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X-Files Gillian Anderson had to fight for equal pay
- Thread starter Redx508
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It's called market value. Look at sports, look at other tv shows. Again, look at Seinfeld. He got paid almost double than his co-stars. Sure, there's an underlying problem where minorities are being screwed on a daily basis by Hollywood execs. This isn't one of them.
Looks like Jennifer should be asking for more money.
As mentioned previously:
Seems a good reason why he was paid more, seeing as how he co-created, co-wrote, and acted.
Enter the Dragon Punch
Banned
No comment.
dat spike. oh lawdy dat spike :lol
Look up the syndication deals, where he gets millions a year and the rest of the cast get virtually nothing. Won't accept the Seinfeld comparison? Fine.
The movie 'Closer'. Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman played roles of equal size, Roberts’ salary was 20 times greater than the $1 million paid to her co-star.
Sometimes gender just isn't the issue, as much as you'd like to have something to rile against. If I were FOX I'd offer her shit money as well. She takes it? Great. She wants more? Fine, we'll negotiate. I never said her career amounts to nothing, but again, David Duchovny is a bigger star and has a bigger market value. Californication averaged around 1-1.5 million viewers in the US. Hannibal got canned after abysmal ratings and The Fall wasn't even picked up by an American tv network. So yeah, she's had a great career but when it comes down to relevancy to a potential young audience, David's a way bigger fish.
HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Sure, bud.
While nobody is denying market value, saying sexism was non-existent in this decision is super stupid.
No. I'm comparing the situation where certain people contribute as much to a show as others yet still get paid way less. Him being the co-creator sure as shit didn't justify him getting $400,000 (!!) more per episode by the time they got to season 9 when the audience probably loved the "other" characters even more.
charlequin
Banned
In the interview she mentions that it took her years to get equal pay to Duchovny on the original show so she was shocked that they wanted her to start at a deficit again in this reboot.
The assertion was "popularity." We're going to start writing off women's popularity automatically because being sexy doesn't "count"? Gimme a break.
Even putting aside that idea, there's a period after the forgettable second X-Files movie where they both have the same low profile, but she was much much more visible in the mid-2000s and got a huge boost from The Fall, while Duchovny appeared in seven seasons of Californication and it didn't even move the needle.
Are you serious? Hannibal's abysmal-for-network numbers, even in its third season when Anderson was guesting, were also 1-1.5 million. The Fall did 3.5 million viewers in Britain alone and Netflix exclusive shows are hardly insignificant compared to network these days so that argument is pretty bizarre as well. Who are these young people who are in love with David Duchovny exactly?
Brofist
Member
Number 2 is incorrect
Jeffolation
Banned
Whoever was involved with Red Shoe Diaries should be paid less.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
It's a bit weird that you're comparing David Duchovny's second most recent TV series to Gillian Anderson's third-ish second-ish most recent series, calling Californication's ratings as good when they were lower than the show you described as having abysmal ratings, ignoring that Hannibal was poorly rated before Anderson became a regular, ignoring that the ratings you're citing for Californication are not during the same years as the ratings you're citing for Hannibal, and ignoring that Hannibal aired in the summer while Californication aired in season. Also, The Fall was picked up by "an American tv network": Netflix. Why would Netflix not count? You counted broadcast television in the same breath as cable so it's not medium or business model or exposure or whatever?
There doesn't seem to be a consistent logic to what you think is driving an actor's value.
What? Yes it does. He was also writing them.
Uh, a bunch of films and TV shows? I mean her name certainly isn't high profile like the X-files era, but she (and Duchovny) both have been pretty successful post-X-files.
It's stupid that Fox wanted to skimp her, but this is the same Fox that had Duchovny leave because they didn't want to pay him residuals when the X-files was the 90's/early00's internet phenomenon it was. This was written/posted online a while ago but it's a good article about that whole time-frame and how the X-files blew up and everyone was totally out of their element.
Randomizer
Member
Couldn't get into The Fall for the simple reason it is set where I live. Really kills the suspension of disbelief when every scene you are going "Oh thats The Bontanic Gardens!" or "That's not a police station that is my old college" lol. Also I find most actors from Northern Ireland really wooden and stilted in their performances(Liam Neeson excluded obviously).
Edit: Also interesting side note, Jamie Dornans father may have delivered me during my birth. He is the lead obstetrician in the hospital in which I was born.
Edit: Also interesting side note, Jamie Dornans father may have delivered me during my birth. He is the lead obstetrician in the hospital in which I was born.
PHOENIXZERO
Member
Wasn't Californication on a premium network?
oneils
Member
You really should check out Hannibal and the fall. Both are on Netflix here in Canada.
Diprosalic
Banned
The more popular actor deserves to get paid more no matter the gender. that's why american hustle was fucked up. JLaw was clearly the main draw and she got paid less, that is fucked up. I assumed David was more high profile since i didn't see her in much and he had a show that ran world wide quite succesfully. but as i said, for xfiles it doesn't matter because nobody wants only one of them so they have the sams amount of pull.
she had a minor part in the first 2 seasons. did it get bigger? the show is also not a big deal iirc.
Monocle
Member
Yes, her role is a lot bigger in Season 3.
Hannibal isn't a big deal ratings wise, but quality wise it's one of the best of all time.
Coolio McAwesome
Member
There are good reasons.
Jeff Daniels was paid $50,000 for Dumb and Dumber while Jim Carrey was paid $7 million. That doesn't seem fair, but Carrey had a lot more leverage than Daniels had. It's an extreme example, but it illustrates how leverage and past earnings factor in when determining how much actors are paid. The past earnings of Duchovny far exceed Anderson's.
