"West Wing" Crisis!

Thu., Jul. 12, 2001 3:30 PM PDT by Marcus Errico

If his money men don't come up with a new budget soon, President Josiah Bartlet could be pretty lonely in the White House come this fall.

NBC and producers of The West Wing are in full crisis-control mode now that Allison Janney (press secretary C.J. Cregg), John Spencer (chief of staff Leo McGarry), Bradley Whitford (deputy chief of staff Joshua Lyman) and Richard Schiff (communications director Toby Ziegler) are MIA from the set of the Oval Office drama.

The four actors--all of whom picked up Emmy nominations Thursday in the supporting-actor categories, contributing to the show's 18 nods in all--have been no-shows the past two days at rehearsals for the new season, according to Daily Variety.

The reason: money. The foursome claims they are woefully underpaid, making about $30,000 per episode, Variety reports, far below the six-figure salaries of the show's name-brand stars, Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe. Janney, Spencer, Whitford and Schiff reportedly want about $100,000 per show and apparently feel they need to play hardball.

Negotiating en masse has become commonplace in Hollywood, with the casts of Friends, Seinfeld and The Simpsons among those binding together in recent years to increase their bargaining power and secure heftier paychecks.

For its part, an NBC representative says the four have met with show producers to hammer out their differences. The next scheduled work day on The West Wing is Monday, and all four are expected to be there.

If they don't show, Variety says, they will be considered in breach of their current long-term contracts and things could get really ugly.

This isn't the first pay squabble to erupt on the show, which won a record nine Emmys last year, including Outstanding Drama Series. Several of the show's writers have complained about being underpaid, and that has led to an ongoing Internet message-board battle between one former Emmy-winning West Wing writer and show creator Aaron Sorkin.

This summer's behind-the-scenes intrigue on The West Wing has become as fascinating as any of the show's storylines. In addition to the money fights, Sorkin has had to deal with his drug arrest. If that weren't bad enough, the New York Post, quoting unnamed show insiders, reported that anti-drug-crusading star Sheen had threatened to quit if Sorkin didn't "go to drug rehab and get his problem fixed." (Sheen once turned in his son, Charlie, after the Spin City star suffered a relapse.) A West Wing publicist, however, denied there was a blow-up between the two men. Sorkin was subsequently ordered into a diversion program by a judge as part of a plea deal.