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Does Hurley get paid if he's not in the episode?
—Julie
The B!tch Replies: Given that this last "season" of Lost was pretty much the Kate 'n' Huckleberry Show, one would hope the other actors were given some sort of freedom, if not cash—or at least permission to leave Hawaii and maybe grab some work up in the Catskills or something.
The flacks at ABC, home of Lost, refused to comment on actor salaries. Sci Fi, home of another rabidly popular ensemble show, Battlestar Galactica, tells me the show pays its stars by the season and its other players by the episode.
But that’s an exception. Industry insiders say most ensemble actors are paid by episode, not by season. The bad news for folks like Hurley, Sayid and that new bikini girl who got two lines last season: No episode, no pay. The good news: It doesn't matter whether the actor appears for five seconds or 25 minutes. The number of lines also doesn't matter. The pay, negotiated for each actor before the start of the season, is the same.
And the pay is high. In fact, I suspect that by now Matthew Fox could buy his own haunted island anytime he wants. During the first season of Lost, the reported per-episode pay for each actor ranged from $20,000 to $40,000. Last year, the cast got a raise to roughly $80,000 per show. That's a lot of fish biscuits.
One more general rule: Before a season even starts shooting, each actor usually gets a "guarantee" of a certain number of episodes. In other words, no surprises in the pay department. Most TV actors know exactly how much they'll be making per season, even if those Battlestar producers refuse to tell them whether they're one of the five secret Cylons.
In TV circles, ensembles are broken down into three categories: leads, series regulars and recurring characters. Leads get the most work and the most money. Series regulars get fewer episodes but enough screen time to ensure they won't take their talents to any other series that season. (They can make guest cameos or host SNL, but that's about it.)
Recurring characters have the least screen time and usually the smallest paychecks per episode—but also the most freedom.
"Recurring characters usually have the leeway to act in other shows," my insider tells me. "But series regulars and leads are usually locked down in their contracts."
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