Years after Seinfeld ended, Jason Alexander has been blunt about who really cashed in on the reruns.
No Share of the Profits
In an interview with The Globe and Mail and later press appearances, Alexander said that he, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards never received back-end participation in the show’s profits. Instead, they got standard Screen Actors Guild residuals, which shrink over time as episodes are replayed.
He estimated that each of the three co-stars has seen roughly a quarter of a million dollars from syndication residuals. Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, who held the ownership stake, have earned hundreds of millions.
Why the Gap Is So Big
Seinfeld has been one of the most valuable shows in television history. It has run in syndication for decades and has been licensed to streaming services in deals reported to be worth enormous sums, which is where the real money is made.
Those profits flow to the people who own the show, not to the actors who appear in it, unless they negotiated a share up front.
The Final-Season Negotiation
Alexander traces the gap back to the final-season negotiations. When the trio asked for a share of the profits and were turned down, they pushed for bigger salaries instead, reportedly close to one million dollars per episode for the last season.
He has acknowledged that Castle Rock and NBC paid them very well in the end, and he has never suggested the cast was mistreated during the show’s run.
Still a Sore Point
Even so, he believes the supporting cast deserved a slice of a profit pool that has grown into the billions. It’s a debate that resurfaces every time Seinfeld lands another big streaming deal, and one that many fans sympathize with.
After all, it’s hard to imagine the show without George, Elaine and Kramer.