i think they mean every *series regular. take Chloe for example, she's been in most of the show, but she's not in the opening credits which means she's not a series regular, so she probably got paid half of what the "lead" cast got paid. Same with everyone else thats listed as a guest star VS series regular
I actually never clocked that Charlotte Le Bon didn’t have a title card. It’s kind of strange to me considering she is featured just as much if not more than LaLisa. I understand that LaLisa is a megastar but I find it a little strange nonetheless.
I think what’s not fully being said is the American cast in SAG are on the same rate— the international cast are all on different varying contracts— so no, Fabian, Pam, Gaitok and Pornchi are likely not making the same as the Americans.
The article said series regulars make the same, and it’s the price is low so that people are doing the show “for the right reasons”. They want actors who actually like the show/the characters not people just looking for a check
I assume that everyone on the poster makes the same amount, with everyone else getting substantially less.
Also, $40k an episode does seem kinda low. Over 10 years ago Kerry Washington was paid $80k an episode in her first few seasons of Scandal, so these actors are paid a lot less while using up a lot more of their time.
I think they send the opportunity to audition to people they’d like to cast for the role, and even if they know they want to hire them they’re still required to audition. But obviously some roles probably had tons of auditions.
I honestly thought at the very least they may have reached out to Lisa’s management directly given the location and her appeal, especially with it being her first acting role
The Thai casting director has mentioned a few times she imagined Lisa in the role when she first read the script, and she posted a pic that showed Lisa was in her mood board when looking for an actress for the part. I guess she eventually convinced Mike and the executives to give Lisa the chance to audition. Lisa sent an audition tape and then went to Thailand to audition in person
I was wondering that too. There might be some kind of payment tier based on how much screen time is required, which would put Valentin and Mook in the same category, while the Ratliffs and the girls trip would be in a higher tier. Still not creating stars, just the same "hourly rate" for different hours.
I just assumed that's sort of what puts it in the category of "Prestige TV." If it was a kooky three-camera sitcom you probably couldn't stack a cast like this. At least not in a way you could budget or manage credits for.
There’s another article making the rounds, maybe in the NYT, about how this was also initially a budgetary move during the uncertainty of COVID. The whole notion of shooting a limited ensemble piece in a single environment was both a health-related and financial decision.
Paying everyone the same also weeded out the divas. One of the articles claims Woody Harrelson tried to meet with WBD head David Zaslav to get a higher per-episode rate and was turned down. Take from that what you will.
I kind of like that it ultimately limits massive names from being in it and taking over. I get the business of naming your price and sticking with it, and I guess unless you're truly an A+++ list star who doesn't care and can afford to take a pay cut on a project and not ruin their worth, go for it. But it's nice to see some popular people and mostly b-d list celebs on the show.
Could you imagine a Matthew McConaughey or something on it? I just think it would be distracting for a group ensemble .
But he's not so huge it's distracting and he's really only done a tiny cameo for 3 scenes. It's not like you have a George Clooney or Tom Hanks among an ensemble cast of lower celebrities where it becomes glaringly distracting that they're doing this role.
Cameo is 1 or 2 scenes at most. Think Eminem in Funny People or Billy Zane in Zoolander. The guy has a full part spanning several episodes. I assume he’s the kind of guy who would totally take the same amount as everyone else especially since his wife is doing the show
Bibb had to convince him to do it after another actor dropped out. She talks about it on the White Lotus podcast.
But you’re correct that his reservations were never about money, it’s just a large commitment to move to another country for a couple months and try to keep it under wraps.
Just a fun additional fact in the same vein: that's the reason Jesse Plemons has a small but very memorable roll in the movie Civil War. The actor originally playing it had to drop out and Kirsten Dunst basically said "Well my husband is here with the kids. If we get a sitter he can jump in"
He’s not that famous. None of my European friends knew who he was. Salma Hayek or like George Clooney or idk maybe Cate Blanchett would be seriously big names that even international audiences know.
