Josh Peck made less than a million dollars for role in Drake and Josh
Topics: Celebrity, News, Film and TV, Viral, Twitter
Shola Lee
Featured Image Credit: Jason Nash/YouTube/Nickelodeon
Topics: Celebrity, News, Film and TV, Viral, Twitter
Josh Peck says he made way less than you'd think while working on his iconic Nickelodeon show.
Few things scream the early 2000s like Drake and Josh. The hit show - which started in 2004 and ran for four seasons - was beloved by many.
However, according to Josh himself, turns out that the show didn't exactly 'set him up for life.'
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While speaking to Jason Nash, Josh explained that his average wage for the show wasn't as high as some might think.
As Josh explains: "I would say, we made 60 episodes, and the median sort of price over the four seasons was $15,000 an episode. No residuals. No residuals in kids' TV."
To Josh's surprise, Jason explains that he even gets residuals from the show, despite only having one line ("are you okay?"). To be honest, we wouldn't be okay after hearing that.
For anyone wondering, residuals are money paid to the actor for their part in making a film/TV series in cases of reruns or online streaming.
This means that the actor made under a million during his time on the show.
He elaborated on how little he was being paid on the Trading Secrets podcast, explaining: "I think people always felt, they look at people like me, and go 'Well if you're still working you messed up somehow because you got given a golden parachute.'"
He went on to detail how much he made from the gig - and while it was obviously a lot, it was not enough to enable him to retire as a teenager.
He added: "I think it's quite public that if you were on a show like Two and a Half Men or Modern Family, and you were the kid on a massive network, syndicated show, the case could be made that you'd have enough money to last you for the rest of your life."
Explaining how this was not the case for him, he continued: "You live with about $450,000 (£345,000) over five years, which breaks down to a little less than $100,000 (£76,000) a year.
"Now, certainly a great amount of money, but not enough to set you up for life.
"And a lot of it, we lived on, and I'm not gonna brag. My mum and I had a used BMW five series. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment with amenities… We lived a very middle-class life."
However, when the show stopped, given that there are apparently no residuals on kids' shows, Josh wasn't left with a lot; still, it's a bigger payday than most.