Monday, July 4, 2011

Episode 105: It Wouldn't Hurt Them to Give Us a Raise

How much were Rob, Sally, and Buddy paid? I found an article about a writers' guild strike in 1960 that seems to indicate that writers of television shows were typically paid between $950 and $1,200 per episode. Let's assume that, after they wangled a raise or two out of Alan Brady, his staff was near the upper end of that range. It's indicated more than once during the series that they're paid by the episode, and are not paid during the off season. Back then, shows had 30+ episodes per year. So Rob and the others would be paid around $35,000 - $40,000 a year. That would equate to more than $250,000 a year today; certainly a nice living (though I'm sure New York then, as now, was more expensive than most parts of the country), but it doesn't compare to TV writers today, who are paid three times as much per episode (adjusted for constant dollars).

This is the second episode in which it's mentioned that the writers' office is on the 28th floor; yet the directory on the wall in the hallway shows office numbers that appear to indicate the sixth floor.

Rob keeps some emergency supplies in the office: An electric razor in the desk, a clean shirt in the file cabinet, and galoshes in the piano bench.
Quotes:
---
Buddy: “This is like you’re Field Marshall Montgomery, and you won the big war in Africa, and when it’s all over you find out that Rommel was gettin’ more money than you!”
Sally: “That’s exactly what it’s like!”
---
Rob: “I see...I see...I see... I see...all right. Thank you, good night, Marvin.”
Laura: “You didn’t see.”
Rob: “Well, Honey, I never see with him!”

No comments:

Post a Comment