The cast of BH90210 are earning surprisingly low salaries in exchange for reprising their roles. The meta take on the popular teen drama has been a record-setting ratings success so far, but the show’s seven stars paychecks are reportedly quite modest when compared to actors on other, similar shows.
BH90210 was officially announced in February. Neither a revival in the conventional sense nor a reboot with new characters, the show follows original Beverly Hills 90210 stars as they reunite in an attempt to sell a reboot. Jeanie Garth, Tori Spelling, Shannen Doherty, Brian Austin Green, Jason Priestly, Ian Ziering, and Gabrielle Carteris all play fictionalized, heightened versions of themselves that tweak their public personas and the well-publicized drama surrounding Doherty is one of the many instances of real events being used as prominent plot points. With plenty of winks to long-time fans and its heartfelt tribute to Luke Perry, the first episode scored big with viewers. It was the highest-rated summer premiere in more than two years as well as the most-streamed summer debut ever for FOX. This makes the cast’s paychecks all the more surprising.
As reported by THR, the seven actors make $70,000 per episode. In total, that adds up to $420,000 for all six episodes. Certain cast members, like Garth and Spelling, earn an additional fee of $15,000 an episode as co-creators. Priestly will make an additional $46,000 due to his involvement in directing one of the episodes. While those numbers are certainly nothing to scoff at, they have come as a bit of a shock to those within the industry. A talent agent who spoke to THR said they believed the salaries would reach six figures.
For comparison’s sake, the cast of Will & Grace were paid $250,000 for the first season of that show’s revival, with an increase of $350,000 for seasons two and three. While it remains to be seen if the interest around BH90210 will hold, the cast have revealed that they’re open to extending the event series into multiple seasons. Speaking on the possibility, Spelling felt assured that there were many more storylines to explore in the future.
If that happens, the cast will be in a good position to negotiate an increase in pay. It would be interesting, as well, to see what an extended run of a meta revival would look like. In season 7 of Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry David urges the cast of Seinfeld to agree to a reunion show for his own characteristically selfish reasons. The season was praised for how cleverly it pulled off a potentially tricky concept. BH90210 is being similarly praised right now and it remains to be seen if it’s a concept that can work in the long-term.
More: 10 Things We Want To See In The Reboot Of 90210
Source: THR
