Trivia: The Salary for 2.5D Actors
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Anonymous asked: How much does a stage actor made per one production? average JP worker annual income is about 17 millions yen and I highly doubt that famous faces like Ryuji or Hiroki would made less than that.
Hiya! :D Thank you for the Ask! I had a very interesting time digging deeper into this and definitely learnt a lot in the process xD There is no hard and fast answer to this question, so I’m just going to give a general picture of the factors that contribute to a stage actor’s salary and how it compares to other similar career types.
Disclaimer: I’m not an industry professional nor do I have firsthand knowledge that comes from working in the industry. The information in this post is information compiled from my own research of various sources. While I have tried my best to ensure that the sources are at least legitimate, it still does not guarantee that the information might be completely accurate.
THE GENERAL SALARY RANGE FOR ACTING-TYPE CAREERS (INCLUDING STAGE)
Smaller productions with mostly young actors (starring role/lead actor): 30,000 yen (USD 270) to 50,000 yen (USD 450) per performance
So, for a smaller production with a performance run that has approximately 10 performances, the lead actor can earn about 300,000 yen (USD 2,691) to 500,000 yen (USD 4,491) per production.
Major top-tier productions:
The figures may seem impressive, but we also have to consider:
In comparison, here are the general salary ranges for other acting-type careers.
Renzoku drama/“trendy” TV dramas:
Movies:
All factors considered, stage acting is widely known to be a low-paying career.
THE SALARY FOR 2.5D ACTORS
Because you referenced Ryuji (who I assume refers to Sato Ryuji) and Hiroki (who I assume refers to Suzuki Hiroki), narrowing the focus a little, I’d like to take a look at the specific genre of 2.5D.
In the previous section, I mentioned the salary range for lead actors in “major top-tier productions”. The major top-tier productions that are referred to here are productions like those directed by Ninagawa Yukio, who is a legend in the theatre world of Japan, or productions done by the theatre company Gekidan Shinkansen, which puts on grand-scale theatre productions on Toho and Shochiku stages.
In comparison, the genre of 2.5D is still considered to be a relatively new and niche genre and is generally unknown to the mainstream public. Therefore, taking this into account, the salaries for actors of 2.5D stages are likely to skew towards the “smaller productions” salary range.
In addition to that, most of the 2.5D-based actors still fall into the “young actor” (“wakate haiyuu”) category. At the age of 35 years with 12 years in the stage industry and approximately 100 productions under his belt, Suzuki Hiroki has only recently just shed the title of “young actor”.
As for Sato Ryuji, despite his talent and reputation, at the age of 25 years with only 7 years in the stage industry and approximately 40 productions under his belt (including stage franchise-based live concerts), he falls smack into the “young actor” category.
Although the exact salary of a 2.5D actor remains mostly unknown, information revealed by 2.5D actors can give a rough guide as to how much their salary is.
One such actor is Kitamura Ryo (27 years old with 6 years of stage industry experience), who is considered to be one of the actors with a top-tier popularity and who has acted in high profile 2.5D productions, like the “Touken Ranbu Stage”, the “Live Spectacle NARUTO”, “Osomatsu-san on STAGE” and “Ensemble Stars! On Stage”. On a show that was aired in May 2017, it was estimated that his highest salary a month is roughly equivalent to the price of a luxury watch in Japan. However, because stage actors are paid per production, he revealed that there were also months when he had only 10,000 yen (USD 90) as savings.
OTHER FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE DIRECTLY TO A STAGE ACTOR'S SALARY, FOCUSING ON 2.5D
Ticket sales. Every production has a certain ticket sales quota that they have to meet (to ensure that the production can pay for the production costs, venue rental etc.) and whether the actors get paid at all often depends on whether this quota is met. The actor might be a hugely popular actor with a high earning rate, but if the production can’t meet its ticket sales quota, there is a chance that the actor still might not get paid. In reverse, if the ticket sales are really good, the actor might get a certain amount as a bonus from the ticket sales.
Bromide sales. One of the more commonly sold merchandise for 2.5D productions is bromides, which are actor/character photos. Bromide sales are incredibly important for stage actors because:
In conclusion,
Anonymous asked: How much does a stage actor made per one production? average JP worker annual income is about 17 millions yen and I highly doubt that famous faces like Ryuji or Hiroki would made less than that.
Hiya! :D Thank you for the Ask! I had a very interesting time digging deeper into this and definitely learnt a lot in the process xD There is no hard and fast answer to this question, so I’m just going to give a general picture of the factors that contribute to a stage actor’s salary and how it compares to other similar career types.
Disclaimer: I’m not an industry professional nor do I have firsthand knowledge that comes from working in the industry. The information in this post is information compiled from my own research of various sources. While I have tried my best to ensure that the sources are at least legitimate, it still does not guarantee that the information might be completely accurate.
THE GENERAL SALARY RANGE FOR ACTING-TYPE CAREERS (INCLUDING STAGE)
Smaller productions with mostly young actors (starring role/lead actor): 30,000 yen (USD 270) to 50,000 yen (USD 450) per performance
So, for a smaller production with a performance run that has approximately 10 performances, the lead actor can earn about 300,000 yen (USD 2,691) to 500,000 yen (USD 4,491) per production.
Major top-tier productions:
- Starring role/lead actor - 100,000 yen (USD 899) to 200,000 yen (USD 1,798) per performance
- Side roles - 30,000 yen (USD 270) to 40,000 yen (USD 360) per performance
The figures may seem impressive, but we also have to consider:
- Unlike a company employee with a basic salary, stage actors don’t usually have basic salaries and are paid on a commission basis per production; therefore, if they aren’t acting in a production, they don’t earn anything.
