The Simpsons, on the verge of a possible cancellation that would have ended the show’s record breaking 23-year run, aren’t going anywhere for at least a few more years. Fox and the voice actors have kissed and made up after several days of uncertainty regarding the show’s future.
The studio announced late Friday that The Simpsons will continue past this 23rd season and into a 24th and 25th, guaranteeing Bart, Homer and the family will get to celebrate their silver anniversary without having aged a day. Fox will air new episodes into at least 2014.
The new deal ends a contract dispute between the show and its principal cast that went public last week. An impasse between the two sides threatened the show’s cancellation if a deal could not be reached.
The dispute had Fox wanting to trim the salaries of voice actors Harry Shearer, Julie Kavner, Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, and Hank Azaria around 45% from the $8 million per season they are currently making. That would have brought their earnings per 22 episodes in a season down from $440,000 to $242,000.
The actors, in turn, had countered and offered to accept a 30% pay cut and a small portion of the back end profits from syndication, thought to be in the billions of dollars. How much of a cut they were after is unknown.
Terms of the new deal were not disclosed by the studio. According to insiders speaking to THR, the cast ended up taking the 30% pay cut without any back-end profits.
Shearer earlier this week said he’s take up to a 70% pay cut as long as a piece of those back end profits ended up in his paycheck. Instead, he and the other voice actors will be bringing home around $308,000 per episode.
During the reportedly “tense” negotiations, Fox appeared to stick to their guns in refusing to offer any of the syndication cash to the cast. In the end, the cast got the percentage in pay cut they wanted, and Fox got to keep the lucrative back end profits all to themselves.
The announcement also stated that The Simpsons will return to the air with all-new episodes on October 30, beginning with the annual Halloween-themed entry ‘Treehouse of Horrors XXII.’