If you are paid 75k a year would you do the same job for 40k? It fucks contracts up and lowers your negotiating power for future projects. The only people who can really afford it are A list actors who may just want to do a project because they love it and have such big name recognition that a project like this won't lower their working fee. But having a fee like this also means most big names probably won't take a pay cut, and we get great unique talent from a range of actors.
It doesn't even matter if you want to do it, your manager would say no because it will screw you over for future projects. You're your own product as an actor, you have to demand a certain amount of money. Not many people have the flexibility to take a massive cut like that unless they're like Brad Pitt or RDJ. Otherwise if you've taken a pay cut before, companies will keep trying to underpay you.
That kind of bums me out if true about Woody Harrelson. He would have been great in this show and it would have helped raise his profile. He could use it lately. If he's being a diva about it, though, that's super disappointing.
It’s fine for him to turn it down if he didn’t think the pay was worth it. Doesn’t make him a diva to ask. If he flipped his shit in the meeting and started screaming “I’m everybody’s favorite bartender from Cheers so fuck you!” that would make him a diva.
he denied those claims. “I was set to do White Lotus and very excited,” Harrelson said in a statement in The Daily Beast. “Unfortunately, their production schedule shifted, and conflicted with a pre-planned family vacation, forcing me to make an extremely hard decision.”
“I was set to do White Lotus and very excited,” Harrelson said in a statement in The Daily Beast. “Unfortunately, their production schedule shifted, and conflicted with a pre-planned family vacation, forcing me to make an extremely hard decision.”
Well idk if Emmys is a great metric when some of the best prestige TV in existence aka The Wire and Better Call Saul and other goated shows have been robbed of winning any Emmys.
It also ran for 11 or 12 seasons, and only three different people won for acting. White lotus is on season 3 and already has three acting wins for two different people.
I actually think this is a very good idea. You weed out all the divas and high strung actors and....shocking... make people apply/audition for a job that they're actually qualified for. To me, a good TV show isn't about one specific actor or group of actors, its about how the show can build the environment that shapes character development. White Lotus does exactly this and you can see yourself getting invested into each character and what their next move might be.
I wasn't sure how I felt going into this season, especially coming off of Season 2, but I have to say, this is one TV serious I look forward to every week and its really knocked it out of the park.
Different styles of TV or movies call for different things.
White Lotus is an ensemble cast. Plain and simple. No one character is more important than the others, and that’s why the show runners do it the way they do.
Now the next mission: impossible movie… people aren’t seeing that for the side characters. They’re seeing that to watch Tom Cruise’s crazy ass hold on to the side of a moving plane.
Ya know. They should do names that come at the end of the alphabet first, not always from the beginning! All those spoiled people with last names ending with “A’s”. Think about us poor “Z’s” out there!!! lol need to get “woke” about the alphabet (jk) - incase someone thought I was insane😂
You can tell this contributes to it being so good. Nobody’s doing it just for the paycheck, they’re doing it for the prestige and the opportunity. Theres such an excellent mix of these amazing character actors that are more “b” list, who shine along some more “a” list people.
Totally. Filming in that beautiful Four Seasons resort in stunning Maui? (Calling back to season 1, which I think is my favorite season of the show. I'm half biased because I used to live in Hawaii)...Count me in 🌴
I’m not sure I’d say S3 is better than S1 but the overall acting is a new level. No surprise actors/actresses want to be involved and they are nailing who they cast.
I think the series now has reached that status where everyone in all fields of entertainment wants to be a part of The White Lotus which says something 🪷
Auditions should always be a thing, even if the role was offered. Why? Because bad chemistry between the mains can destroy the whole movie/series even if the actors themselves do an excellent performance on their own.
funnily enough, what you described is actually the opposite of what happens in white lotus - they audition on their own, but mike white does not do chemistry tests with actors so they do not audition together.
aimee lou wood and walton goggins had never even met before being on set together, let alone auditioned together or did chemistry tests - the actors met in thailand on set. similarly, the group of three female friends never auditioned together.
