“Facing declining cinema audiences, Hollywood is trying to persuade its top actors to set an example by cutting back a lucrative arrangement known as ‘first dollar’, under which the director, producer and stars receive a share of a film’s box office take regardless of whether the studio has covered its filming costs.”
Apparently, this is going to impact some of Hollywood’s top stars:
“No actors will publicly admit that they have lowered their price but industry reports suggest that [Tom] Hanks is not alone. Cameron Diaz, who is second only to Julia Roberts in the female stars’ pay scale but still earns on average half a top male star’s salary, is said to have agreed to forgo her ‘first dollar’ deal to star in a romantic comedy called Holiday.”
This makes one wonder if there is going to be a groundswell of support from Hollywood to extend the president’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. After all, how are people like Diaz going to make ends meet receiving a paltry $10 million for two months work?
