The NBC comedy “Friends” followed the lives of six friends as they navigated their 20s and later 30s while living in New York City for ten seasons, from 1994 to 2004. In addition to former rich girl Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), perfectionist chef Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), eccentric masseuse Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), adoring actor Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), sarcastic Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), and palaeontologist Ross Geller, the cast’s most recognisable members are of course.
“Friends” continued to be quite successful even after it ended in 2004 thanks in large part to streaming services like Netflix and, as of late, HBO Max. And not only has the program’s substance, like memorable sequences like Ross and Rachel’s first kiss and the friends’ impromptu quiz show, become etched in the public’s memory, but particular behind-the-scenes details about the show have also come to light. For instance, it is well known that the primary cast of “Friends” earned a sizable sum of money.
Who made how much money during the entire run of “Friends,” including Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry, and Schwimmer, for those who were interested?
The Friends cast worked their way up to one million per episode
According to Business Insider, all six of the “Friends” cast members were earning $22,500 each episode at the beginning of their careers. In the second season, the pay for the cast members varied from $22,500 to $40,000 per episode. Because the developing romance between Ross and Rachel occupied such a large portion of the early seasons, it was rumoured that Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer were earning more than their fellow cast members. But starting with Season 3, all six cast members started working together to negotiate salaries that were equitable for everyone. Thus, each of the six earned $75,000 every episode in Season 3.
For Season 4, $100,000 for Season 5, and $125,000 for Season 6, the cast members’ episode pay increased to $85,000. Each cast member received a raise for the following two seasons, earning an additional $750,000 for each episode in Seasons 7 and 8. Finally, during the final two seasons of “Friends,” all six actors received one million dollars every episode. Syndication earnings were also split among the cast starting in 2000, according to The New York Times.
It’s a little difficult to imagine how much money each star made during the 10 seasons. After all, the 10th season’s cast members collectively earned $22 million.
The stars also got a big paycheck for the reunion special
The “Friends” cast reunited in May 2021 for the HBO Max special “Friends: The Reunion,” which was hosted by James Corden and executive produced by Marta Kauffman and David Crane, Kevin S. Bright, and the sitcom’s producers.
During the reunion, the cast spoke about their time on the program, the creators discussed the casting and development process, and well-known sequences from the series were acted out. Both the six cast members and the show’s audience found it to be a really thrilling presentation. Even though they were really happy to see one another again and talk about their time on the legendary show, they were also motivated by a sizable salary.
Each member of the central cast received around $2.5 million, according to Variety, for taking part in the reunion special. The reunion special, if it qualifies as a “episode,” would be the cast’s final salary increase, increasing their compensation from the one million per episode of Seasons 9 and 10 to a very high $2.5 million.
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