Female movie stars and equal pay investigation (1 Viewer)

The Military Workshop

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
Messages
4,778
Been a bit of talk about this recently but interesting article from Daily Mail. Seems to be a waste of Government money going on. Thanks Jennifer and Meryl^&grin

Federal investigation into Hollywood sexism begins after Sony email leaks reveal that women A-listers get less than their male co-stars
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has federal powers to enforce discrimination laws, is quizzing female stars
It raises the prospect of class action lawsuit again Hollywood executives if widespread gender discrimination is uncovered
The Sony emails revealed Jennifer Lawrence was paid less for her work on American Hustle than her male counterparts
Charlize Theron recently revealed she had to convince the producers of The Huntsman to pay her same as co-star Chris Hemsworth
Meryl Streep and Emma Watson have also spoken out on the issue.

Some of the examples given :

Lawrence got seven per cent of the profits for American Hustle while the male stars - including Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper - got nine per cent. - my opinion is Bale and Cooper bigger stars than her at that point. 7 per cent still very good and she is probably at least 10 years younger than Cooper.
She will reportedly get £12.7million ($19.5million) for her forthcoming film Passengers - whilst co-star Chris Pratt will earn between £6.3m - £6.9m ($9.5m - $10.5m). my opinion is she is bigger star than him so should get more.

Meanwhile, Charlize Theron recently revealed that she had to convince the producers of Snow White And The Huntsman to pay her £6.6 million ($10m) - as they were giving co-star Chris Hemsworth the same. My opinion, she probably had a good point.

For myself there is no female star that I consider a draw card that can get me to pay to watch a movie. Lawrence when I saw Hustle was pretty much unknown to me. Meryl Streep is a brilliant actress and she is at the forefront of the equal pay campaign. However the reality is she has done very few blockbusters which is where the male actors make the big money. Last movie of hers I watched in the cinema was Its Complicated and if she got paid more than Alec Baldwin that would be fair. Not checked her box office but I am guessing Mama Mia and Devil Wears Prada would be her biggest in past ten years and they cant equate to some of the hits some of the male actors feature in.

If the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission want to save some money they should look at recent reports by Forbes where the following info extracted from. Lawrence made more in the last year ($52m) than all male stars except Downey and she is half her own.

Jennifer Lawrence may have been made famous by The Hunger Games, but she’s certainly not short of bread: The 25-year-old banked $52 million pre-tax over 12 months to be the best paid actress–$16.5 million more than second-ranked Scarlett Johansson, who earned $35.5 million. Melissa McCarthy, ranked third with $23 million, is the only other actress to bank over $20 million in our scoring period.

Top women can earn between $10 million to $20 million a film with the option to negotiate a share of the movie’s profits, but Lawrence’s Hunger Games is one of few major movies with a woman as its main character. In fact, a recent study found that just 21 of the 100 top-grossing films of 2014 featured a female lead or co-lead, while only 28.1% of characters in 100 top-grossing films were female, period. This means it’s much rarer for women to get the sort of blockbuster role which would warrant the massive backend deals many male counterparts demand (Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible or Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, for example).

For the first time ever, the ranking examined the world’s highest-paid leading ladies to create a truly global list of actress earnings. Despite the broader valuations, only one non-American made the list: Chinese actress Bingbing Fan, who ranked No. 4 with a $21 million haul. Fan, who joins the ranking thanks to roles in movies such as The White-Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom and endorsements with Chopard and L’Oreal, is likely best-known to U.S. cinema-goers for her role in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Top male actors by pay are Robert Downey, Jackie Chan{eek3}, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Adam Sandler ({sm3}, Tom Cruise, Mark Wahlberg and three Indian actors make up top 10.

For me directors are a drawcard and anything by Ridley Scott or Martin Scorcese is good enough for me.

Reminds me a bit of the tennis. The female players campaigned to get equal pay and ended up getting same pay as the guys but for only best of 3 sets not 5{sm2}. What was Lawrences onscreen time compared to the guys in Hustle ?

They can cancel the investigation now^&grin.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalie...5-robert-downey-jr-leads-with-80-million-haul
http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalie...-2015-jennifer-lawrence-leads-with-52-million
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...veal-list-stars-male-stars.html#ixzz3o92e2P3l
 
If someone wants to pay me $20 million plus I'll have a sex change......:tongue:{sm3}
Wayne.
 
Why not pay all of them an hourly rate of pay, regardless of gender - you know - like all the rest of us. (well, most of us).

How about 100 bucks an hour - that sounds pretty good, for what they actually have to do?

They do have "Agents" - don't they?(or so I've heard)? Presumably they negotiate their contracts - and then - the lovies sign them - or not???

Presumably, if they have signed a contract - they are satisfied with the arrangements therin?? jb

What a load of hollyhocks.
 
Last edited:
Minor correction where missed a few words. Lawrence half Downey's age.

For the record Steep 13 on list of women at $8m.
 
This story still getting a lot of attention online and simply amazing Lawrence becoming the poster girl for unfair pay for women. Worst example ever.

Based on actual American Hustle screen time, Lawrence was overpaid compared to Bale, Cooper and Adams. Bale was on screen for three times as long and the Cooper and Adams for double her time. Her complaints about equal pay on this movie are a joke if it is actually based on the work done. Surely any article on this subject should cover this point but not seen any mention it.

Quote from Jay Cassidy, one of the editors of American Hustle:

"Christian Bale actually has 60 minutes of screen to Amy Adams’s 46 minutes, a significant difference even in an ensemble movie. Among their supporting category counterparts, Bradley Cooper’s 41 screen minutes double Jennifer Lawrence’s 20".

She got 7% and Bale 9% but based on per minute screen time she got far more than double his pay.

Her comment "I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d*cks" is offensive to the acting background of the three male stars. Imagine if Chris Pratt said something about her pay in Passengers in a similar manner but using boobs.

Reality check. Lawrence in American Hustle is worst example of actress unequal pay and Bale, Cooper and Adams could rightly point out Lawrence got very well paid for her time compared to them

Not sure of amounts they got but better cases where equal pay would be justifed would be movies like Fury Road (ie. Theron and Hardy) or Its Complicated with Streep and Baldwin.
 
She needs a better agent.


BUT - How do you define "A Better Agent"???

Better than what?? A Poor Agent? = so how do you define that??

Hopefully this pool of "Agents" reflect differences in the Agent Populations? Are there equal proportions of Male Agents to Female Agents? Are racial characteristics taken into consideration?? Are there any Age/ experience related issues? Are they all paid the same??

If you want to give one of these Agents the sack - why? and are you likely to be sued for wrongful dismissal??

As with any other profession, leading actors and actresses , lower paid movie extras, Agents of both sexes, Doctors and nurses, Window cleaners........... etcetera - there are better ones than others - and regardless of any other characteristic, such as gender - the only variable that should be taken into consideration when payment comes into question, in my opinion is:

HOW GOOD ARE THEY AT WHAT THEY DO?

I think such questions expose the ridiculousness of the original argument by some of the most fortunate (in monetary terms) people in our Society - and just indicate how out of touch some of these people can get with reality.

Just my opinion. jb
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top