Bull has not yet been ordered to series, so there's no telling if Weatherly will continue raking in the big bucks. Since the series airs on HBO -- and since Johnson draws in a big audience -- the premium network pays him a salary of $400,000 per episode, which accumulates to $4 million per season. The future looks bright for executive producers, which is no surprise given that the expansion of networks and streaming services means heavy demand for content. House of Cards put Netflix on the map in terms of being a legitimate source of original content when it premiered in 2013. In fact, in the 2012-13 TV season, the series was the most-watched program on the small screen, beating out ratings giants like Americal Idol and Sunday Night Football for the top spot. Salaries estimates are based on 98 salaries submitted anonymously to Glassdoor by Executive Producer employees in Los Angeles, CA. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Kit Harington (Jon Snow), Lena Heady (Cersei Lannister), and Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister) each earn a plentiful $500,000 per episode, which may account for the uptick in each episode's production budget in season six. Series creators Chuck Lorre (Two & A Half Men, Grace Under Fire) and Bill Prady (Gilmore Girls, The Muppets) retooled the show a number of times until they found the right formula with four geeky male scientists and one female aspiring actress who lives next door. On a TV show, the EP is also often referred to as the showrunner. The introductory comments on the TV spreadsheet call it a “good faith project,” and note that “people in industry are fully aware that experience, leverage, etc etc factor into pay — this is still helpful to many of us to cross-check.” Transparency about pay is often cited a positive thing for workers, especially for marginalized employees in industries that struggle hugely with diversity. There is a huge range of salaries in the spreadsheet, which has more than 100 entries on the “staff writers” page alone, but there does seem to be at least some disparity in pay. He joined the team as a freelancer back in 2016 and somehow managed to fail upwards. The average salary jumps dramatically when the EP gets more experience. Unlike many stars, though, he didn't take much of a break before returning to TV. Although the series only airs 13 episodes per season, to put the salary into perspective, that's quite a bit more than the average broadcast TV series star could ever hope to earn. Despite 24 returning to television next year, Kiefer Sutherland has opted not to reprise his role for the third time and has instead decided to move forward with a new TV series -- Designated Survivor. Shortly after that, he reprised his role of Jack Bauer in 2014, in the limited sequel series, 24: Live Another Day. Of all the shows on this list, House of Cards can be considered the most revolutionary -- not for its content, necessarily, but for the network it airs on. Those first two stars, however, will receive the bulk of the salary budget, for they are not only executive producers for the series, but also its two leading stars, playing Celeste Wright and Madeline Martha Mackenzie, respectively. TV writers are sharing their salaries in a Google spreadsheet to combat pay disparity, PC gaming mice from Logitech and Razer are steeply discounted today, Plus, save $30 on a two-pack of Nest Audio speakers, If you buy a OnePlus 8T, you can get half off a second phone today only, A great deal if you are looking to gift some phones this holiday season, Sign up for the As previously mentioned, Netflix is showing no signs of slowing down in regards to original content. Honestly, the series wouldn't be what it is without her, and that is why she's paid an estimated $450,000 per episode by NBC. It's also common to see actors become EPs of their own shows or movie franchises, both for the prestige of having the title and because that position allows them the power to make big decisions about things like scripts and casting. Sound off in the comments. The road to getting The Big Bang Theory on the air was an arduous one. The new show is set to star Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant as Sheila and Joel, respectively, a married couple who work together as real estate agents in Santa Clarita, CA. Workingmother.com is part of the Working Mother Network, a division of Bonnier Corporation. Directors of hourlong dramas make about $42,000 an episode; sitcom directors earn $35,000. The spreadsheet is broken down by type of job (staff writer versus assistant versus executive), with columns for position or title, studio, network, amount of experience, and whether a person identifies as a man or a woman, or a person of color. The critically acclaimed political drama received an astonishing nine Emmy Award nominations for its first season -- a first for an online streaming service. The median salary for producers and directors in the motion picture industry is $92,011, meaning half of producers earn more than that and half earn less. But on big-budget productions like feature films and network TV shows, EPs can earn significantly more. Times have changed, and actors and actresses on the small screen are now making far more than audiences probably expect. Nowadays, TV actors and actresses make just as much, if not more, than their big screen counterparts. House of Cards is a politically-charged show by nature, but