Fox Executives Face Simpsons Voice-Off
Barely a week after claiming it could remain on air for many years to come, staff involved with long-standing animated comedy The Simpsons are having to deny rumours that they could shut down.
The rumours are circulating from reports that production company 20th Century Fox are in dispute with the show’s voice actors.
As part of a cost-cutting measure, the studio are said to have demanded that the six main voice actors (Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer) take a 45% cut in their salary (which is thought to be around $400,000 per episode (each) from a deal made in 2008) or they will stop producing new episodes for the series, which is currently in its 23rd season on the Fox Network.
While the negotiations are not quite at the ultimatum stage, the regular cast are said to have offered to take on a 30% pay cut (which would leave them each on $280,000 per episode) with the clause that they receive a small percentage of the show’s ‘back-end earnings’.
20th Century Fox remained diplomatic when they issued a public statement on the matter yesterday, reading: “23 seasons in, The Simpsons is as creatively vibrant as ever and beloved by millions around the world. We believe this brilliant series can and should continue, but we cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model. We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows The Simpsons to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes for many years to come.”
While fans of the Fox show, which has been on air since December 1989, will not need to worry about the present, with 20 episodes of the current season still scheduled to air in the coming months (including a groundbreaking 500th episode special), it is future series that will be a worrying prospect. Could a debate over salaries put an end to one of TV’s most iconic shows?
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[...] host network Fox, who’s 20th Century Fox production label (and their plans for cutbacks) initiated the stand-off with the cast of the show, did not reveal what was agreed on between the two parties, they did announce the [...]