to voice the characters for just one episode? I would imagine they can wear what they want into the studio.
No doubt, I am on Fox's side, and I agree with you Perez. They are making a great deal of money now. If Fox canceled the Simpsons, then these people IMO, would have a difficult time making the money they are currently accustomed to making.
Who wouldn't be willing to do that job for have the amount of money they are currently paying these actors and actresses.
The Simpsons are worth BILLIONS AND BILLIONS! Can the fuckers please pay the talent a lil bit more?
Friends characters were paid 1 million per show EACH and they aint no SIMPSONS!
I would side with the characters - it's a small overhead to pay when you consider the gross income of the entire Simpson's empire (not even referring to OJ or Pappa Joe)
all they do is talk no acting involved they should drop them back down to $30,000 other people would gladly take the job
I agree with the actors- if i hadn't gotten a raise in 4 years i'd be bitching too. Simpsons makes a ton of money and if they helped make that they totally should be getting a big cut of that.
They better take what they can now, cause when the Simpsons are OVER their career is over!
Jennifer Love Hewitt has awesome tits.
The voice actors!!
Simpsons makes SHITLOADS of money - the voices are the main draw as the writing has been shit for the last few years. It's the voices that keep the show going.
For chrissake - no one said BOO when the Friends actors kept holding out for more money, and they were making lots more per episode.
HOW ABOUT GIVING THE MONEY TO PEOPLE WHO NEED IT. PUT ON THE TV AND SEE WHAT GOING ON IN THE REAL WORLD.
WTF JUST WAKE UP!!
Worth every penny!
25th
They absolutely deserve it. Simpsons is a cash cow and I am sure 20th can share in the loot. When the voices go so will the characters (all of springfield) so everyone involved in the show is living their lives thanks to these people bringing this world to life. I also belive everyone involved should also receive raises (animators and others) this won't last forever so they should enjoy it while they can.
A voice isnt worth that much money, unless its someones voice you love. They either get over it or cancel the show, either way who cares.
They deserve it — look at what the cast of other popular shows has made — I mean, after 10 years, they were only making $30,000 an episode? That's VERY CHEAP by Hollywood standards. They deserve to make some serious coin before the show fades into oblivion.
20 SEASONS! Just give them the money, they deserve it for doing this for 20 damn seasons! It snot just shows either, its commercials, and the new ride, and that movie. They've done a lot. If it's a billion dollar business then they can fork over a lil extra dough. Don't stop this billion dollar empire for something so stupid!
I'm on the side of the actors! They should totally make more money. The cast of Friends made $1,000,000 and episode and the Simpsons has been on for way longer. It's also a MUCH better show.
Give them a raise!!!
I say give it to the talent… this cash cow can be milked for a while longer and what damage is another couple of million in salary increases going to do? And, these guys worked for very small sums (bu Hollywood standards) in the beginning. they deserve to share in the payday…
No question the Simpsons are worth a lot of money, but the ratings haven't been that good in quite sometime. They were already payed for their past performances.
I wonder how much of a cut they get for DVD sales and syndication rights.
My town was picked to be the "Springfield" for the Movie premiere. Did you know Fox did NOTHING. Matt Goering and posse showed up in stretch limos. The characters walked around behind ropes, and the movie was shown all day. The town threw a fair, there were no decorations put up. With all that cash you would have thought they would have wanted to help out a poor town. When I read how much this show generates, I am shocked.
Seriously, they sit in a booth and talk for a living. They do not have to deal with the public, they can wear what they want to work and they probably can pretty much make their own hours. Also, twenty two episodes of a half hour show how much talking could they possibly be doing and how long could it possibly take. I mean they could literally do their entire episode's dialogue in a week and they get $8 million a year. They need to shut their traps and be grateful for their incredibly sweet jobs.
who cares? spanish voices are waaaay better
Oops, in my first post I meant to type "half" not "have".
That's beyond necessary. It's not like people are seeing these persons on screen. It's voice actors, period. People don't watch the show for them. They can be easily replaced and I'd say DO IT, replace them.
Some voice actors earn about 60 dollars per episode!!! THEY need salary increments. Who the hell do these idiots think they are. Fucking divas.
I'm on the talents' side on this one. The actors on Friends fought for a raise and didn't they end up with 1,000,000 an episode or something? Yeah… Simpsons > Friends.
that is alot of money to be making for just one episode!! i want the job!!
They deserve every penny. Fox has made soooooooooooooo much money. They totally deserve it, except maybe that Scientologist freak that voices (Bart? or is it Lisa?)
Re: Jenna Q –
it actually can be harder to do voice work BECAUSE you aren't seen. You have to put so much more into your voice ACTING. Try it before you make a fool of yourself. Or perhaps, just think.
