How Ellen Pompeo Became the Highest Paid Actress
At this point, Ellen Pompeo's name is practically synonymous with Meredith Grey, the character she's played on Grey's Anatomy for 14 seasons. ABC's incredibly successful medical show will famously "go on as long as Ellen wants to do it," creator Shonda Rhimes has said.
So when it came time to re-negotiate her salary this year, Pompeo didn't hesitate to ask for what she wanted.
"As a woman, what I know is you can't approach anything from a point of view of 'I don't deserve' or 'I'm not going to ask for because I don't want other people to get upset,'" Pompeo shared in a new profile in The Hollywood Reporter.
The 48-year-old actress recently signed a new contract, which now makes her the highest paid actress on a primetime drama.
"[Rhimes] got to a place where she was so empowered that she was generous with her power. Now, what did that look like? It looked like her letting me be the highest-paid woman on television, letting me be a producer on this show, letting me be a co-executive producer on the spinoff and signing off on the deal that the studio gave me, which is unprecedented," Pompeo said.
For the duration of this season of Grey's, as well as two more, she'll be earning more than $20 million per year, a sum which according to THR breaks down as $575,000 per episode, plus a signing bonus, and "two full backend equity points on the series" which the publication estimates will bring in $6 or $7 million for the actress. She will also receive producing fees on an upcoming Grey's spinoff.
"What I said to Shonda is the truth: 'I don't get to do anything else, and that's frustrating for me creatively. I make 24 episodes of TV a year, and as part of this deal, I cannot appear anywhere else. And directing is cool but, to be honest, it just takes me away from my kids,'" she explained, quantifying the value of her time.
"Then I said, 'So, it's got to be a ton of money. And it has to help me with my producing because producing is something I really enjoy. That's my creativity now.' Acting, to me, is boring. An actor is the least powerful person on set, so I don't care about chasing roles. Plus, at my age, it's pretty unrealistic. Not that I can't do a cool cable thing, but I'm not going to have this whole second life as a movie star. I'm not fuckin' Julia Roberts."
In the conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Pompeo not only spoke candidly about her own negotiations, and her current place in the industry, but also the patriarchal culture she's seen firsthand in Hollywood.
"Now, maybe it's my Irish Catholic upbringing, but you never want to [be perceived as] too greedy. Or maybe it's just that as women, that's our problem; a guy wouldn't have any problem asking for $600,000 an episode," she said, while also calling out how her former male co-star Patrick Dempsey was often used as leverage against her. "At one point, I asked for $5,000 more than him just on principle, because the show is Grey's Anatomy and I'm Meredith Grey. They wouldn't give it to me," she said.
"I don't believe the only solution is more women in power, because power corrupts," she said. "But there should be more of us women in power, and not just on Shonda Rhimes' sets."
Read the full conversation over on The Hollywood Reporter.
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