Emmerdale actress reveals exactly how much soap stars are paid – and it's not as much as you think

The Sun

6 days ago

A LONG running soap actress has lifted the lid on the reality of what some of the country's biggest TV stars earn.
Kelli Hollis, who starred as Ali Spencer on Emmerdale was asked by a fan how salaries worked on TV soaps and if they were based on episode appearances.
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The actress, who quit the UK and now runs a weed shop in Thailand, broke down the typical soap contracts and potential earnings for stars.
"[On] Emmerdale I explained that you get an episode fee and you're guaranteed so many episodes a year... so if we're saying roughly £500 and up [per episode], and you were contracted to do 90 [episodes, that's 45k, it's obviously a good wage," Kelli began.
"But it's not like the 'rich, rich' you'd think famous actors would be earning."
Kelli added: "Now, that's that sort of middle of the road [salary]. I'm not going to lie when I was at Emmerdale to my knowledge, one of the highest paid actors was on a thousand pound episodes."
She explained that you "never know for sure," what your co-stars earned because everybody was paid differently.
Kelli also spoke about extra earnings actors made from soaps, but also all the hidden fees they pay that viewers might not know about.
"So, yeah, it would only be 45, but then you get a buyout, which is pretty much the same as your wage, so I'll top that up to 90. Then, you've got the agent's commission, which is usually 12 and a half percent," she said.
"And because you're self-employed, you have to put 40 [per cent] away for tax."
Kelli added: "Obviously, there's a lot of tax rebates and things you can claim for as an act of things you probably won't normally be able to claim as a self-employed person, but there is a cap on a lot of those things."
She told the fan that "people are under the assumption that actors get paid a s**t ton of money," but that wasn't always the case.
I was an Emmerdale star but now I sell weed for a living - I've quit the soap and the UK and I'm never coming home
Kelli, who also starred on the TV drama, Shameless, also explained that veteran soap actors such as, Coronation Street star, William Roache were on older ITV contracts that can't be broken and likely on higher salaries.
"It's very, very different now, and to be honest, to my knowledge, you're not even guaranteed the 90 episode a year now," she said.
"When I was leaving Emmerdale, it was almost like they were putting people on pay-as-you-go contracts or three months contracts which isn't going to work for many actors."
The Sun has previously revealed that some soap actors were raking in the big salaries, and along with their six-figure acting earnings, some viewer favourites from Coronation Street and EastEnders to Emmerdale are worth millions thanks to lucrative deals and side hustles.
But some of the biggest stars could be facing the axe in a huge cost-cutting drive as audiences dwindle.
An insider said: 'There is about to be a bloodbath across Corrie, Emmerdale and EastEnders — and it won't be pretty.
"All the big three have all been told they need to cut their wage bills by up to 25 per cent. Now there is panic in the green rooms about who could be facing the chop.'
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