Jay Leno Takes a Pay Cut as the Tonight Show Lays off Staff Members to reduce Expenses
Hard times even hit Hollywood. The Tonight Show did some number crunching that resulted in a dreaded head count reduction. It appears that the show was overstaffed and 20 or so employees had to be cut!
THE TONIGHT SHOW ONLY BREAKING EVEN?
Leno is still the number one rated late night show, but the L.A. Times reports that it’s only breaking even. Leno rakes in $25 – $30 million a year and has reportedly taken a $5 million dollar pay cut to help save some jobs. Leno neither confirmed nor denied this claim but other media outlets report Leno gave up as much as $10 million. He was not the only person, other senior staff members also agreed to pay cuts to save theirs and other jobs as well.
Before Leno moved to prime time, his production costs were around $1.7 million per week. Moving time slots increased the shows production cost more than half a million dollars, moving the weekly expenses to $2.3 million. For whatever reason, when Leno returned to late night, his costs didn’t return to late night levels and the show has been operating near the breakeven mark ever since. The cuts that were made, will hopefully correct this bringing the show back into the green.
Jay Leno’s spokesman, Bruce Bobbins says that Leno’s concerns rest with his people,
“Jay’s foremost concern is for the wonderful people who work for The Tonight Show, He did what was necessary to ensure their wellbeing.”
Leno says that he banks 100% of his Tonight show salary and lives off money he still earns from doing standup. Leno is personally worth $250 million so I’m sure the 20 or so staffers got a nice parting gift for their trouble.
Latimes
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