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Celebrity pay has been a hot topic this week, thanks in part to an expansive report from Variety about the paychecks that TV stars take home. The report revealed the highest paid dramatic actor (Robert De Niro for his upcoming Amazon series), comedic actors (the Big Bang Theory cast), and hosts (Ellen DeGeneres).
Right behind DeGeneres, though, is Judge Judy host Judy Sheindlin. The TV judge has been banging a gavel during daytime hours since 1996, and Sheindlin currently brings home a whopping $47 million every year for her work. And while stories of female public figures having to fight for equal pay are infuriatingly common, Judge Judy doesn’t have that problem. When it comes to renegotiating her contract, Sheindlin flat out says there is no negotiation. CBS gives her what she wants.
The news comes from the Hollywood Reporter’s coverage of a legal dispute between CBS and the Rebel Entertainment Partners talent agency. Rebel accused CBS of keeping Judge Judy profits from them, and CBS countered that 1. Rebel played no part in the creation or development of the show and 2. the talent agency has been paid for the three Judge Judy producers it represents. Then Sheindlin weighed in via videotaped testimony and she laid down the law.
The no-nonsense TV judge gave a half hour response to Rebel’s accusation that, as Sheindlin put it, “CBS conspired with me to deprive [Rebel president] Mr. [Richard] Lawrence of his backend profit.” There was no conspiracy, because that’s not how Judy interacts with CBS. Here’s how their contract “negotiations” go down, in Sheindlin’s words:
“CBS had no choice but to pay me what I wanted because otherwise I could take it wherever I wanted to take it or do it myself.” She said she meets with CBS every three years to talk money, with Sheindlin armed with an envelope containing what she wants (usually a pay bump for her crew). “[W]e go to the Grill on the Alley with the president of the company. We sit across the table, and I hand him the envelope and I say, ‘Don’t read it now, let’s have a nice dinner. Call me tomorrow. You want it, fine. Otherwise, I’ll produce it myself.’ That’s the negotiation.”
The one person that tried to shake up the process was former CBS TV Distribution president John Nogawski–and that didn’t go well. “John Nogawski came to the meeting at the Grill on the Alley, and I handed him my envelope, and he said, ‘Judy, I have my own envelope.’ And I said, ‘I don’t want to look at it.’ He said, ‘Why not? Maybe it’s more than what’s in your envelope.’ And I said, ‘Well, John, if I look at your envelope, it’s a negotiation. This isn’t a negotiation.’ And he put his envelope away and they gave me what I wanted.”
Sheindlin also gave a blunt explanation for why CBS lets her get her way: “They pay me the money that they do because they have no choice. They can’t find another one. They’ve tried to find another Judy. If they find another Judy, good for them. So far they haven’t.”
And if they ever do find “another Judy”? “I’d take the same people with me that are producing the show now and I’d go and do it myself.”
As if we needed further proof that Judge Judy is not to be trifled with.
(via Vulture)
