Generations pays actors well above industry rates

Johannesburg - The 16 actors sacked by Generations last week are right: they earn peanuts – but only if you compare them with their global counterparts. Here at home, they earn well above industry rates, City Press reports.

The SA Guild of Actors’ suggested minimum monthly rate guideline for 2013/14 is:

- R20 000 for a junior actor – Generations pays an average of R40 000;

- R25 000 for an intermediate actor – Generations pays an average of R55 000; and

- R35 000 for an experienced actor – Generations pays an average of R80 000.

These rates, the guild said, were agreed on for a 12-hour day and a 60-hour week. MMSV Productions, which produces Generations, gave its figures as average salaries in each tier.

The highest-paid TV actors in the world, according to TV Guide’s list for 2014, are:

- Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco and Johnny Galecki in The Big Bang Theory – $1m (R10.7m) per episode;

- Mark Harmon in NCIS – $525 000;

- Kevin Spacey in House of Cards – $500 000; and

- Mariska Hargitay in Law & Order: SVU – $400 000.