William Shatner Says He 'Didn't Earn a Penny' From Star Trek Re-Runs (telegraph.co.uk) 81
In a new interview with The Telegraph (paywalled), William Shatner revealed he has never earned residuals from reruns of the original Star Trek series, since syndication royalties weren't in place until after the show ended in 1969. "Nobody knew about reruns," said Shatner. "The concept of syndication only came in after 'Star Trek' was canceled when someone from the unions said: 'Wait a minute, you're replaying all those films, those shows.' There was a big strike. But in the end, the unions secured residual fees shortly after 'Star Trek' finished, so I didn't benefit."
The now 94-year-old actor said he's actually only seen a "few" episodes of his work and has "never seen" any of the spinoffs. "I'm gonna tell you something that nobody knows. I've never seen another 'Star Trek' and I've seen as few 'Star Treks' of the show I was on, I've seen as few as possible," he told Entertainment Tonight. "I don't like to look at myself, and I've never seen any other. I love it, I think it's great. I just don't, you know, I don't watch television, per se."
The now 94-year-old actor said he's actually only seen a "few" episodes of his work and has "never seen" any of the spinoffs. "I'm gonna tell you something that nobody knows. I've never seen another 'Star Trek' and I've seen as few 'Star Treks' of the show I was on, I've seen as few as possible," he told Entertainment Tonight. "I don't like to look at myself, and I've never seen any other. I love it, I think it's great. I just don't, you know, I don't watch television, per se."
Get a Life! (Score:5, Funny)
"You know, before I answer any more questions there's something I wanted to say. Having received all your letters over the years, and I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled... y'know... hundreds of miles to be here, I'd just like to say... GET A LIFE, will you people? I mean, for crying out loud, it's just a TV show! I mean, look at you, look at the way you're dressed! You've turned an enjoyable little job, that I did as a lark for a few years, into a COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME!"
The Enemy Within (Score:5, Funny)
Publicist faces stunned fans and tells them, "Calm down everybody. That was the "evil Captain Kirk" from Episode 5."
(Fans restart their chatter and demand for autographs as if nothing has happened.
Glad he's not on a worldwide apology tour (Score:2)
It is good to see an actor/public figure not going a worldwide apology tour just to legacy build late in the day.
Maybe we could convince "journalists" to stop writing "(famous singer X) hated these bands and would never tour with them..." articles.
Re:hmm (Score:5, Informative)
The original series was very woke (to use your terms). The show was the first to feature an interracial kiss and Shatner intentionally flubbed different takes so they would have to use the kiss. Tv stations in shitty southern states refused to air the episode. Please tell me more about this socialist inclusive utopia without a need for money.
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Square this circle:
It’s “unfettered capitalists” that favor open borders and cheap labor, right? Yet the *majority* of billionaires and those making over 150k are (a) democrats and (b) favor these unfettered capitalist policies. They also favor allying with government dependents (teachers, welfare recipients, etc).
And why do those U.S. poor ally with the “unfettered capitalist” U.S. rich? Here’s a hint: supposedly utopian Sweden has a bottom quintile with a significantly
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Re:hmm (Score:5, Informative)
More than half of the people living in the United States are among the top 1% of global incomes, both in absolute terms and in terms of disposable income, which I guess qualifies half of this country as ultra-rich, but who has the authority to set that arbitrary goalpost?
There are 8.2 billion people on the earth, so 1% is around 82 million. The US has about 347 million, so half is about 173 million. So at most around 25% of the US can be in the top 1% of worldwide incomes.
Yes, the numbers are pulled out of the air for dramatic effect, but at least the hyperbole can be made to fit the math.
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Tv stations in shitty southern states refused to air the episode.
I've heard this passed around as fact for decades, but I've never been able to find any evidence that this actually happened.
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Diversity utopianism existed long before woke. Woke focuses on racial/cultural privilege, not diversity (also not class privilege).
Utopianism if done today is in fact not woke at all, because denying that bashing privilege should be core to all fiction is crypto-racist.
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No, "woke" is a catch-all phrase for anything that doesn't fit conservative values.
Back when the only people using it was black people on the left you'd be correct but conservatives have long since rebranded that word with their own definition.
Re:hmm (Score:4, Interesting)
The original series was very woke (to use your terms). The show was the first to feature an interracial kiss and Shatner intentionally flubbed different takes so they would have to use the kiss. Tv stations in shitty southern states refused to air the episode. Please tell me more about this socialist inclusive utopia without a need for money.
Yep, the original series and later (TNG, DS9, VOY) were always woke, as in the original definition not the current "something I don't like" definition.
They challenged bigotry and social issues by showing us a world where they didn't exist.
1967, a time where some places in the US still had "No Coloureds Allowed" signs there was a show with a black woman, on the bridge of a military starship, in a position of authority... and everyone else just acted like she belonged there.
Same with TNG, where they challenged disabilities (Geordi's physical and Data's mental) as well as social outcasts. I've always felt that Miles O'brien's character was a punch on the nose for the class system, a working class (stereotypical) Irish who is a very capable person who senior officers defer to. VOY had a few characters who struggled with culture and identity (I.E. the Klingon episodes, admittedly, these were usually the worst eps).