I think they ARE being greedy BUT The Sipmsons are an empire & they deserve a pretty good chunk of that.
The show sucks now anyways…let them STFU
I think if the Simpsons empire really does make that much money, then they should get a good deal from it; I'd rather it go to the 'talent' rather than the businessmen!
Why don't the animators ever strike? Seems like if you don't have the characters, the voices don't really matter. Just sayin'- Its always the people at the top that cause the most problems for people at the bottom. Same shit with the writers. They make enough as it is. Set people, makeup artists, THEY suffer. Its totaly BS. So yes, it IS greedy. The low men on the totem pole NEED money to survice, voice talents, writers, they don't.
i seriously hate you
Who cares anymore, the Simpsons have sucked for well over ten years. It's just not funny anymore, there's no biting wit, no good scripts, instead it's just watered down Smurfs.
I get the whole evil empire thing but 360k per episode for voice work?!?! Kinda hard to root for the "working" guy on this one. I say bring in the replacements.
Pay Them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Their salaries should be increased based on the exponential amount of money the show brings in for Fox. If it continues to bring in MORE money each season, then the actors should continue to get more money as well. If not, then they shouldn't. Simple.
PAY TALENT FOR THE WORK THAT GOT THE SIMPSONS TO THE TOP IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!
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Nelsons!
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the voice actors! i know it sounds like they want too much money, but if you think about how much The Simpsons rakes in, you would understand why the voice actors deserve a raise. Friends and NBC is a good example..
I'd let Bart eat me out while i GIVE hOMER A HUMMER!!
slow down people! for the amount of money Fox made out of the Simpsons, they sooooo can raise the salary of the actors. also, all these actors are stuck on the show. they cannot do anything else because of their world wide known voices. I agree they should be compentiated
FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The show hasn't been funny in years. They should have pulled a Seinfeld and went out on top. Now it's kind of pathetic. I can't see them getting that kind of loot but they probably will. Still hard to find funny anymore and I hardly watch. What I do like watching is Jennifer Love Hewitt because Jennifer Love Hewitt has awesome tits.
For once…I'm on the studio's side. That is brazen and unashamed greed in a a time when so many people are struggling to provide themselves with the basics
Studios must pay! They make so much more money out of this than what they accept to give back.
Give more to the writers! F the voice's they are not actor's or talent. fire them.
the money is there why shouldn't they get a chunk of it. someone is making it!
These actors for the most part, arent able to work on other shows. they use voices similar to their natural speaking tones, which makes it hard for them to be cast in anything else. The woman who plays lisa is a great example of this. THATS HER REAL VOICE!
They are rarely featured on chat shows, and when they were on Actors Studio, it had nothing to do with their other talents. People just wanted to hear the characters. Watch that episode, they all look very uncomfortable and annoyed.
Consider what the show as a whole banks in…they arent asking for much. Most of te cast has been working on this show since day one. thats a long commitment. Out of all the overpaid actors and actresses *cough* ANGELINA *cough*, this is the cast that truly deserves a fair cut of the profits.
Team Simpson's voices! You have to look at it this way, guys. In the final season of Friends all 6 actors were making over $1M per episode. Jerry Seinfeld made at least that much, if not more, during the last several seasons of Seinfeld. If you take into consideration that these people are playing multiple characters on the most successful show in history then, in comparison, they should be earning multi-million dollars per episode. I think $500K is a reasonable amount. It isn't like FOX hasn't profitted HUGELY from the show over the past 20 years!
It's perfectly reasonable. I bet some fat executive who hardly does shit for the show is making more money than that per episode. The reality of the entertainment industry is that there's a lotta money and it's split between only a handful of ppl. Those voices MADE the simpsons.
To those who think they're being greedy, where do they think the profit goes if the actors dont get it??? yep that's right, to the execs and the tv station! whoopee, that's so much better..
I don't have a side. But I will say this - Yeardly who only voices Lisa, must just giggle herself to sleep every night! Half a mil an episode for (according to the DVD commentary) 2-3 hours of work per episode!? only in America.
it was ok when friends wanted $1 million per episode, those talentless tools
The shows producers and creators have a 20-year old international empire.
Share the wealth.
The characters wouldn't be who they are without those voices!!!!
And why should the talent be kicked off the gravy train?
Raging successes are few and far between.
Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, Matt and Fox…
Perez, you retard. Did you even graduate high school? You wrote "it's" instead of "its" and "to" instead of "too." Wow, you're dumb.
(Or as you would probably write, "your dumb.")
Besides, FOX makes so much money from the show and syndication, etc., that it makes sense to pay the voice talent — who are irreplaceable — a ton.