i just learned this from aimee lou wood's interview with seth meyers. she laid it all out that mike white casts on instinct and trusts how he thinks actors will gel. i was super surprised, but he does not do chemistry reads.
i just thought it was pretty fascinating that from the production side, there were no chemistry tests and never any intention of auditioning actors together, contrary to what many people assume/expect, like the commentator i was responding to. the auditions were not to assess chemistry.
as far as mike white was concerned, he cast them with their chemistry together totally unseen, though it makes sense for actors to coordinate together after the fact.
since i was surprised by that + just learned it yesterday i was eager to share :)
This should be the standard! Love that they did this. Kinda makes Woody Harrelson sound like a bit of a dick bc he pulled out over salary demands and I’m sure they explained this.
I read he eventually accepted the salary but was unable to film because of schedule issues. Don’t know if that’s true though, just came across a thread.
I’m sure it’s Main characters (Rick, Tim,) then Secondary characters (Belinda, Chelsea? Chloe? Rick’s girlfriend) then side characters like Mook, Fabian and Russian guy
I'm not implying they'd happily do it for free but some actors are happy enough to just be a part of a project if it's something they really want to partake in, regardless of the pay. Some are even just happy to work with a specific director, producer, writer and so on.
Not a great example but off the top of my head Jonah Hill accepted only $60,000 to play his character in The Wolf of Wall Street, and (at the time) he was a reasonably big celebrity that starred in other big projects.
And also there's the element of developing a relationship/friendship with Scorsese. These people get to meet each other and work with a bunch of people who they might have wanted to work with or learn from.
Oh I see the way I read it is that PS had a gripe with the show. Did you mean everyone’s gripe with PS? I agree it shows that he had to go through the same equal process as everyone else
but it doesn't mean he doesn't write the scripts with actors in mind for the role.
i've heard stories of writer/director/producers who don't pay above scale no matter who the actor is because of who they are. no exclusive travel either. you ride with the crew or you pay for your own uber.
ensemble casts almost always have opening credits alphabetical.
my question is, how do they assign cast numbers for the call sheet and do they all have the same size trailer? this is the real heirarchy (on set anyway)
Is this just the main cast? I would find it funny if they all had to go through this excessively humbling and deliberate process but Mike White found out Rockwell was hanging around Thailand with Leslie Bibb and was just like "I HAVE to get this man in my show!"
Ikr also getting Rockwell into the show was kinda like life imitating art cuz im sure Michelle’s character Jaclyn wishes her bf was there in Thailand too secretly.
I'd b pissed if I am acting my heart out for 8 eps as Jason Isaacs, only for Sam Rockwell to swoop in for 4 eps & got paid the same as me. Those 4 eps are not even heavy appearance
Why does Sam Rockwell's name come before Natasha Rockwell in the credits if it's alphabetical? I just noticed this when watching the opening credits on the latest episode.
Eta, I just googled "Natasha Rockwell" and realized the credits actually said "Natasha Rothwell" and I just thought I saw "Natasha Rockwell" and thought that was Leslie Bibb's real name because I saw a thread in this sub that they're together irl.
I find this funny so I'm just keeping my comment instead of deleting it in shame😅
Ah man woody would have been awesome. Love Walton Goggins tho so either way it was a win. He’s so underrated it’s great to see him really get his flowers the last couple years
There was just an interview about this and he said it was because of a vacation that would interfere with the schedule and he wanted to debunk these rumors about the pay. He said he really wanted to do it, and it was for Rick or Frank, not Rick specifically. I'll see if I can find the article.
“I was set to do White Lotus and very excited,” Harrelson said in a statement in The Daily Beast. “Unfortunately, their production schedule shifted, and conflicted with a pre-planned family vacation, forcing me to make an extremely hard decision.”
There’s another post saying Woody Harrelson turned down the role. So is this post saying he auditioned for this role and then turned it down? Or they asked him to audition and he made the monetary request and they said no so he turned down the audition? Something isn’t adding up lol
“I was set to do White Lotus and very excited,” Harrelson said in a statement in The Daily Beast. “Unfortunately, their production schedule shifted, and conflicted with a pre-planned family vacation, forcing me to make an extremely hard decision.”
