EXCLUSIVE: NBC earlier this week picked up all six Dick Wolf series, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime, for next season. The renewals came with an asterisk as casts were told that they will appear in fewer episodes next year, I hear.
The development comes on the heels of CBS recently renewing veteran drama Blue Bloods for a fourteenth season after the cast agreed to a 25% pay cut, as Deadline extensively reported. We can now reveal that the actors on another recently renewed CBS series, comedy Bob ❤️ Abishola, also had to agree to a substantial, double-digit salary reduction for the show to get a Season 5 renewal (According to sources, it was less than 25%). Blue Bloods comes from CBS sibling CBS Studios, Bob ❤️ Abishola from an outside supplier, Warner Bros. TV.
Additionally, as Deadline reported, a S.W.A.T. renewal is in limbo over the size of the license fee offered by CBS.
One Chicago and Law & Order franchise producers Universal Television and studio-based Wolf Entertainment are taking a different approach after reaching an agreement with NBC on budgets that will keep the series on the air for another season.
I hear episodic guarantees (the number of episodic fees per season each series regular is entitled according to their contract) are being renegotiated and are going down across the board.
This way actors are not taking per-episode pay cuts; their overall compensation will still go down as they will appear in fewer episodes, something the writers have to be mindful of as they craft next season’s scripts.
Word is that the number of episodes most series regulars on the three Chicago series, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU have been asked to do next season has been reduced by a couple, going from standard 22 to 18-20. I hear virtually all actors are affected by the trims; there may be an exception or two for the likes of Wolf mainstays such as SVU star Mariska Hargitay. (Unlike the other five Dick Wolf NBC series, picked up with full-season 22-episode orders, the serialized Law & Order: Organized Crime received an initial 13-episode renewal, and the drama does not appear to be as impacted by the cast episode guarantee reductions.)
Amid overall decline in linear ratings, it has become common practice for broadcast networks to ask for financial concessions on long-running series, which naturally become more expensive as they age. The current challenging economic environment and massive streaming spending have put additional pressure on media congloms, resulting in sweeping cost-cutting measures and layoffs.
That has made renewal negotiations for veteran series even more difficult and budget reductions that trickle down to the casts a regular occurrence.