Trek Actors
- Thread starter gazomg
- Start date
That's twisting the story a bit. It's true he only did Star Trek because it was an slow stage in his career and he needed the work, and he had a lousy experience doing the episode because he doesn't like wearing prosthetics. It was a combination of this being a low point in his career forcing him to take on roles in prosthetics to make a living that he put some serious thought into giving up acting.
No, with a but.
According to Armin Shimerman, Stewart's agent negotiated Stewart's contract on the basis of Britsh television pay, not American. That had the effect of keeping salaries down across the board with regard to actors: why should any of them be paid more than Patrick Stewart.
However, actors made up for that through overtime and forced calls. Especially during the DS9 and Voyager year, shooting days often ran afoul of union rules, going as long as eighteen hours. At some point, a tech died after a day's shooting on DS9 when he fell asleep at the wheel. Even so, days were long: Bill Mumy described his Star Trek check as one of the biggest of his career. Even Shimerman and Auberjonois admitted that what kept them inspired to keep acting through the long hours on stage and in the make up chair was the money.
According to Armin Shimerman, Stewart's agent negotiated Stewart's contract on the basis of Britsh television pay, not American. That had the effect of keeping salaries down across the board with regard to actors: why should any of them be paid more than Patrick Stewart.
However, actors made up for that through overtime and forced calls. Especially during the DS9 and Voyager year, shooting days often ran afoul of union rules, going as long as eighteen hours. At some point, a tech died after a day's shooting on DS9 when he fell asleep at the wheel. Even so, days were long: Bill Mumy described his Star Trek check as one of the biggest of his career. Even Shimerman and Auberjonois admitted that what kept them inspired to keep acting through the long hours on stage and in the make up chair was the money.
I remember Bill Mumy talking about when he was on DS9, he worked the entire six day shoot of that episode, 7am to 11pm each day. He said the long hours were taking a very visible toll on the actors and crew who were there every week.
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