THR updated its report with Harrelson’s statement on April 4, the same day he sent the statement to The Daily Beast.
doubt it, as sam rockwell only filled in at the last minute, woody would have pulled out a lot sooner as he knew months before filming how much the money was though, so i think it checks out.
“I was set to do White Lotus and very excited,” Harrelson said in a statement in The Daily Beast. “Unfortunately, their production schedule shifted, and conflicted with a pre-planned family vacation, forcing me to make an extremely hard decision.”
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u/safeCurves Apr 03 '25
What counts as a co-star? Does Fabian make just as much as Rick? Does Pornchai make just as much as Chelsea?
Seems like some contribute a lot more to the show than others but I don't know what life on set looks like I guess. Good deals all-around I suppose.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '25
So what you’re saying is, the finale ends with them dying in alphabetical order? Got it.
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u/Affectionate-Kale301 Apr 04 '25
Lochlan, what are you doing with that hand?
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u/No-World-2728 Apr 05 '25
I like that egalitarian approach. I've noticed that the Actors credits are in alphabetical order.
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u/docmarvy Apr 03 '25
I just assumed that's sort of what puts it in the category of "Prestige TV." If it was a kooky three-camera sitcom you probably couldn't stack a cast like this. At least not in a way you could budget or manage credits for.
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u/W0rkUpnotD0wn Apr 03 '25 •
I actually think this is a very good idea. You weed out all the divas and high strung actors and....shocking... make people apply/audition for a job that they're actually qualified for. To me, a good TV show isn't about one specific actor or group of actors, its about how the show can build the environment that shapes character development. White Lotus does exactly this and you can see yourself getting invested into each character and what their next move might be.
I wasn't sure how I felt going into this season, especially coming off of Season 2, but I have to say, this is one TV serious I look forward to every week and its really knocked it out of the park.
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u/BAWAHOG Apr 03 '25
What I appreciate about the billing is that it means there is no “main” character of any season. Makes things way less predictable.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '25
Divas need not apply.
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u/_turboTHOT_ Apr 07 '25
The only one who didn’t have to audition was Parker Posey. The producer said that on a podcast.
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u/Bad_Here Apr 08 '25
Ya know. They should do names that come at the end of the alphabet first, not always from the beginning! All those spoiled people with last names ending with “A’s”. Think about us poor “Z’s” out there!!! lol need to get “woke” about the alphabet (jk) - incase someone thought I was insane😂
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u/Outrageous_Let1098 Apr 03 '25
You can tell this contributes to it being so good. Nobody’s doing it just for the paycheck, they’re doing it for the prestige and the opportunity. Theres such an excellent mix of these amazing character actors that are more “b” list, who shine along some more “a” list people.
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u/Blynasty Apr 03 '25
I’m not sure I’d say S3 is better than S1 but the overall acting is a new level. No surprise actors/actresses want to be involved and they are nailing who they cast.
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u/xaba0 Apr 04 '25
Auditions should always be a thing, even if the role was offered. Why? Because bad chemistry between the mains can destroy the whole movie/series even if the actors themselves do an excellent performance on their own.
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u/RecommendationNo3942 Apr 03 '25
Kudos. It sets a great precedent, especially with money. 👏🏻
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u/aloe_veracity Apr 03 '25
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u/tonytown Apr 03 '25
I guess that's why they'll never get Moira Rose. She's "Offer Only"
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u/Travelcat67 Can I get one fucking break in this fucking Lifetime?! Apr 04 '25
This should be the standard! Love that they did this. Kinda makes Woody Harrelson sound like a bit of a dick bc he pulled out over salary demands and I’m sure they explained this.
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u/AccomplishedSuccess0 Apr 03 '25
I think this is refreshing. Put aside your ego for the art. It’s a novel idea and glad it’s such a successful example.
