jason bateman paid $125,000 Per Episode Arrested Development, Other Big TV Earners

Jason Batemen Earned Upwards of $125,000 per Episode of Netflix’s “Arrested Development”

Actor Jason Bateman commanded a salary of $125,000 per episode for season four of Netflix’s series “Arrested Development”. While that is technically true, Bateman had to be the star of any given episode to earn that rate. Otherwise, his income was the result of a sliding scale of pay any of the cast of the show could earn based on a ninety second rule that Netflix created to treat the cast equitably.

It should be noted that since Arrested Development initially went off the air in 2006, many of the cast went on to achieve greater success such as Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, and Jason Bateman. So Netflix doesn’t favor one actor over another when it comes to the show’s payroll.

Here’s how it works. An actor is designated as the star of the episode and will earn $125,000. The others who appear in the episode will be paid $50,000 if they appear in the episode for 90 seconds or more. Those who appear for less than 90 seconds are paid $10,000. Finally, those who appear in any footage from a prior episode that becomes part of the new one receive $1,000.

Drama (per episode) — Top 10:

Mark Harmon (NCIS): $500,000
Mariska Hargita (Law & Order: SVU): $385,000
Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy): $350,000
Ellen Pompeo (Grey’s Anatomy): $350,000
Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy): $350,000
Simon Baker (The Mentalist): $300,000
Michael C. Hall (Dexter): $295,000
Jon Hamm (Mad Men): $250,000
David Boreanaz (Bones): $225,000
Ted Danson (CSI): $225,000
Kiefer Sutherland (Touch): $225,000

Comedy (per episode) — Top 10:

Ashton Kutcher (Two and a Half Men): $700,000
Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men): $600,000
Tina Fey (30 Rock): $350,000
Alec Baldwin (30 Rock): $300,000
Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons): $300,000
Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory): $300,000
Johnny Galecki (The Big Bang Theory): $300,000
Angus T. Jones (Two and a Half Men): $300,000
Julie Kavner (The Simpsons): $300,000
Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory): $300,000
Yeardley Smith (The Simpsons): $300,000

News (per year) — Top 10:

Matt Lauer (Today): $21.5 million
Bill O’Reilly (The O’Reilly Factor): $15 million
Brian Williams (NBC Nightly News): $13 million
Diane Sawyer (ABC World News): $12 million
Anderson Cooper (Anderson Cooper 360 and Anderson Live): $11 million
Shepard Smith (The Fox Report) $8 million
Robin Roberts (Good Morning America) $6 million
Joe Scarborough (Morning Joe) $6 million
Scott Pelley (CBS Evening News) $4 million
Nancy Grace (Nancy Grace) $3 million

Late-Night (per year) — Top 9:

David Letterman: $28 million
Jay Leno: $25 million
Jon Stewart: $16 million
Conan O’Brien: $12 million
Craig Ferguson: $8 million
Chelsea Handler: $8 million
Jimmy Kimmel: $8 million
Stephen Colbert: $6 million
Jimmy Fallon: $5 million

Daytime/Syndication (per year) — highlights:

Judy Sheindlin (Judge Judy): $45 million
Joe Brown (Judge Joe Brown): $20 million
Kelly Ripa (Live! With Kelly): $20 million

Reality (per season) — highlights:

Mariah Carey (American Idol): $17 million
Ryan Seacrest (American Idol): $15 million
Howard Stern (America’s Got Talent): $15 million
Britney Spears (The X Factor): $10 million
The Kardashian Family (Keeping Up with the Kardashians, etc.): $10 million

On The Web:
http://www.screenslam.com/arrested-development-cast-pay/