Warner Bros.If I had a penny for every time Friends was on TV in the UK I’d be a millionaire, much like the cast who do get paid every time its on.
Despite Friends ending it’s ten season run over 12 years ago the show still brings in $1 billion every year for Warner Bros, which for the record is more than some blockbusters.
That means that Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer get an annual paycheck of $20 million for doing nothing thanks to their 2 per cent syndication deal.
To put this into perspective during the last season of Friends each of the stars was paid one million dollars an episode and the final season only had 18 episodes which means they were paid less for working than they are now.
Ludicrous salaries are nothing new in the glamorous world of TV sitcoms though, Charlie Sheen $1.8 million an episode for playing himself in Two and a Half Men while Kelsey Grammer pocketed $1.6 million per episode for Fraiser.
Even the cast of The Big Bang Theory earn one million dollars an episode these days and their jokes are so old hat they should probably be in Oxfam.
No wonder the Friends lot had all that time to sit around drinking coffee.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.