Vanity Fair has put together a list of Hollywood’s highest film earners and not surprisingly, at the top of the list are all white men. The highest female on the list is Emma Watson who made $30 million for the latest Harry Potter films. ($15 million for each.) I’m glad she’s getting a big pay day for the film, and I’m even happier that both she and Rupert Grint both made the same amount of money.
The other women on the list include:
Cameron Diaz- $27 million
Sarah Jessica Parker – $24 million
Katherine Heigl – $24 million
Reese Witherspoon- $21 million
Angelina Jolie – $21 million
Jennifer Aniston – $20 million
Sandra Bullock – $20 million
Kristen Stewart- $16 million
I find it incredibly depressing that the top earner in the business is Michael Bay who made tons and tons of money off of Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen.
Here’s some other things that I noticed:
Steven Spielberg makes $50 million a year consulting for Universal’s Parks on a contract that was signed 20 years ago. Wow.
Guys make serious bucks as producers. Check out Ben Stiller and JJ Abrams. Hardly any of the women on the list make money other than as actresses.
Tyler Perry makes all his money off his own material (except for one title). No one else on the list does that.
How the hell do Robert DeNiro and Russell Crowe still rate a $20 million fee for their latest flicks Little Fockers and Robin Hood. Wonder how much Blythe Danner (who plays DeNiro’s wife) and Cate Blanchett (Marion) got for their work. I can pretty much guarantee it wasn’t anywhere near that amount. Keep in mind that Crowe’s last film State of Play was a big flop, and I can’t remember that last good DeNiro film.
Hollywood’s Top 40 (Vanity Fair)
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Michael Bay is a HACK. Yes, it is depressing that he made the most money out of all, but you know what? Quality doesn’t last. in 10, 15 years, nobody will remember Transformers or any of his shiteous movies, while quality films will last forever.
Unfortunately, I think his films will be remembered, the way we remember classic ’50s horror films now.
I wish the top female earners were decision makers, instead of just people who are popular with audiences. (Although Emma Watson is a bit young to produce, yet.) I keep thinking of Mary Pickford, and how much of a decision maker she was.
This listing of the highest paid is the “man crush” at play. I’ll bring this up – Obama winning the Nobel prize. I’m bringing that up because officials said it was more of an “aspirational” win. He is inspiring and promises to do great work. I hope so too and bully for him and all – but I bring that up because men get “value” on the imagination that they are still contenders and are what the payors aspire to – they capture the imagination of the payors. How about like “aspirational” wins for women?
Many men top on this list are basically getting “aspirational” pay or man crush pay – not due to pay back on a specific project. Their cache. They are admired and offer great promise to the people doing the paying. (And probably have a hell of a negotiating team too.)
I hope you can get my comments that I hope that someday, you’ll see a lot of greying, chubby women of all races on the top of that list just like the pale male parade. These are not cute men on the top of the profession by some measure. And I say top not necessary in the best art, but in the ability to get funding, to make demands, and that intangible respect. I think about the power that George Lucas has to demand fewer ads before his movies as a part of the deal to improve the experience. The power that Peter Jackson has to get the District film done and his name is an added promotional device. Power in funding and distribution deals is a plus in the arts.
What an odd thing for young feminists to want and aspire to, but that will be when there is equity for talent and that older women are as “aspirational” as the younger. It should be when you have a body of work that things get more rewarding. Apparently, women, except Oprah, are not “aspirational” except as young earners.
Women have not been negotiating for pay rates nearly as long or in as many numbers as men have been. As a freelancer I have had plenty of practice and still have only just begun to negotiate fair pay, let alone good pay. It goes against my conditioning in early life, to ask for more money, for anything I do.
And like many women, the most challenging and taxing job I’ve ever done, I’ve done for free. It’s called mothering and everything else pales in commitment and intensity, yet, I did it for free. To ask for money for what is easy and fun, in comparison to motherhood (single mother to boot), took me awhile to get the hang of.
You can bet that anyone on that list has people to do the negotiating. I wish I had that.
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