A bit of an issue I have with Discovery is not that they were challenging bigotry and social mores with neurodivergent and gays.. rather they're were making too much of a big deal about it. Star Trek was always about that world where bigotry wasn't a major issue or impediment.
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Someone wearing glasses and a character that is a robot written in for comic relief are not really good examples of disabilities.
Uhura as a black being on the bridge was not really that big of a thing at the time, being a woman and the kiss was. By that time you had blacks in star positions on various shows, even that same year the Sammy Davis Jr show came on. The studio had rules that blacks should be hired to gain more viewers in the black community but how the
Re:hmm (Score:4, Informative)
No wonder he is the way he is. He's never been brainwashed by the wokeaganda of TOS/TNG. fedieration more like wokeistan
Yeah, nothing "woke" (whatever that means) about a white guy reporting to a black flag officer [imgur.com] before it existed in reality.
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No wonder he is the way he is. He's never been brainwashed by the wokeaganda of TOS/TNG. fedieration more like wokeistan
Yeah, nothing "woke" (whatever that means) about a white guy reporting to a black flag officer [imgur.com] before it existed in reality.
Correct. Captain Kirk is not reporting to Commodore Stone because of the color of their skins or ethnicities, and Stone did not achieve his rank due to DEI reverse discrimination. Starfleet is color-blind.
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DEI reverse discrimination. Starfleet is color-blind.
DEI is not "reverse discrimination". It's saying "if we have equally qualified candidates, we should prefer diversity over homogeny."
It's how you get away from corporate board rooms that look like an Elmer's glue bottle.
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Sometimes it's more that you acknowledge the route taken, not just the destination. Universities might have lower entry requirements for state schools than private schools. But that's not discrimination, it's a recognition that private schools give you an advantage, so an A is effectively worth more when earned in a tougher environment.
If you discriminate relentlessly up to the finish line, and then flip a coin if they're equal, you get vastly more advantaged people than disadvantaged people winning the r
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The arguments are similar to "Innocent until proven guilty." Look into precepts like that; which are illogical but have cogent arguments for such policies.
It is not that hard. Racists will circumvent any simple policy or law you set because it's incredibly easy when you decide any aspect of the process. This went on 100s of years. Games with definitions and interpretations are learned by children with their parents or school's rules. They also learn that "common sense" will catch and stop them while the let
Per se... (Score:2)
He's not a singer either, per se...
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I worked with Shatner, he's not a "good guy" by any stretch of the imagination. I was a techie in a summer stock theater in the early '80s when his show came to town, we found him to be an arrogant, demanding prima donna who treated everyone around him like shit, including his costar on the show. In an industry full of utter assholes he was the absolute worst that I've ever had to deal with. He's also a crappy actor who has one role he can play, his character was supposed to be caring and insightful and
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Good Guy? Most of the rest of the cast despise him. I can't think of many who have good things to say about his narcissism.
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He's not a singer either, per se...
You can't say he didn't boldly go.
Re: Per se... (Score:2)
Shatner is great (Score:2, Interesting)
I love when he took time just to fuck with a recording engineer. https://youtu.be/XMV1bwXyi54 [youtu.be]
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I love when he took time just to fuck with a recording engineer. https://youtu.be/XMV1bwXyi54 [youtu.be]
Being difficult with your co-workers, even if the work engagement only lasts a few hours and your colleagues only last a day, doesn't seem like a laudable personality trait to me.
Most actors of the 1960s didn't get residuals. (Score:5, Informative)
I've been called a liar many times because I tried to tell people that most TV actors in the 60s didn't get residuals. Dawn Wells (Maryann on Gilligan's Island) did because her manager/husband asked for them and the studio thought it would flop so they said OK as they didn't expect to pay them. Don Adams of Get Smart was offered 30% ownership if he would take the lowest wage the unions would allow and he took it, his estate is probably still collecting, again the studio thought it would flop.
Others with popular TV shows never saw a dime from reruns. Which is one of the reasons such shows are still on TV, the studios not needing to pay residuals can offer them for less money than newer shows.
Re: Most actors of the 1960s didn't get residuals. (Score:2)
I don't understand why it is noteworthy that Shatner doesn't receive something that didn't exist when he signed his contracts/did the work?
I guess I just assume that most people understand that things change over time, perhaps after watching US society rename schools, military bases, roads, etc because their namesake owned slaves 200 years ago or fought to defend states rights/slavery I shouldn't assume people understand such a simple concept...
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Actually, it's quite the opposite. Most people implicitly assume everything has always been the way it is. It's normal to not even consider that something you've always taken for granted didn't exist in the past. Ask a young kid to imagine a world without cell phones, or on-demand streaming, or toilet paper.
I personally didn't know the history of residuals and it's vaguely interesting to know about this, since we all assumed Shatner made big bucks from Star Trek.
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Don't kid yourself, he did make big bucks from Star Trek, just not on the reruns for the original series.
