You’re all going to be chuffed when you hear this. Just absolutely chuffed. That whole kerfuffle going on with the cast of The Big Bang Theory and that contract dispute that temporarily shut down production on the show? It’s over. Everything’s been sorted out. And everyone is getting what they want. Whether you like it or not.
In the face of a looming deadline for contract negotiations set by the studio (at which point they’d do… I don’t know. Cancel their highest rating show? Recast it and risk cut it off at the knees? Hold their breath till they turned blue?) the show’s three principal stars Johnny Galecki, Jim Parsons and Kaley Cuoco have all signed contracts to appear on the show through till 2017 – or the end of its tenth (possibly eleventh depending on how you run the numbers) season.
As for how much they’re getting, merely a cool $1MILLION PER EPISODE. EACH.
Combined with various “bonuses and back-end fees” (Hollywood jargon for “picking up a second pay cheque for doing nothing except have your named attached to an ‘Executive Producer’ credit“) the three will each stand to earn roughly $90million by the time their contracts run their course.
Here’s how I imagine negotiating a contract for that amount of money goes:
“Hello Studio Person. I would like Fuck You Money, please. I need Fuck You Money, because I want – nay, NEED – to buy a zeppelin shaped like my dick. You don’t need to know why.“
“OKAY!” *rubber stamps everything*
“OKAY!” *rubber stamps everything*
“Very good business doing thank you.“
The other two actors rounding out the ensemble cast, that being Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar, are still without contracts, but look set to settle that dispute before too long. Though, presumably, for somewhat less than the rest of the cast.
See? I told you you’d be chuffed. CHUFFED, I say repeatedly.
Photo: Kevin Winter via Getty Images.
