[bootlegga]

$1:

After 23 years, 500 episodes and billions of d’oh!’s later, money disputes have shown Fox studio executives ready to pull the plug on their beloved The Simpsons.

The Daily Beast’s Lloyd Grove reports today that a negotiating impasse between studio executives and the actors who voice the Simpsons‘ characters might be end game for the longest running sitcom in the history of broadcasting. Hoping to cut production costs, 20th Century Fox higher-ups have asked the show’s six primary voice actors to accept a 45 percent pay cut, threatening otherwise to end the series for good with the current and 23rd season.

The actors, who currently earn a comfy $8 million for their 22 or so annual weeks of work, proposed a slightly smaller cut in exchange for a small percentage of the show’s back-end profits — “amounting to untold billions” between syndication and merchandising, Grove reports. The show’s creators, James L. Brooks and Matt Groening, have and will continue to see revenue from the show; the actors, meanwhile, argue that they will receive little more than their union-mandated residuals when all is said and done. You might not notice the dearth of new episodes, but they certainly will.

“The show has made billions in profits over the years and will continue to do so as far as the eye can see down the road. The actors are willing to take a pay cut of roughly a third, but that’s not good enough for Fox,” explain a Simpon‘s insider quoted in Grove’s piece. “Now Fox is basically saying, ‘If you don’t take this deal, we’ll shut down the show,’ and they’ll continue to make a ton of money. They’re free to sell it to cable and a second round of syndication, and they figure that the cast has very little leverage.”

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/after-23-yea ... g-its-end/

[Newsbot]

Title: Money Dispute May End 'Simpsons'
Category: Showbiz
Posted By: Scape
Date: 2011-10-04 09:01:52

[DrCaleb]

Wow. Multimillionaires discussion how to carve up billions. I think sympathy is in the dictionary between 'shit' and 'syphilius'.

[Guy_Fawkes]

Bah I have stopped watching the show many moons ago, I wont miss it if it gets cancelled.

[DrCaleb]

Guy_Fawkes Guy_Fawkes:

Bah I have stopped watching the show many moons ago, I wont miss it if it gets cancelled.

Ditto. I think I tuned out around the time Ned's wife was 'killed'.

[Guy_Fawkes]

That was about the same time for me as well.

[Bacardi4206]

I'd miss it, still a great show. Still, people who make 8 million for 22weeks work barking about wanting more money has no sympathy from me.

[Dragon-Dancer]

Once a great show but long since past it's best before date by now.

[Tricks]

Bacardi4206 Bacardi4206:

I'd miss it, still a great show. Still, people who make 8 million for 22weeks work barking about wanting more money has no sympathy from me.

$1:

The actors are willing to take a pay cut of roughly a third, but that’s not good enough for Fox.”

Derp.

[Prof_Chomsky]

Bacardi4206 Bacardi4206:

I'd miss it, still a great show. Still, people who make 8 million for 22weeks work barking about wanting more money has no sympathy from me.

Tom Hanks put it best when he said he felt guilty about the amount of money he made for doing essentially nothing, but said what am I supposed to do, take less pay so the likes of Rupert Murdoch could make even more?

[Thanos]

Good riddance. The show hasn't even been funny since about 1997 anyway.

[bootlegga]

Prof_Chomsky Prof_Chomsky:

Bacardi4206 Bacardi4206:

I'd miss it, still a great show. Still, people who make 8 million for 22weeks work barking about wanting more money has no sympathy from me.

Tom Hanks put it best when he said he felt guilty about the amount of money he made for doing essentially nothing, but said what am I supposed to do, take less pay so the likes of Rupert Murdoch could make even more?

[desertdude]

Its think its time to let it die, it was a pioneer and trend setter of its time, but its death has been long overdue.

[BartSimpson]

Reminds me of Family Guy. FOX screwed that one up, too.

[Bacardi4206]

Tricks Tricks:

Bacardi4206 Bacardi4206:

I'd miss it, still a great show. Still, people who make 8 million for 22weeks work barking about wanting more money has no sympathy from me.

$1:

The actors are willing to take a pay cut of roughly a third, but that’s not good enough for Fox.”

Derp.

"The actors, who currently earn a comfy $8 million for their 22 or so annual weeks of work, proposed a slightly smaller cut in exchange for a small percentage of the show’s back-end profits — “amounting to untold billions” between syndication and merchandising, Grove reports. "

Double derp? There only comfortable with that paycheck because they were asking for the back-end profits from all the merchandising.