The Highest-Paid TV Showrunners 2024

Forbes

Creating a hit series like South Park, Law & Order or The Big Bang Theory is worth a fortune, but a new breed of producers is still getting rich in a fractured television economy by creating shows that are born to re-run.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2024/09/13/the-highest-paid-tv-showrunners-2024/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, the highest-paid TV showrunners 2024.

00:06One veteran entertainment manager, speaking about the deals top TV producers are offered today,

00:11says, quote,

00:13"...the yacht money is gone."

00:15It was a different story five years ago.

00:18That was the peak of the so-called streaming wars,

00:20when studios and technology companies,

00:23bolstered by low interest rates and Wall Street optimism,

00:26were locked in an arms race for subscriber growth,

00:29seemingly at any cost.

00:31The number of scripted TV shows on broadcast and streaming in that period,

00:35surpassed 500 for the first time.

00:38And for those creators whose content broke through to mainstream popularity,

00:42the dollar amounts had a lot of zeros.

00:44At least a dozen showrunners signed nine-figure deals during that window,

00:49and another dozen landed more than $50 million across four- or five-year contracts.

00:54Now, with the majority of those deals having expired or set to end in the coming months,

01:00the same creators are emerging into a very different TV landscape.

01:04The effects of the pandemic,

01:05two Hollywood strikes,

01:07and widespread corporate cost-cutting,

01:09not to mention the lack of hits produced on some large showrunner deals,

01:12have cratered the market for overall deals, show orders, and licensing deals.

01:18For the winners at Sunday's 2024 Emmy Awards,

01:21it will be gold-plated trophies, and not outsized paydays,

01:25that are the prize at the end of the red carpet.

01:28There are still, however, a few showrunners whose earnings defy gravity.

01:32The older generation of creators,

01:34who own a percentage of the $100 million or more in profits thrown off each year by mega-hits,

01:39like The Simpsons or The Big Bang Theory.

01:43Of TV's highest-paid showrunners for 2024,

01:46five creators made more than $100 million in the past 12 months,

01:50even after paying fees to agents, managers, and lawyers.

01:54South Park's Matt Stone and Trey Parker,

01:56BET super-producer Tyler Perry,

01:59Law & Order's Dick Wolf,

02:01The Simpsons' J.L. Brooks and Matt Groening,

02:04and The Big Bang Theory's Chuck Lorre,

02:06account for more than half of the $1.2 billion collected by the top 20.

02:11The disparity would be even greater with the addition of Friends producers Kevin Bright,

02:15Marta Kaufman, and David Crane,

02:17but eligibility was restricted to showrunners who had a new show on the air in the past year.

02:23Because traditional profit participation and syndication has been mostly eradicated in the streaming era,

02:29and the number of episodes produced by each show has sharply declined,

02:32there is little potential for the astronomical success enjoyed by past generations of producers.

02:38In order to justify their ongoing value to studios and streamers,

02:42today's showrunners have become something closer to mini-studio heads,

02:46overseeing a small universe of shows and projects for a platform.

02:50Producers as prolific as Yellowstone's Taylor Sheridan

02:53or American Horror Story's Ryan Murphy can still command big totals.

02:58These so-called Godfather producers are handsomely paid on any project they are associated with,

03:04regardless of their level of involvement.

03:06It's a big reason why the top 20 showrunners only include three producers under the age of 50 years old.

03:13Parks and Recreation's Michael Schur, who's 48,

03:16Westworld's Lisa Joy, who's 47,

03:19and Jonathan Nolan, who's 48,

03:21compared to five over the age of 70.

03:25For the younger generation of showrunners who are coming of age in this new TV environment

03:29and are often still on their first hit show,

03:32overall deals almost never exceed $10 million,

03:35with per-episode fees charged off against that total.

03:39This new crop, who are generally more diverse in terms of race, gender, and sexual orientation,

03:44have little chance of reaching the upper echelon of earnings in the near future.

03:48At the top of this year's highest-paid showrunners list

03:51are Matt Stone and Trey Parker at $162 million,

03:56$180 million gross.

03:58The duo behind Colorado's potty-mouthed elementary schoolers

04:01are still the industry pacesetters

04:03thanks to the all-encompassing six-year, $935 million deal

04:08they inked with ViacomCBS in 2021

04:11for ongoing rights to South Park.

04:14Parker and Stone said in a recent Vanity Fair interview

04:17that they are pausing production on the show until after the 2024 presidential election.

04:21Parker said, quote,

04:27Meanwhile, their long-running musical, The Book of Mormon,

04:29is still going strong on Broadway,

04:31in London's West End,

04:32and in Australia, beginning in 2025.

04:37For full coverage, and to see our whole list of the 20 highest-paid showrunners for 2024,

04:42check out Matt Craig and Lissette Voitko Best's piece on Forbes.com.

04:48This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:50Thanks for tuning in.

05:01you

Category

Transcript

Recommended