Apart from its colossal success, FRIENDS also established a new salary standard among television actors, elevating their status to that of film stars. For seasons 9 and 10 of one of the greatest TV shows of all time, all six cast members were each earning $1 million per episode. However, this wasn’t always the case. In the show’s second season, the cast’s salaries were determined by their popularity, with Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer earning more than their co-stars.
Bot Aniston and Schwimmer opposed this unequal pay structure and, together with the rest of the cast, took a stand against the studio. They even threatened not to show up for further episodes, until eventually the studio conceded to their demands.
Also Read: Jennifer Aniston Strongly Denied Cheating on Brad Pitt With Her FRIENDS Co-star on the Set
Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer Once Earned More Than Their FRIENDS Co-Stars
In an interview with RadioTimes, Jennifer Aniston revealed that she was not happy with the initial pay gaps within the FRIENDS cast. When the sitcom first aired, each cast member was earning a meager $22,500 per episode, according to Parade. However, as the Rachel and Ross story arc, played by Aniston and David Schwimmer, became a fan favorite, these two actors were paid more than the others when they entered the second season.
Aniston shared that none of the cast members were happy when these pay gaps came to light. According to her, all actors contributed equally to the show’s success, despite the ‘popularity’ levels of some characters, and as such, they all deserved equal pay. The Murder Mystery actress shared with Radio Times (via NME):
“I’m aware that I have had a pretty easy time in terms of my experience in the business. But even back on Friends, it wasn’t so much about women being paid the same as men – some of the women were being paid more. It was more about, ‘We’re doing equal work and we all deserve to be compensated in the same way.’ I wouldn’t feel good going to work knowing someone was getting x amount and I was getting something greater.”
The disparity in salaries during the show’s second season strained relations between the actors and the studio. The six actors decided to negotiate their contracts as a group to ensure they were getting the same amount. In 1996, The New York Times reported that the group threatened “not to show up for the taping of the new season’s shows” unless the issue was sorted.
While season three saw each actor getting paid an equal amount of $75,000 per episode, this pay parity was reached by cutting down the salaries of Schwimmer and Aniston.
How Much Did The FRIENDS Cast Earn From The Sitcom?
According to Parade, the FRIENDS cast progressively received raises in their per-episode salaries from seasons one to six. From seasons four and six, the per-episode salaries of each actor increased from $85,000 to $100,000 and then to $125,000. However, ratings boomed during this period, prompting the studio to generously raise their salaries from $125,000 to a staggering $750,000 per episode for seasons 7 and 8.
By the time seasons 9 and 10 rolled around, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, and Lisa Kudrow were the highest-paid actresses on television, with each cast member earning $1 million per episode. Aniston continues to hold that position with her reported $2 million per episode deal for The Morning Show. The FRIENDS actors have since defended their record salaries. During an interview with HuffPost, Matt LeBlanc was asked whether they were worth it, to which he responded:
“Were we worth $1 million? To me, that’s such a strange question. It’s like, well, that’s irrelevant. Are you worth it? How do you put a price on how funny something is? We were in a position to get it. [..] If you’re in a position to get a raise and you don’t get it, you’re stupid. You know what I mean? We were in a position and we were able to pull it off. ‘Worth it’ has nothing to do with it.”
All six actors were reportedly paid $2.5 million to return for FRIENDS: The Reunion. Interestingly, FRIENDS continues to bring in nearly $1 billion per year in revenue for Warner Bros., with each actor receiving 2 percent of this revenue. FRIENDS is now available for streaming on Max.