- Stage actors aren’t paid for rehearsals (which can often be 1 to 2 months long).
- A major production can last up to 3 months or more, and every performance is a live performance (usually with 1 to 2 performances a day).
- A cut of their salary goes back to their agency.
In comparison, here are the general salary ranges for other acting-type careers.
Renzoku drama/“trendy” TV dramas:
- Lead actors are paid about 1,000,000 yen (USD 8,990) to 2,000,000 yen (USD 17,980) per episode.
- The average number of episodes per drama is about 10 episodes, so the lead actor can earn about 10,000,000 yen (USD 89,900) to 20,000,000 yen (USD 179,800) per drama.
- A drama is usually filmed within 4 months.
- Similar to stage actors, a cut of their salary may go back to the agency depending on their contract.
- If an actor appears in a TV programme to promote a drama, they are paid lower than the programme’s usual appearance fee. However, if it’s a “one-day broadcast hijack”, which usually refers to the appearances that actors make on multiple news programmes in a single day, they are apparently not paid for that.
Movies:
- The lead actor in a Toho movie or a movie made by a TV station based on a best-selling source material (in other words, a top-tier production) can earn 10,000,000 yen (USD 89,900) per movie.
- A non-lead actor or an actor working in a second-tier production can earn about 5,000,000 yen (USD 44,950) to 7,000,000 yen (USD 62,930).
- It usually takes about 1 month to film a movie.
- Again, similar to actors in other categories, a cut of their salary may go back to the agency depending on their contract.
- Actors are not paid for movie events, like stage greetings.
All factors considered, stage acting is widely known to be a low-paying career.
THE SALARY FOR 2.5D ACTORS
Because you referenced Ryuji (who I assume refers to Sato Ryuji) and Hiroki (who I assume refers to Suzuki Hiroki), narrowing the focus a little, I’d like to take a look at the specific genre of 2.5D.
In the previous section, I mentioned the salary range for lead actors in “major top-tier productions”. The major top-tier productions that are referred to here are productions like those directed by Ninagawa Yukio, who is a legend in the theatre world of Japan, or productions done by the theatre company Gekidan Shinkansen, which puts on grand-scale theatre productions on Toho and Shochiku stages.
In comparison, the genre of 2.5D is still considered to be a relatively new and niche genre and is generally unknown to the mainstream public. Therefore, taking this into account, the salaries for actors of 2.5D stages are likely to skew towards the “smaller productions” salary range.
In addition to that, most of the 2.5D-based actors still fall into the “young actor” (“wakate haiyuu”) category. At the age of 35 years with 12 years in the stage industry and approximately 100 productions under his belt, Suzuki Hiroki has only recently just shed the title of “young actor”.
As for Sato Ryuji, despite his talent and reputation, at the age of 25 years with only 7 years in the stage industry and approximately 40 productions under his belt (including stage franchise-based live concerts), he falls smack into the “young actor” category.
Although the exact salary of a 2.5D actor remains mostly unknown, information revealed by 2.5D actors can give a rough guide as to how much their salary is.
One such actor is Kitamura Ryo (27 years old with 6 years of stage industry experience), who is considered to be one of the actors with a top-tier popularity and who has acted in high profile 2.5D productions, like the “Touken Ranbu Stage”, the “Live Spectacle NARUTO”, “Osomatsu-san on STAGE” and “Ensemble Stars! On Stage”. On a show that was aired in May 2017, it was estimated that his highest salary a month is roughly equivalent to the price of a luxury watch in Japan. However, because stage actors are paid per production, he revealed that there were also months when he had only 10,000 yen (USD 90) as savings.
OTHER FACTORS THAT CONTRIBUTE DIRECTLY TO A STAGE ACTOR'S SALARY, FOCUSING ON 2.5D
Ticket sales. Every production has a certain ticket sales quota that they have to meet (to ensure that the production can pay for the production costs, venue rental etc.) and whether the actors get paid at all often depends on whether this quota is met. The actor might be a hugely popular actor with a high earning rate, but if the production can’t meet its ticket sales quota, there is a chance that the actor still might not get paid. In reverse, if the ticket sales are really good, the actor might get a certain amount as a bonus from the ticket sales.
Bromide sales. One of the more commonly sold merchandise for 2.5D productions is bromides, which are actor/character photos. Bromide sales are incredibly important for stage actors because:
- The actor actually directly gets some of the earnings from the sales of their character bromides.
- The popularity of the bromides (ie. number of bromides sold) is often used as an indicator of the actor’s own demand and popularity, which means that if their character bromide sells well, it can lead to higher pay and potential future jobs.
In conclusion,
- When taking into consideration the amount of time and physical work they have to put in, the salary for a stage actor is acknowledged to be fairly low.
- The nature of how they’re paid also means that they could be working for months (like rehearsals) without getting paid, and so, their salary is pretty unstable.
- Even within the category of stage acting careers, the salaries for 2.5D actors are likely to generally skew towards the lower range.
- For fans who would like to financially support their favourite actors but can’t afford the more expensive methods of financial support, buying character bromides is a recommended way to do so as character bromides are some of the cheapest merchandises and some of the earnings from the sales goes directly to the actor. For international fans, there are proxies that offer the service of purchasing items from events, which would provide the opportunity to buy the bromides directly from the stage venue and not second-hand. Please find a list of proxy services available for Japan: HERE