$400,000 For The Simpsons Voice Actors!

[The Simpleton 2]

This may be old new for some (or) most of you, but I recently found out and was really surprised!

 

The six main voice actors of the show "The Simpsons" are paid $400, 000 for each episode!"

 

If you observe carefully, each actor speaks only for around 3-4 minutes in each episode, and they get paid that much for that! And coming to think about it, the episodes are decreasing with each passing season. But the amount these actors get paid will not decrease at all - it will only go up up and UP!

[Veradesigns 0]

Its new to me never knew just by recording your fake voice you would get almost half a million dollars for a dam television show.

[The Simpleton 2]

Well it wasn't like this in the beginning they got paid just like the other shows - but as their show grew more and more popular the actors became more and more demanding and at one point the FOX network even threatened to fire them and get new actors!But the network got sensible and took back its threat. If I'm not wrong, the actors' salaries have been hiked on their demand at least three times for now. And because of their latest demand, the 20th season was delayed Not that it was so wonderful anyway...

[CopyJosh 0]

400k? your source is outdated because this article suggests they were asking for 500k and this was last year.

 

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

 

They also point out that the actors on friends were making a million dollars an episode playing only one character, while the actors for the Simpsons are doing the voices for thousands of characters on the longest running, funniest series on television (by popular opinion) - which comes out to approx $50k/character according to the article. (just to show Veradesigns; if you can do it well, you get paid well.).

 

To me, 400k (or 500k+ for what they might be making now) is perfectly reasonable considering the profit this show is pulling in for Fox including ratings.

 

-edit-

Thanks onetenki (below) for pointing out an updated article.

 

@CopyJosh - they were asking for 500k per episode during a depute to sign a new deal. this delayed for a few months of making new episodes due to no contract. but a few days later after your article u posted,

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7434296.stm

Edited June 15, 2009 by CopyJosh (see edit history)

[networker 0]

I'm sick of the Simpsons and have been for years,Besides,I don't think that many of those character voices would be that hard to duplicate for many people anyway.I think one of the tough ones would be Homer's voice though.Surely many people could do Willie the caretakers voice.Most of them are easy to do.

[onitenki 0]

I used to like the Simpsons but more recently the episodes have gone from funny to werid? Have anyone noticed they gotten more and more dull? And to consider the actors to do the voiceovers are getting paid more and more? I think its time they finally put this show to rest. i mean what is it now? 20 seasons already? And not to mentioned the fact FOX ordered for 2 more seasons back in Feb?

 

@CopyJosh - they were asking for 500k per episode during a depute to sign a new deal. this delayed for a few months of making new episodes due to no contract. but a few days later after your article u posted,

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7434296.stm

 

They finally came to conclusion to sign for 400k as kasperooney has mentioned for 4 years.

[rob86 2]

I used to watch the simpsons when I was younger. I know someone who's a very big fan of the simpsons and they agree that the quality of the episodes has dropped a lot. It's really been going on too long now I think. I sure wouldn't mind making 400k per episode though.

[CopyJosh 0]

I used to like the Simpsons but more recently the episodes have gone from funny to werid? Have anyone noticed they gotten more and more dull? And to consider the actors to do the voiceovers are getting paid more and more? I think its time they finally put this show to rest. i mean what is it now? 20 seasons already? And not to mentioned the fact FOX ordered for 2 more seasons back in Feb?

 

@CopyJosh - they were asking for 500k per episode during a depute to sign a new deal. this delayed for a few months of making new episodes due to no contract. but a few days later after your article u posted,

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7434296.stm

 

They finally came to conclusion to sign for 400k as kasperooney has mentioned for 4 years.

Thanks for clearing that up for me. OP didn't include an article so I could only google search and hope for the best.

[freeflashclocks 0]

It is completely outrageous how the simpsons voice actors can earn 400.000 US dollars per TV show, it is absolutely incredible, and mostly unfair if you really want to know what i think.Besides all that, how come they get to earn all that money when the simpsons TV show is not an amazing show like others i saw until now, in my opinion, i do not think they deserve to earn so much money per TV show, perhaps 50.000 US dollars is more like the fair "salary", or perhaps even less, because if you count how much simpsons TV shows passes in one month, after a month they are millionaire, all of them, and we are the real suckers because we pay all the actors all that money, we watch their TV show, at least i used to watch, i do not for a long time, but now i will never see the simpsons TV show again after knowing how much they earn per TV show.If all the simpsons TV show voice actors earn 400.000 US dollars, i wonder how much the main actors of the Lost TV show do earn per show, i guess millions of dollars if we make a small comparison of the facts and details, no counting the fact that there is real life drama with real actors, not only voices.If anyone in the simpsons TV show should earn 400.000 US dollars per show would be the programmers of the animations, the programmers or animators of the simpsons TV show animated characters, the ones that make us all laugh out loud with their acts, funny faces, funny characters, funny stages and cenarios, funny situations, and all the other stuff which is clearly invented by animators and designers, those should earn that kind of money, but even so, 400.000 is a lot of money for them too per show!

[The Simpleton 2]

Oops I totally missed this topic for a while....you can sure get lost in this forum!

 

@CopyJosh - My source was wikipedia; forgot to mention that. Yes they were indeed asking for more and the studio was threatening to fire them and in the end someone had to compromise!

 

@ all others - It is true that the show is clearly increasing its episode count and decreasing the quality and even if all the die-hard fans are crying this out loud, the producers seem to be doing nothing about it, except gloating about the fact that they've got 2 more seasons to produce, 2 more seasons to rake in more money.

 

I read somewhere once (sorry I don't remember the source) that Matt Groening said the show would go on and on till the viewers were still entertained by it. This was said some 3-4 years ago. And today we are in such a situation where most of the fans aren't feeling very entertained by the show. They are just hoping and hoping that the next episode might be better and bring back some old memories!

 

After the 22nd season, the show will most likely have completed 500 episodes and maybe then the curtains might be pulled in - at least that's what most people are wishing for. If the show is over, there won't be any more of "hoping that the next episode will be better". The fans can then live peacefully and as for the voice actors - well they might have to look elsewhere for some 400k source!

[VishBoy 0]

Well, I think it's little 'cos "sSimpsons" is one of the Most Watched Series in the world, and they disurve more monney

[iGuest 3]

RE:400,000 For The Simpsons Voice Actors!$400,000 For The Simpsons Voice Actors!

It's fun watching you idiots blather on. Have you ever stopped to think what the producers, of the Simpsons are making per episode? The show brings in around 9 million/episode in advertising revenue (each commercial pays $40 per every thousand people watching[12.4 million] x 18 commercials per show = $8.9 million) 6 actors getting $400 thou a peice equals, what...  2.4 mil? That's barely 20%. You tip you're WAITER that, and he's just refilling your drinks.

The actors creating those characters that you love should work for what... Minimum wage while the guys you've never heard of should bank millions? 

 Let's show a little intelligence, OK? You work for $15/hour cuz that's what the gig pays. If you can negotiate to $20/hr that's GREAT! So why you bustin their balls cuz they're good negotiators?

-reply by RegularVoiceActor

[The Simpleton 2]

That's a good point you make there! Of course we all know that the producers make all that money, but this thread is just pointing out that the actors are making those "negotiations" more often now, and it's indirectly affecting the show. For example, due to their recent negotiation effort, the 20th season was postponed for a while and it had lesser episodes. And the producers know that the show's popularity is slowly decreasing so they may also not put up with these negotiations much longer.