Critics may have never cared for his particular brand of big screen comedy, but Adam Sandler‘s track record at the box office can’t be argued with. Before migrating to Netflix, the actor was one of very new names capable of opening a new movie based on nothing but the strength of his name and personal brand, raking in billions of dollars from theaters and establishing himself as one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars.
Not much has changed since Happy Madison Productions set up shop on streaming, with the only major differences being that minutes viewed has replaced box office revenue, and the Sandman has been signed to a massive overall deal that guarantees he’ll be churning out new content for the platform on a regular basis.
Sandler’s current contract makes him one of Netflix’s biggest earners, but insider Daniel Richtman offers that the 54 year-old is asking the company to pay his co-stars more money to spread the wealth. While that’s an admirable sentiment, the major issue with the tipster’s information is that Sandler is technically the one responsible for paying the cast and crew, not Netflix themselves.
Under any production agreement, once the budget is secured and green lit by whoever raises the initial investment, the financial responsibility falls on the producers and production companies, and in Happy Madison’s case that would be founder and CEO Adam Sandler, along with president Jack Giarraputo.
All onscreen talents are paid a flat daily rate from the Screen Actors Guild, on top of upfront fees that are decided upon by the producers once the logistics on an entire film have been figured out and negotiation held, which are then taken out of the overall budget. Netflix give Happy Madison the money to make the movies and and it trickles downwards, but paying people who work on them is a ball that lands firmly in the bossman’s court.
