But Does The Cat Get A Piece Of The Backend?

June 8, 2016 5:50 AM

How much money does everyone make on a typical $200 Million movie? Find out how much the average paycheck for a Production Designer, Best Boy, Day Extra, Location Scout and even A Cat is for working on your typical summertime blockbuster.
posted by briank (42 comments total)

I don't see anything about cocaine anywhere. Something doesn't add up.
posted by wabbittwax at 6:21 AM on June 8, 2016 [7 favorites]

I think that's a separate line item.
posted by briank at 6:28 AM on June 8, 2016 [15 favorites]

Surely cocaine would fall under catering?
posted by nicebookrack at 6:33 AM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

I don't see anything about cocaine anywhere.

"Original score"?

(Supplemented, I would imagine, by many smaller, later scores.)
posted by Paul Slade at 6:35 AM on June 8, 2016 [43 favorites]

Stunt Player on Fire makes the same as Stunt Players #5 & 6, who presumably are not on fire. I like the idea that stunt players sign up and find out maybe the day of if they will be set aflame.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:36 AM on June 8, 2016 [16 favorites]

I don't see anything about cocaine anywhere.

"Driver"
posted by Etrigan at 6:39 AM on June 8, 2016 [11 favorites]

But Does The Cat Get A Piece Of The Backend?

Anytime they like.
posted by fairmettle at 6:55 AM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]

This is a list of salaries, not expendables. So no drugs, no gaffer's tape and no foam core.
posted by Ideefixe at 7:07 AM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Boring, crappy music for any related youtube videos?
posted by sneebler at 7:41 AM on June 8, 2016

I'd be interested in this combined with average length of work on a blockbuster. For example, I assume an electrician only works during production, but a costume designer works during pre-production and production?
posted by Automocar at 7:44 AM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

They didn't differentiate between male and female actors, I see. (Or did I miss that?)
posted by gaspode at 7:48 AM on June 8, 2016

Are the CGI artists numbers (at 3:30) real? $0.7 to 1.3 million each?
posted by elgilito at 7:50 AM on June 8, 2016

The VFX and color numbers are way off.
posted by higginba at 7:57 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Are the CGI artists numbers (at 3:30) real? $0.7 to 1.3 million each?

I very much doubt so. Unless by "artists" they mean "studios of 100+ workers and freelancers".
posted by lmfsilva at 8:02 AM on June 8, 2016

I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if they commissioned work from a VFX company at that cost, but I'm pretty sure if a game with last gen models requires 14 people alone to put the polygons in place, a blockbuster filmed on a greenscreen to be projected at a building-sized wall should require a lot more than four people.
posted by lmfsilva at 8:08 AM on June 8, 2016

Ignoring the lead actor's $12 million lump sum, residuals are where it's at. We're taking some $200k/year for the next decade for doing no additional work, assuming the movie is well received.

Do a couple of those in your prime and you can see why some actors get big and then stop acting.
posted by fragmede at 8:48 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Do a couple of those in your prime and you can see why some actors get big and then stop acting.

It's amusing to see when some non-acting celebrity talks about a $1.28 residuals check for a 10 minute cameo they did on something popular back in 1997. Then you start doing the math on how much regulars/stars make from them.
posted by lmfsilva at 9:16 AM on June 8, 2016

Huh, the cat made $13,000 [casts speculative side eye at her movie-star-handsome cat Trilby].
posted by orange swan at 9:22 AM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]

They didn't differentiate between male and female actors, I see. (Or did I miss that?)--gaspode

They hinted at something fishy with:
Best Friend .................$75,000
Supporting Actor #4......$18,892
Supporting Actor #5.......$7,235
Supporting Actor #6....$350,000
posted by eye of newt at 9:23 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

The real wage disparity here is between actors who merely appear to be on fire and stunt people who actually are.
posted by randomkeystrike at 9:43 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

I don't see anything about cocaine anywhere.

Key grip
posted by zippy at 9:59 AM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

I didn't see 'Amourer' go past. That's a tip if you want to get into the industry - learn to handle guns! Apparently they need more of those people. Contemporary-set blockbusters always have guns in them, and need someone to look after the replicas legally and safely. Actors often need coaching in how to use them because they've never even seen a gun before.
posted by Coda Tronca at 10:08 AM on June 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

They hinted at something fishy with:
Best Friend .................$75,000

Gay Best Friend .........$150,000
posted by prepmonkey at 10:22 AM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Most of these figures are based on the standard union contracts. "Above the line" types have agents who can negotiate for points, more money, etc..
posted by Ideefixe at 10:27 AM on June 8, 2016

Yeah, I'd be really interested in what those numbers represent for the various people. Is it a year of your life? Six weeks? Four years? A day? I assume some of the numbers include bonuses or profit margins for the business, or even multiple people.