David likely has a higher quote than his co-star. Californication ran for seven seasons and earned Duchovny a Golden Globe award and many more nominations He was making ~$225,000 per episode of Californication (which ran for 84 episodes). Gillian has never made that kind of money post X-Files. (Her quote on the Hannibal was less than half of that.) I think The Fall is better than anything Duchovny has lent his name to, but Duchovny has still seen more financial success that Anderson has.
Duchovny's net worth is more than double was Anderson's is, which gives him a heck of a lot more leverage. He's been paid more for episodic television than Gillian Anderson has, which almost certainly means that his quote is higher than Anderson's. This results in higher initial offers from studios. If Anderson had been getting paid ~$225,000 for a show that ran 84 episodes while Duchovny's quote was less than half of that, then I can guarantee you the roles would be reversed and it would have been Duchovny that had to fight for equal pay.
Studios pay actors and actresses the lowest amount they think they can. If a talent thinks they're worth more that what they are being offered, they can negotiate. (That's also the reason why any successful actor has an agent.) In Jeff Daniels case, he didn't have a lot of leverage. In Gillian Anderson's case, she clearly did. This isn't a case of sexism. The exact same things happens in scenarios with two male co-stars or two female co-stars.
I think a better example would be Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu in Sherlock. Lucy Liu earned twice as much as JLM despite not playing the main character (They both have equal roles but you know what I mean). Lucy Liu had an extensive film career whilst JLM is most well known for fucking Angelina Jolie once upon a time. and even that's generous. But anyway, IMO, well done to her for playing hardball, people often say women don't negotiate as hard or as well as men so good for arguing her worth. I don't know which of them had the more successful film or TV career but I think they should be paid equally.
AcademicSaucer
Member
Yeah those episodes with Robert Patrick where meh.
Punchy4486
Banned
Jim Carrey was originally offered $350,000, but while they were in negotiations, Ace Ventura became a HUGE hit, and every week it was Number 1 in the Box office, he asked for more and more. And his pay was unprecedented.
Jeff Daniels wasn't known for comedy at all, and the studios wanted another comedic actor, but Jeff was really gunning for it. They offered him $50,000 as an insult, thinking that he would turn it down and they could go after another comedian, but to their surprise, he took it.
If you look at Dumb and Dumber To, do you think the pay disparity was similar to the first movie? Jim Carrey's star had faded, and Jeff Daniels had become more respected, and the movie clearly wouldn't work without the two of them together. Did Jim Carrey make 140x Jeff Daniels in the sequel?
The sequel is more analogous to The X-Files reboot than the original.
Eh, I think Duchovny clearly has kept a lot more 'star power' than Gillian Anderson. That said she's in a good position because they pretty much need her for a nostalgia play like this.
D'ultimate
Member
Why do people keep saying this? I think they are both similar in terms of star power and it's not as if she hasn't been offered roles. She has kids and has made it an issue to focus on them as well as her career.
In any case it doesn't matter about continued "star power" for this instance because anyone who's tuning in to see the show is familiar with both and it couldn't work w/o both so that's moot.
The industry continues to give women and POC the shaft at any given opportunity. That's it. Point blank.
Good for her for not taking that shit.
enigmatic_alex44
Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
This is so gross.
Mulder has aged like milk and he was on one semi successful show after X-files.
Gillian Anderson has aged like fine wine, has critical acclaim, and is being offered HALF? Wish she would have just walked away from this project and let it flop without her.
Mulder has aged like milk and he was on one semi successful show after X-files.
Gillian Anderson has aged like fine wine, has critical acclaim, and is being offered HALF? Wish she would have just walked away from this project and let it flop without her.
crazygambit
Member
Yeah but what had she been on recently?
I feel Duchovny has been much more active (in stuff I at least know about, even though I haven't really watched). Californication, Aquarius.
It makes sense for the bigger star to get more. It's always been that way and it'll always be that way and there's nothing wrong with that.
I don't think this is a sexism case at all.
AyaisMUsikWhore
Member
☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕☕
Doesn't matter if David Duchovny is the bigger star overall, the show is equally about both of them. Many shows actually opt for equal salaries for their stars now, because you want to avoid these issues, favoritism etc. For example, David Schwimmer from the start wanted every single 'Friends' cast member to make the same, even though someone like Jennifer Aniston became a mega star.
crazygambit
Member
That worked on Friends because the show was a massive hit. On a regular show, if you pay your biggest star the same as the other actors, even if their roles are similar they'll always be looking to leave. Unless you pay everyone massive salaries (like on Friends), but if your show isn't that level of hit, it's impossible to do that.
Like everywhere else people are paid according to their opportunity cost and what they can negotiate. In this case Gillian had enough leverage to get a higher salary and was able to negotiate so good for her. Though I can totally understand why the network would offer her less at the start.
The Fall and Hannibal, which are both better than any of Duchovny's post-X-Files work.
If there wasn't constant issues regarding pay for women in Hollywood I wouldn't necessarily chalk it up to sexism, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
Punchy4486
Banned
Congrats, you've named the two things of any note Duchovny has done since the last X-Files movie. Californication on cable, and Aquarius, which started out with huge numbers and dropped pretty dramatically from there to middling reviews.
The only argument against Gillian Anderson's career since the last X-Files is that she lives in the UK and has been doing much of her work there (particularly on-stage). However, she was in The Fall and Hannibal, which are both critical successes at the very least. While Hannibal was a "failure" most accounts say that it got about the same viewers - or slightly more - as Californication (the difference being that it was on Basic Cable).
I think it's hard to argue that David Duchovny is TWICE the draw she is.
Rimon-hanit
Member
NVM
Diprosalic
Banned
it's quite bad.
Monocle
Member
As long as we're spouting false statements with zero explanation, Mulder is the worst thing about X-Files.
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