Ach

[mcbeckla]

I wasn't going to post about the cancellation of SG-1. But then I heard that SG-1 cast members might join the Atlantis. So I thought, okay, how about I NOT watch season 3 AT ALL and wait to hear if Danny-Boy is transferred (or any of them come to think of it), cos I won't bother

Comments

[auralan]

Generally tv contracts are written so that each year in the contract is an option that can be picked up or not by the production company. The actor doesn't get any say in the matter. If the production company picks up the option, the actor comes back. If the production company doesn't, the actor looks for other work. No, it's not fair. Television isn't.

If an actor wants to leave, they can try to negotiate out of the contract or wait until it expires. They can also sometimes renegotiate terms by being willing to extend the number of years of options. Or they can refuse to work and have an injunction filed against them that prevents them from taking other work. One of the leads on ER lost that game of chicken badly back in the early days of that show.

Sometimes big name actors are guaranteed some number or episodes/seasons. That means they have to be paid that much no matter what (even if the pilot is never picked up or the show is cancelled). Usually these sorts of contacts are part of development deals or to entice a big name to an existing series to save it (see: Locklear, Heather). I'd be shocked if anybody on Atlantis had that sort of contract.