it's Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright's outstanding performances that allow the series to push boundaries. The change could be due to television's increased production quality, limited episodic commitments, or increased salaries. Nowadays, an actor or actress can be seen in both movie and TV roles at the same time. Here are the highest paid actors on television. Netflix has been on a roll recently with a slew of hit science-fiction TV shows and movies, such as Sense8, ARQ, and of course, Stranger Things. Her work has appeared on sites including TheBump, Working Mother and Mamapedia. Although a handful of cast members (such as Ice-T and Richard Belzer) have been around for the bulk of the series, Mariska Hargitay is the only series regular that's been around since the very beginning. While that number is the lowest on our list, it's substantially higher than what most actors earn per episode, even on broadcast television. For EPs working on smaller productions or for local news stations, salaries start out on the low end of the spectrum. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2008, the median salary for producers was $85,940. For example, a woman of color who is a co-producer on a CBS show says she makes $10,000 per episode, while a white woman who is a co-producer on a CBS show says she makes $14,000 per episode, and a white male co-producer at CBS makes $16,000 per episode. But since Spacey is considered the face of the franchise, he tends to receive a higher paying salary -- $500,000 per episode. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy. $10,000 depending on the project. They're not necessarily the ultimate decision-maker, though. When Gillian Anderson returned for new episodes of the X-Files in 2016, she reported that she had initially been offered only half the pay of her co-star, David Duchovny. It should come as no surprise that The Simpsons and the actors that voice the characters are on this list. Given the results of those two collaborations, it makes sense that they would work together again. In essence, an executive producer—often called the EP—is the big boss of a movie, TV show or other production. Which of television's brightest stars do you think are overpaid? By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. The go-to source for comic book and superhero movie fans. In the motion picture industry, an executive producer secures at least 25 percent of the film's budget. Which entry surprised you the most? TV DIRECTOR $25K-$42K AN EPISODE. After taking some time off, Sutherland returned to the small screen in the short-lived series Touch. Grey's Anatomy made headlines last year when Patrick Dempsey, who played Dr. Derek Shepherd for 11 seasons, was suddenly killed off. The spreadsheet is divided by position, experience, and gender. The streaming service isn't looking to stop anytime soon, for they have ordered ten episodes of Altered Carbon, an adaptation of Richard K. Morgan's novel of the same name, created by Laeta Kalogridis. But unlike the other three spinoff shows that comprise the Law & Order franchise, the Special Victims Unit series is the only one that is still on the air -- and that has a lot to do with the series' main star, Mariska Hargitay, who plays Lieutenant Olivia Benson. 3 NCIS - Mark Harmon ($525,000) Still, because there’s no mention of which shows they work for, it’s difficult to make exact comparisons. Mansoor is the lead features editor at Screen Rant. Earlier this week, THR reported that Michelle Williams made $625,000 for Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World while her costar Mark Wahlberg made $5 million. But judging by the series' record-breaking premiere, Designated Survivor is off to a great start. The first two seasons of Showtime's Homeland -- based on the Israeli TV series Prisoners of War by Gideon Raff -- received universal acclaim and even garnered multiple Emmy Award and Golden Globe wins for best Drama Series and Best Actor. And now, two seasons after his exit, only four of the original cast members are left, including Ellen Pompeo, who plays the series' titular character, Meredith Grey. The Boys: Which Avatar Element Would Each Main Character Bend? The network cast Weatherly in the leading role of their new series, Bull, a comedy-drama inspired by the early days of Phil McGraw's famed talk show, Dr. Phil. Despite criticism that the show's quality has declined in recent years, The Simpsons has shown no signs of slowing down. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Both Jonah Hill and Emma Stone are stars in their own right, which is why the streaming service is paying them each a substantial sum of $350,000 per episode to star in the new series. Although the first few seasons of The Big Bang Theory remained low in the ratings, the CBS series has since grown exponentially, continually raking in an average of over 18 million viewers per episode. Most Hollywood executive producers earn six-figure salaries per project, and some make more than $1 million per project. TV writers, producers, executives, and assistants have been anonymously sharing their salaries in a widely circulated Google spreadsheet this week as part of an effort to help people working in the entertainment industry achieve pay parity, The Hollywood Reporter reports. That's what happened for Shonda Rhimes, whose first EP position was on "Grey's Anatomy," the first show she created.