LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'Friends' is one of the most watched sitcoms to come out of the 90s all over the world. The comedy show revolving around the lives of six friends living their chaotic lives in New York City continues to hold value like no other for many dedicated fans.
This of course profited the cast members in many ways as each of them not only went on to gain worldwide popularity but also earned a whopping salary from the show.
Actor Matthew Perry, who played the awkward and sarcastic Chandler Bing for all 10 seasons of the show, opened up about how they came about to earn what they earned by the time they concluded the show in his book. And the one behind it was David Schwimmer, the nerdy character of Ross Geller.
Perry was pronounced dead on October 28 after what is known to have been a drowning incident in his jacuzzi tub. The actor was 54.
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Perry was not an unknown figure by the time he was chosen by Marta Kauffman and David Crane to play Chandler Bing. But 'Friends' was definitely a break like no other for the actor.
According to Variety, the actor earned $22,500 for the very first episode or the pilot of the sitcom.
Despite the well-known issues of pay parity in Hollywood, each of the cast members is believed to have been paid the same amount throughout their time at the show.
By the time they had reached the final seasons of 'Friends', Perry was making over a million dollars for a single episode. The last two seasons combined had 42 episodes in total with all of the main cast appearing in each of those episodes.
However, it was not a decision of the producers or anyone else that had the castmates get equal pay for their contribution to the show. Perry revealed that it was in fact Schwimmer who helped them earn so much per episode.
Matthew Perry praised David Schwimmer for helping him earn more
In his memoir called 'Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,' the actor opened up about how much they were being paid on the sitcom. Perry also revealed Schwimmer's role in letting him earn as much as he did.
"It was a decision that proved to be extremely lucrative down the line. David had certainly been in a position to go for the most money, and he didn’t," Perry wrote.
For his ever-confused character Ross, Schwimmer was apparently offered more money but it was his refusal that allowed all of them to earn identical salaries.
He continued, "I would like to think that I would have made the same move, but as a greedy twenty-five-year-old, I’m not sure I would have. But his decision served to make us take care of each other through what turned out to be a myriad of stressful network negotiations, and it gave us a tremendous amount of power."
Perry then revealed the shocking amount of money each of the cast members was making by the end of the sitcom.
“By season eight, we were making a million dollars per episode; by season ten we were making even more. We were making $1,100,040 an episode, and we were asking to do fewer episodes. Morons, all of us. We had David’s goodness, and his astute business sense, to thank for what we had been offered. I owe you about $30 million, David. (We were still morons.)”