They should get a million each per episode. Those artists made mega billions for Murdoch. Share the profits!
please only watch the simpsons on fox. they dont deserve the ratings but the voice talent is doing the right thing and taking fox to the cleaners. simpsons must live forever so support the show but denounce fox
scientology needs more money
this show has been on for 20 years and they only make $360.000/episode? that's ridiculous. the damn franchise is worth BILLIONS and NOONE could replace their voices. they are too distinct. give them the &%$#@#$% money. they've earned it!!!
You're the greedy bastard, at least they have actual talent, you idiot. I'm on their side - give 'em more money, Fox!
Fire the voice actors. There are many people that can duplicate the Simpson characters and they would be grateful to do it. The producers should call their bluff.
I could see if maybe they paid the entire cast $8,000,000 for the whole season to do the show which still seems on the high side.
bullshit. greedy bullshit.
They gave more than that to the cast of friends. These people are certainly more talented than the cast of friends!!! GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT FOX!! It's not much to ask when you look at how big the whole Simpson's pie is. They just want their piece. THEY ARE WORTH IT!!
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they have a point…fox makes billions from the simpsons. they should get paid more….no one was complaining when the cast of friends made a million per episode and i'd take the simpsons over friends anyday.
It's not greedy when you think about how much they make compared to what Fox and others make–Think about it. Simpsons movie, shirts, action figures, lunch boxes, etc. I'd want more money too–don't you guys want raises at your job every year? Duh bitches.
POSSESSIVE "ITS" HAS NO APOSTROPHE!
If the cast of 'Friends' could get ONE MILLION Each show,
for such a retarded lame product,
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the cast of the simpsons deserves it waaaaay more.
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Greedy jerk-offs!
I don't think the actors are being overly greedy. The thing about the Simpsons is that it is an abosolute CASH COW for the Network. Think about it - no camera crew, no sets, no costumes, no special effects, no on-location filming, and the majority of the animation is done overseas. One can easily make a case that the Simpsons was largely responsible for transforming the then-fledgling network (it debut in only '86, don't forget) to one of the "Big 4," and captured a HUGE amount of the youth & young adult audience with it. When you look at some of the money that other TV stars have raked in (someone mentioned the cast of Friends, and while they are the most obvious example, they are certainly not alone), I don't think it's unreasonable that after anchoring the Network for 19 seasons, they should be paid accordingly.
Shit, it's hard coming into work in your jeans and T-shirt reading words from a script and speaking into a microphone. It's almost as hard as writing idiotic comments on a blog like this. I'd want at least $10Million a year.
Who watches the Simpsons anymore anyway, Family Guy is way funnier (except for that damn Stewie). My life would continue as normal if the show disappeared. In fact if all TV disappeared I would be quite content.
The talent on the Simpsons is beyond belief. After the proven profitability of the Simpsons movie, I don't think there is any question that each actor is worth more than ever. Many of them voice multiple characters on a show that continues to be of the highest quality television out there!
ummm let me think the show has ran for 20 seasons and the simpsons makes fox a shitload of money, so if the cast wants more money give it to them. yet it is okay for the cast of friends to ask for one million per episode after what? six or seven seasons.
How in the hell are you able to side with the writers guild, but not the Simpsons voice actors? The Simpsons show makes SO MUCH MONEY, just because it sounds like they're asking for a lot, doesn't mean there isn't justfication for it. If the money isn't being paid to the actors, who's it going to? A bunch of exces who sit around and do nothing? Screw that!
simpsons would be NOTHING without those voices
$8 million a year? Each of the 'Freinds' were making $22-24 million a year…Kelsey Grammer was making $1.6 million PER EPISODE…that was about $38 million a year…Ray Romano made about $50 million for the 8th season on 'Raymond' and in the final season was pulling like $2 million for each of the 16 episodes.
So I don't think the cast members of 'The Simpssons' are being greedy…yes, they're only 'voiceover' and not live actors (yet they play multiple roles) and no, 'The Simpsons' isn't as big on TV as it used to be….but the Movie made over $520 million worldwide last year and it's still very much a billion dollar franchise (syndication, merchandise, a fucking RIDE at Universal Studios). And we're talking about a 20th season…this damn thing's gonna be in syndication forever…
So guys don't bitch because they make more money than they 'should'…life's unfair like that…we're all typing and arguing on computers while there people are starving to death in places like Africa (shit, people are starving in America)…that's just how it goes….Get involved in something that makes as much money as 'The Simsons' or 'Friends' or whatever and you're likely to make a lot of money yourself.
Or you can just be bitter and shriek about how they don't 'deserve' it…
I couldn't care less if they take the show completely off. I hate that show!! Let's see something more worthwhile in that time slot.
Fuck those greedy bastards. They don't deserve more. The kids opn the street sure would like a nice in a warm hotel. These people blow my mind. They have all this money and they still want more. This show sux anyway.
CUT THE SHOW IT IS NOT WORTH IT!!!!!