They fixed that shit by the time of the movie franchise, action figures, etc.
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Sure he was in 7 movies, but it's interesting to know that when I re-watch Trouble with Tribbles for the thousandth time, the cast isn't getting a cent.
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>Dawn Wells (Maryann on Gilligan's Island) did because her
>manager/husband asked for them and the studio thought it would
>flop so they said OK as they didn't expect to pay them.
this appears to be an urban legend, although oft repeated.
In the last years of her life, she was pretty much pleading for help for her medical bills.
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this appears to be an urban legend, although oft repeated.
In the last years of her life, she was pretty much pleading for help for her medical bills.
Have you considered that the rates set back in the 1960s may not have allowed for inflation over the next 6 decades? What was lucrative then likely wasn't 50 years later. Depending how she invested she might no longer have been well off.
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How are they a scam?
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That's called profit sharing or some other name in other businesses, it does exist. If nobody was making money off the show the actor wouldn't be making money.
Actors also have a strong union so take that into account. All blue collar folks should too.
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Top artists have contract riders on the sales of their paintings so they get a cut each time it gets sold.
Some countries mandate this in their copyright laws.
It's not so unusual.
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Talk about a fucking scam!
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You're just jealous!
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Even if it isn't a toll road.
Why not pay the engineer for every car that ever drives on the road, for all eternity?
It's ridiculous.
Imagine if you had to pay a fee to drive your car, every time you drove it, it keep the money flowing in for every person who had anything to do with its development. People would be outraged.
Re: Doesn't seem all that unfair (Score:2)
Then again, you are expected to pay for viewing reruns, one way or another.
I.e. hey're still copyrighted.
Re:Doesn't seem all that unfair (Score:5, Informative)
He got paid a wage for doing the work on the show.
Why should he get paid for doing that over and over again into the future?
Because the up-front money was a down-payment, and the residuals are the profit sharing. If they paid the artists up front, nothing would get made because it would be too expensive.
They guy who installed the tables in the local restaurant doesn't get paid a residual for every meal sold there into the future either.
That guy was paid the full value up front.
One piece of work is more valuable than the other. There are no hard and fast rules about that, though. So if you can convince someone that your plumbing is so valuable, you are free to negotiate a conditional recurring fee in the future.
What's your problem, chose the wrong profession?
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It does not seem like Shatner is exactly butt hurt about it either, he is just stating the facts about what he got paid, for what and what he did not get paid for.
The fact is he took the job for agreed upon compensation, and he did so at a time when residuals were not the norm. The industry changed after. Reality is had Star Trek been made a few years later he'd probably a much wealthier man. That is true of a lot of financial success and failure, its an accident of timing.
If you had a good job and cash on
Re: Doesn't seem all that unfair (Score:3)
Because the up-front money was a down-payment, and the residuals are the profit sharing.
I like how you just ignore the fact that "residuals", as a contract item, didn't exist when he signed his contract. As Shatner himself said, no one in broadcast TV sites at the time got residuals because it simply wasn't a thing, there was no concept of Re-Runs at the time. Heck, some shows from that era were lost because no one thought to even save the film/video tape.
The up-front money was all the money, period.
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"That guy was paid the full value up front."
So was Shatner. His contract said he'll get paid X for doing Y, he did the work and got his cheque.
Who knew? (Score:2)
I've never seen another 'Star Trek' and I've seen as few 'Star Treks' of the show I was on, ...
The place Kirk really needed to Boldly Go was a (home) movie theater. :-)
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It's a misleading quote the journalist intentionally clipped. The full statement was:
"I'm gonna tell you something that nobody knows. I've never seen another 'Star Trek' and I've seen as few 'Star Treks' of the show I was on, I've seen as few as possible... because all of my available free time is already tied up watching reruns of T.J. Hooker!"
Is he poor ? (Score:2)
He made a lot of money from pretending to be someone else.
Next.
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He is not poor.
He made a lot of money from pretending to be someone else.
Next.
He's poor compared to people who did similar work, but who negotiated residuals. The meaning of "similar work" is of course a tricky point. But since everybody today (and in the entire lifetimes of most people reading this) are calibrated to that more generous payment arrangement, and are assuming he got paid like all their favorite modern stars, it's a valid comparison. Otherwise, nobody would be discussing the comparison.
Maybe you think he's ungrateful, or given your remark about the nature of acting, har
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And, while you're at it, try and write less like a very dull robot.
Re: Is he poor ? (Score:2)
He's poor compared to people who did similar work, but who negotiated residuals.
Please, tell me about all his contemporaries that did similar work at the same time Shatner did Star Trek that "negotiated residuals", despite the concept of residuals for re-runs not existing at the time...
You seem to want to compare Shatners situation to the plight of countless musicians from the 50s and 60s who had their publishing rights and royalty payments for classic recordings stolen from them by criminal recording artist contracts... that is not what happened to Shatner, as he himself said in the
Why would he watch it (Score:2)
He's 94, it's for kids. :-)
Having a hard time ... (Score:2)