$500,000 a week :
- Lin-Manuel Miranda. Salary: $6.4 million per year. Run: January 2015 to July 2016. The New …
- Phillipa Soo. Salary: At least $18,400 per week. Run: January 2015 to July 2016. Salaries for …
- Leslie Odom Jr. Salary: At least $18,400 per week. Run: January 2015 to August 2016. …
- Renée Elise Goldsberry. Salary: At least $18,400 per week. Run: January 2015 to …
- Daveed Diggs. Salary: At least $18,400 per week. Run: January 2015 to August 2016. Diggs …
- Okieriete Onaodowan. Salary: At least $18,400 per week. Run: January 2015 to December …
- Anthony Ramos. Salary: At least $18,400 per week. Run: January 2015 to November 2016. …
- Jasmine Cephas Jones. Salary: At least $18,400 per week. Run: January 2015 to December …
The actors in the Chicago show are being paid at least $1,974 a week starting next week. More Hamilton shows are set to open next year—a Los Angeles production in August, a national tour in March, and a London production in October.
Lead actors can also expect to see a salary bump of $500 a week when a play is nominated for a Tony (“Hamilton” got 16 nods for Broadway’s highest honors). That would increase their annual salary to a minimum of $116,300. If “Hamilton” wins a Tony on Sunday, as it’s favored to do, the lead actors could see a pay increase of $1,000 a week.
The agreement means that actors will have a piece of “the profit stream from the play,” Ronald H. Shechtman, a leading labor lawyer in the theater industry who represented the “Hamilton” performers, said in a statement.
So far, they are looking at at least $31 million per year. The show’s producers, Jeffrey Seller, Jill Furman, and Sander Jacobs will split 42 percent of the net profits, or about $13 million per year. They’re also entitled to 3 percent of the adjusted gross from Hamilton for a total of about $2.7 million annually.
How much did Hamilton make in a week?
Now let’s talk money: In November 2016, Hamilton broke a box office record for the most money grossed in a single week in New York City after it made $3.3 million for an eight-show week and became the first Broadway show to break $3 million in eight performances, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the show’s creators and actors made big bucks in the show’s heyday.
As the sole writer of the music, lyrics and book for the musical, Miranda receives a 7 percent cut from the average $1.5 million Hamilton makes each week, according to The Hollywood Reporter. This amounts to $105,000 a week from royalties. That number increased by 0.5 percent when the show was 110 percent recouped.
Image: Matt Baron/Shutterstock. The New York Times reported in 2016 that Miranda, who played Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, made around $6.4 million from Hamilton. As the sole writer of the music, lyrics and book for the musical, Miranda receives a 7 percent cut from the average $1.5 million Hamilton makes each week, …
That said, there is confirmation that each main cast member made at least $3,400 a week for their actors’ salaries (and even more after a crucial deal was signed.) According to The New York Times, Broadway actors make a union-mandated minimum of $1,900 a week, which would amount to $116,300 a year. That weekly number goes up by $500 if a show is nominated for a Tony (like Hamilton was.) That number goes up another $1,000 if a show wins a Tony (like Hamilton did in 2016), which means that each cast member made at least $3,400 a week or $130,300 a year. Of course, that’s just their actor’s salary. Bloomberg reported in 2016 that 22 original cast members from Hamilton also unionized to receive 1 percent of the net profits from the New York show and 0.33 percent from the profits of Hamilton Chicago and other U.S. shows. Given that Hamilton made an average of $1,500,000 million per week in its first year, this would pay the actors $18,400 per week from New York alone.
For those who don’t know what Hamilton is, let us explain it to you: Hamilton: An American Musical is a Broadway musical inspired by American history that premiered in January 2015.
Odom Jr. played United States Vice President Aaron Burr. He won a Tony for Outstanding Actor in a Musical for the role. Odom Jr. was also included in the 22 original cast members who sent letters to the show’s producers asking for more money. Per the emails Bloomberg obtained, Odom Jr. was one of the leaders of the effort for the original cast to be paid more once Hamilton became a success. He also emailed the cast to tell them not to take Sellers’ lump sum offer. “There is NO counter offer that we should accept under ANY circumstances,” he wrote in an email, according to Bloomberg. “I’ve re-spoken with 3 original company members from Book of Mormon today. … There is no guarantee that our royalties will be the same as theirs. But if they’re even close … this is ground worth standing.”
Diggs was one of the Hamilton 22, according to Bloomberg. “This letter is brilliant,” he wrote to his cast, according to Bloomberg’s obtained emails, after the first letter was sent to the show’s producers.
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How much does Jeffrey Seller get from Hamilton?
They’re also entitled to 3 percent of the adjusted gross from Hamilton for a total of about $2.7 million annually. While it’s unclear how they are dividing their shares, it’s likely that Seller, the lead producer who’s production company, Adventureland, is entitled to an additional 5 percent, is reaping the biggest financial awards.
The list of Hamilton backers has not been made public, but the New York Times reports that Robert Greenblatt, the NBC Entertainment chairman, and power publicist Ken Sunshine, are two of the savvy investors.
Miranda, the show’s creator and star, is getting at least $6.4 million per year. Right now, he gets a base salary (an undisclosed amount) and authorship royalties and profits. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Miranda receives a 7% cut of royalties, which totals $105,000 in a typical week.
Although the Hamilton star will lose his salary when he leaves the show (maybe as early as this summer), his earnings are actually expected to grow as the show goes on tour.
Why did the cast of Hamilton have a special meeting?
Three days after the deal was announced, the cast’s union scheduled a special meeting to field the flood of actors who felt they deserved similar contracts for their work in other shows. The Public postponed a new musical that couldn’t reach an agreement with its cast. The Hamilton victory was a bell that could not be unrung.
How the “Hamilton” Cast Got Broadway’s Best Deal. Leslie Odom Jr., who won a Tony for his portrayal of Aaron Burr, in Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York, July 11, 2015.
Diggs wrote in an e-mail to his cast mates: “This letter is brilliant.”. Given the stakes, it better have been. Hamilton had been on Broadway just a few weeks, but its longevity had been evident since its sold-out, thrice-extended Off-Broadway run at New York’s Public Theater. E
arning rave after rave, it would go on to win 11 Tonys, a Grammy, …
But in addition to the 1 percent of net profits from New York, all 22 will now share in 0.33 percent of the net profits from Chicago and all other U.S. productions, except Broadway and future revivals.
Miranda has said to expect them in Chicago. Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller accepts the Tony for best musical on June 12. Still, the cast’s e-mail discussions grew tense and terse, as they worried they were being unappreciated at best, swindled at worst.
In an email, Hamilton publicist Sam Rudy disputed the timeline of events depicted in the cast members’ correspondence but declined to elaborate. He said Seller declined to comment. The cast of Hamilton performs onstage at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 15. Photographer: Theo Wargo/WireImage.
Confused by the note and wary of the checks, the cast—represented by Javier Muñoz, who was at the time Miranda’s alternate for the role of Alexander Hamilton—appealed to its union president on Sept. 9.