Actually, with the Sony leak, shouldn't actual numbers for one of their films be available? Maybe that's how this was sourced.

And because this isn't presented as an actual web page, you know, something semi-useful, I can't get a good sense of the total the human cost represents.
posted by maxwelton at 10:28 AM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

(I had a friend who worked on the set of Northern Exposure in some lowly position for a summer and literally got $400 or so.)
posted by maxwelton at 10:30 AM on June 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

Goddamnit where is the simple table version of this video.
posted by danhon at 10:50 AM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

So what you're saying is Craig Mazin doesn't have to keep writing movies, does he?
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:04 AM on June 8, 2016

Is it a year of your life? Six weeks?

You want to be a legendary British actor playing a super-baddie in an action movie. It's one afternoon of your life, during which you're thinking about what colour to paint your bathroom, and then you pick up 500k.
posted by Coda Tronca at 11:12 AM on June 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

I know when I was working as background talent (that's an extra to you laypeople) I was just diving into swimming pools full of money like Scrooge McDuck. Man, that was the life, I was making, like, $10, maybe $12 per hour.
posted by maxsparber at 1:46 PM on June 8, 2016

AND I WAS UNION.
posted by maxsparber at 1:46 PM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

So Malcolm McDowell is nobody's fool, is what you're saying Coda Tronca.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 2:02 PM on June 8, 2016

You want to be a legendary British actor playing a super-baddie in an action movie. It's one afternoon of your life, during which you're thinking about what colour to paint your bathroom, and then you pick up 500k

"I have never seen the film, but by all accounts it was terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."
posted by brilliantmistake at 2:14 PM on June 8, 2016 [5 favorites]

Huh, the cat made $13,000 [casts speculative side eye at her movie-star-handsome cat Trilby].

I've been telling the cats they need to get jobs for years. So far I've been ignored.
posted by stray thoughts at 2:51 PM on June 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

The stunt men themselves don't seem to care about the on-fire/not-on-fire pay equivalency. For example, here's a pic of a couple of guys wrapping up after a shoot.

[Edit]Wait, sorry. Here's the after pic.
posted by quinndexter at 4:29 PM on June 8, 2016

I don't see anything about cocaine anywhere. Something doesn't add up.

Kevin Smith tells a story about how for his cameo in Scream 3 he got part of his pay in the form of something like $200 per day in cash while he was shooting. He claims he spent a whole day wondering 'what the hell does someone spend $200 per day in cash' before having an 'oh wait, duh' moment.
posted by Ndwright at 5:02 PM on June 8, 2016 [4 favorites]

If it's an Adam Sandler production you can just draw a big funnel of money going into Sandler's mouth.
posted by benzenedream at 5:37 PM on June 8, 2016

The electricians take is 43K? Anyone know how many hours of work over how many days this represents? Might be time to consider a move from industrial construction.

Also how could this not have been a simple text list? Come on people you had to type all this stuff in to get it in the video! 55MB of non searchable, unaccessable by the blind, video to view a few K text is way up there on the wasted bandwidth scale.
posted by Mitheral at 6:00 PM on June 8, 2016 [3 favorites]

$13K? That's some serious grade-A dank catnip money right there.
posted by bologna on wry at 6:22 PM on June 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Any plausible guesses as to what movie this covered?
posted by gregoreo at 3:59 AM on June 9, 2016

Also how could this not have been a simple text list? Come on people you had to type all this stuff in to get it in the video! 55MB of non searchable, unaccessable by the blind, video to view a few K text is way up there on the wasted bandwidth scale.

All budget-related data in Hollywood is exchanged in video format. That's one of the reasons nobody can ever figure out how much a movie's net profits were. It used to be so much worse when budgets were on film...

It's also the source of the phrase, "the money's all up on the screen."
posted by wabbittwax at 4:46 AM on June 9, 2016 [2 favorites]

gregoreo: "Any plausible guesses as to what movie this covered?"

Someone in the comments of the video said:

The MPAA number shown at the end correlates to Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, incase anybody is interested.

A lot of people claiming direct knowledge saying they amounts shown are unrealistic though there is arguement back and forth.
posted by Mitheral at 10:55 AM on June 9, 2016