50. Emmy Rossum
Project: Shameless
Proposed Salary: $350,000 per episode plus backpay*
Outcome: The studio agreed
Emmy Rossum played a pivotal role in the success of Shameless. Rossum revised the original material with William H. Macy and gave it a twist that American viewers could identify to. Emmy, on the other hand, rose up when she learned that Macy got paid $350,000 each episode while she was not.
Emmy demanded equal compensation going forward as well as back pay to make up for all she should have been paid up to that point in the negotiations. William H. Macy was by her side the entire time, and Rossum got the deal she desired before departing the show in 2018.
50. Emmy Rossum
51. Jennifer Aniston
Project: Friends
Proposed Salary: Equal pay as a group
Outcome: Agreed
Friends star Jennifer Aniston claims that the costars weren’t always on the same page. Though the gang was famous for negotiating $1 million every episode, it wasn’t always that that. Some of the costars were paid differently.
During the first season, Aniston and her co-stars were paid $22,500 per episode, but by season two, she and David Schwimmer were out-earning everyone. She, Schwimmer, and the rest of the Friends cast negotiated their contract as a group before season three to ensure that they all received the same amount of money. That succeeded, and they raised the bar for future compensation talks in the television industry.
51. Jennifer Aniston
