Ellen Pompeo Spills On How She Got Her $20 Million ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Paycheck

Typically if you hear something about an actor’s paycheck, a scandal is right around the corner. Either a star demanded an obscene amount of money on a project that was taking a stand (like Mark Wahlberg), was drastically underpaid likely due to their gender, race, or sexuality (like Gal Gadot), or they’re just making so much money, the sheer amount of it is newsworthy. Thankfully, Ellen Pompeo, who has recently been named TV’s $20 million woman, falls into the latter category. Pompeo’s piece in The Hollywood Reporter about negotiating for what she’s worth is a must-read for any working woman.

The first thing that’s striking about the Grey’s Anatomy star’s THR piece is how frank it is. Early on, Pompeo shares what she thought when she first learned that Grey’s Anatomy was a success. “I knew I was fucked,” she said.

Pompeo’s profile paints the story of an aspiring film actress who quietly regretted her widely successful prime-time show. However, as Pompeo worked on Grey’s Anatomy for longer and gained more experience in the industry, she realized that though she was more financially and professionally stable than her female peers, she was still getting the short end of the straw. “These poor girls have no real money, and the studio is making a fortune and parading them like ponies on a red carpet,” Pompeo wrote. “I mean, Faye Dunaway is driving a fuckin’ Prius today. Now, there’s nothing wrong with a Prius, but my point is, she had no financial power. If we’re going to invoke change, that has to be part of it.”

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Grey’s Anatomy is ABC’s No. 2 drama and has 12 million viewers after 300 episodes. According to Pompeo, the series has netted ABC and Disney nearly $3 billion. In turn, the actress’ latest contract means that she will make $20 million a year as well as a signing bonus and two full backend equity points on the show, all of which is estimated to come out to another $6-7 million. This doesn’t include Pompeo’s backend fee for the Grey’s spin-off series or the pilot commitments and office space she has for Calamity Jane production company. Basically, Pompeo re-positioned herself to fight for what she thought she was worth, and she’s worth a lot to both Shonda Rhimes and ABC.

“What happened is that I went to Shonda and I said, ‘If you’re moving on to Netflix and you want the show to go down, I’m cool with that. But if you want it to continue, I need to be incentivized. I need to feel empowered and to feel ownership of this show,'” Pompeo wrote about her negotiation. “And she was like, ‘I absolutely want to keep the show going. It’s the mothership, so let’s find a way to make you happy. What do you want?'”

The actress also laid out in plain detail why the raise was so important to her. “What I said to Shonda is the truth: ‘I don’t get to do anything else, and that’s frustrating for me creatively. I make 24 episodes of TV a year, and as part of this deal, I cannot appear anywhere else. And directing is cool but, to be honest, it just takes me away from my kids,'” she wrote. “Then I said, ‘So, it’s got to be a ton of money. And it has to help me with my producing because producing is something I really enjoy. That’s my creativity now.'”

Ultimately Pompeo expressed contentment with her current professional life. However, in her quest to become a major movie star, she admits she saw the “other path.” According to the actress, she once met with Harvey Weinstein in his hotel room, though he didn’t try anything. “Had he, I’m a little rough around the edges and I grew up around some very tough people, so I probably would have picked up a vase and cracked him over the fucking head,” she wrote. “But I also feel completely comfortable saying that I walked into that room batting the shit out of my eyelashes. My goal in that room was to charm him, as it is in most rooms like that.”

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