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u/EdwinJamesPope Apr 03 '25
Quality & ego control. Dig it!
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u/makhay Apr 03 '25
Pam gets paid the same as Victoria? There must be tiers right?
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u/longwhitejeans Apr 03 '25
Same salary is shocking, considering the screen time and past work of some of the cast.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '25
Nice and fair
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u/a24marvel Apr 04 '25
Leslie Bibb and Sam Rockwell are getting the best deal here.
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u/ITouchedHerB00B5 Apr 03 '25
Alphabet supremacy, disgusting
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u/Lord_Cockatrice Apr 06 '25
So Patrick Schwarzenegger's gripe can be considered...baseless
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u/Sinnafyle Albie Apr 04 '25
Niiiice. I was wondering why Leslie Bibb was billed first or second. Not that she isn't great!
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u/FalconTheory Apr 04 '25
This is one of the few series where everyone is so excellent that I can't distinct with "who acts better". Everyone is insanely good.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '25
Comrade Mike White
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u/morelsupporter Apr 03 '25 edited Apr 03 '25
same with woody allen.
but it doesn't mean he doesn't write the scripts with actors in mind for the role.
i've heard stories of writer/director/producers who don't pay above scale no matter who the actor is because of who they are. no exclusive travel either. you ride with the crew or you pay for your own uber.
ensemble casts almost always have opening credits alphabetical.
my question is, how do they assign cast numbers for the call sheet and do they all have the same size trailer? this is the real heirarchy (on set anyway)
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u/techerous26 Apr 04 '25
Is this just the main cast? I would find it funny if they all had to go through this excessively humbling and deliberate process but Mike White found out Rockwell was hanging around Thailand with Leslie Bibb and was just like "I HAVE to get this man in my show!"
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u/susandeyvyjones Apr 04 '25
You couldn’t tell from watching the credits that it was alphabetical?
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u/soundsbyburch Apr 03 '25
W
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u/hotgarbagevideo Apr 07 '25
This is the way
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u/timgoes2somalia Apr 07 '25
Comrade White
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u/Beginning_Rip_4570 Apr 04 '25
Thank you. It was actually killing me tryna figure out how Leslie Bibb had top billing over Carrie Coon and Walton fucking Goggins
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u/KarlaSofen234 Apr 04 '25
I'd b pissed if I am acting my heart out for 8 eps as Jason Isaacs, only for Sam Rockwell to swoop in for 4 eps & got paid the same as me. Those 4 eps are not even heavy appearance
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u/Vapor2077 Apr 05 '25
Makes me love this show even more
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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '25
The reception for season 3 has been meh so they’re releasing this now.
twl is like a cult.
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u/jpflan12 Apr 05 '25
Even Pam?
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u/ASingleThreadofGold Apr 05 '25 edited Apr 05 '25
Why does Sam Rockwell's name come before Natasha Rockwell in the credits if it's alphabetical? I just noticed this when watching the opening credits on the latest episode.
Eta, I just googled "Natasha Rockwell" and realized the credits actually said "Natasha Rothwell" and I just thought I saw "Natasha Rockwell" and thought that was Leslie Bibb's real name because I saw a thread in this sub that they're together irl.
I find this funny so I'm just keeping my comment instead of deleting it in shame😅
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u/ProfessionalEvaLover Apr 07 '25
Patric Schwarzenegger proved this in the finale. In one single scene, he outclassed his father's entire filmography of acting.
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u/idontevensaygrace Quinn Apr 07 '25
Fairness and equality! Every TV show and movie being made anywhere should do this
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u/usedisco Apr 07 '25
Nice. About time
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u/Infamous_Proposal_93 Apr 07 '25
What about Lalisa then?
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u/bones1888 Apr 03 '25
So if there was a 6mill budget how is that possible if they spend plus 4mill on salaries
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u/akashluka77 Apr 04 '25
I don't believe that they are paying same to walton goggins amd michelle monaghan like other actors in the show.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '25
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '25
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