Thread: The Simpsons may be in trouble

Simpsons Money Dispute of the Day: The Simpsons may be in danger of stopping production next spring, after the show’s 23rd season, due to a pay dispute between 20th Century Fox and the show’s six main voice actors.


Fox execs want the actors to take a 45% pay cut, and have threatened to kill the show if their terms aren’t accepted. The actors have a different idea: a 30% pay cut in exchange for a share of the massive Simpsons licensing and merchandising empire.


Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer currently earn around $8 million a year from The Simpsons, but that will stop when the show eventually ends. Unless they get a cut of the show’s back-end profits, they’ll just be paid union-mandated residuals.


Fox, on the other hand, can continue to make money on the Simpsons back catalog long after new episodes stop, which gives the actors very little leverage.

[UPDATED]



Follow Up of the Day: The pay dispute between Simpsons voice actors and Fox continues, after Fox rejected the actors’ offer to take a 30% pay cut in exchange for a share of the show’s backend profits.

The Simpsons survive a bit longer, though, because “several top-level producers” have agreed to take pay cuts to keep the show on the air. The actors have until Friday to decide whether to accept Fox’s terms, and Entertainment Weekly reports that all sides believe they’ll reach a deal to continue the show beyond its 23rd season.


Even that may not buy The Simpsons much more time, though. Reuters says Fox wants to extend The Simpsons by one season at most, even if it costs 25%-30% less to make.



The Simpsons is TV’s longest-running scripted, primetime show, and axing it now would mean keeping the series from reaching a landmark 25th season.




(from geeks.thedailywh.at)