'Duck Dynasty' Salary Dispute Delaying Season 4
TV Ratings: The Previous 'Duck Dynasty' Season Returned to a Record 8.6 Million Viewers
Art Streiber/A&E
The bearded stars of A&E's top show are demanding more than $200,000 an episode for the fourth season and beyond.
The bearded stars of
Duck Dynasty are asking for a big pay increase to return to A&E's top-rated series, and the salary standoff is holding up a fourth-season renewal of the show, sources tell
THR.
The
Robertson family, including brothers
Phil and
Si and Phil's sons, have seen their outdoorsman empire Duck Commander earn a small fortune thanks in part to notoriety from the hit reality series. Now they have banded together and -- represented by WME -- are angling to renegotiate their existing contracts. Sources close to the negotiation say the family
is asking for more than $200,000 an episode from A&E and production company Gurney Productions to return for a fourth season, with additional raises for subsequent seasons.
The standoff comes as little surprise given
Duck Dynasty's success.
Season three bowed in February to a whopping 8.6 million viewers and a 3.9 rating among adults 18-to-49. In the key demo, Duck Dynasty is second only to AMC's The Walking Dead on all of cable and tops all broadcast offerings in its 10 p.m. Wednesday slot.
Hit reality shows have a history of salary stalemates. For instance, the cast of MTV's
Jersey Shore held up production in 2010 while demanding a 200 percent raise for its third season and beyond. Discovery's
Deadliest Catch cast quit the show amid a 2010 lawsuit and pay dispute then "un-quit" when the spat was resolved.
Some networks, like Discovery with
Bering Sea Gold, have tried to combat plays for triple-digit pay increases by locking casts into five-year contracts early on, but renegotiations are common on hit shows after the second or third seasons.
A&E declined comment, but a source says the network does not recoup as much of its investment in its reality stars as some of its competitors, such as Bravo with its post-
Bethenny Frankel Real Housewives. A&E owns no stake in the Robertsons' various branding efforts, their duck-call business or any of or their frequent speaking engagements at religious and business events, the latter of which alone have netted them tens of thousands of dollars.
Still, given the show's breakout-hit status, a resolution seems a must for A&E. Says a source close to the dealmaking, "It'll all get worked out."
'Duck Dynasty' Producer Breaks Silence over Salary Negotiations
March 27, 2013, By Stacey Wilson , The Hollywood Reporter
© AP / Si Robertson of 'Duck Dynasty'
There was a (bearded?) elephant in the room at Wednesday's Hollywood Radio & Television Society luncheon, when panelist and "Duck Dynasty" producer Dierdre Gurney saw the conversation turn to talent renegotiations. Dierdre and husband Scott Gurney are behind the A&E reality hit -- which, as The Hollywood Reporter broke hours earlier, is currently holding off on a renewal while the cast tries to secure a big raise for the fourth season.
Fellow panelist Craig Piligian, CEO and EP of Pilgrim Studios, was deep into an examination of his own experience with demanding talent -- of his approach to managing the stars of his hit fishing series "Wicked Tuna" he said, "You have to show the talent that you could to the show without them" -- when he and Original Productions executive producer and CEO Philip Segal encouraged Gurney to comment on the "Dynasty" development.
"The 'Duck Dynasty' guys... they don't need the money. They're having fun, right?" asked Segal. "It isn't about the money, right? They were wealthy to begin with."
"Look, there are two main factors at play," said Gurney of her series' stars current salary standoff. "One is social media. They want immediate feedback about themselves. The second is promotional appearances, the fees for which will always out-weigh their show money."
Gurney went on to say they need their stars -- the bearded Robertson clan -- need to be focused on the show and that it was "hard to watch" the talent go through the negotiation process.
"These A-type personalities... the network says, 'Can't you get them to be behave?' No. They are crazy, which is what makes them compelling characters," said Segal.
Gurney responded further that she hopes someday that the model of a ratings-boost will become the norm. "I love this model," she said. "When a show blows up, the stars benefit. If not, they don't feel cheated."
"So, are you getting ratings bonuses?" pressed Piligian to Gurney.
She smiled and demurred. "I hope it's the model going forward."
Segal, summed up the thrust of the conversation thusly: "When a show is a successful, it becomes a problem."
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