Tweet
Arrested Development Stars Are Demanding More Money After Season 4 "Remix"
The fifth season of the cult comedy Arrested Development is set to hit Netflix later this month, and in advance of that, a "remixed" version of Season 4 arrived on the streaming service last week. The new version reworked the structure of the entire season and reedited the 15 longer episodes into 22 shorter ones. But while fans might be happy with this new version, it seems the cast of the show are not.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, several of Arrested Development's main actors are looking for additional compensation following the decision to reedit Season 4. The site states that Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, and David Cross are among the stars who feel that because they were paid for specific episodes, their salaries should be adjusted to account for the changes made by creator Mitchell Hurwitz and producer 20th Century Fox.
The key issue is that the structure of Season 4 was very different to previous seasons. Because of scheduling issues, each episode focused on a separate character rather than cutting between the entire cast. The cast's pay scale reflected this, with most members paid $100,000 each for their stand-alone episodes, $50,000 for each installment where they had a little screen time, and another $25,000 for ones in which they barely appeared.
The recut version changes this, with every actor appearing in every episode as they did in Seasons 1-3. With Fox set to benefit financially from syndication sales of the reedited season once it regains the rights from Netflix, the cast clearly feel that they are also owed some compensation. However, THR states that Fox is pushing back against the cast's demands, arguing that it has the right to reedit the existing episodes. To date, neither Fox or the cast members have commented on THR's story.
Arrested Development Season 5 hits Netflix on May 29.
More...
According to The Hollywood Reporter, several of Arrested Development's main actors are looking for additional compensation following the decision to reedit Season 4. The site states that Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Michael Cera, and David Cross are among the stars who feel that because they were paid for specific episodes, their salaries should be adjusted to account for the changes made by creator Mitchell Hurwitz and producer 20th Century Fox.
The key issue is that the structure of Season 4 was very different to previous seasons. Because of scheduling issues, each episode focused on a separate character rather than cutting between the entire cast. The cast's pay scale reflected this, with most members paid $100,000 each for their stand-alone episodes, $50,000 for each installment where they had a little screen time, and another $25,000 for ones in which they barely appeared.
The recut version changes this, with every actor appearing in every episode as they did in Seasons 1-3. With Fox set to benefit financially from syndication sales of the reedited season once it regains the rights from Netflix, the cast clearly feel that they are also owed some compensation. However, THR states that Fox is pushing back against the cast's demands, arguing that it has the right to reedit the existing episodes. To date, neither Fox or the cast members have commented on THR's story.
Arrested Development Season 5 hits Netflix on May 29.
More...