The new season of the most popular show on television, the CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory," is set to begin production on July 30, but that may not happen if contracts for the majority of the show's cast aren't renegotiated soon.
Deadline reports most of the cast, including Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar, were all working under contracts that expired last season and have yet to be renegotiated. The only two actors still under contract are the show's two relative newcomers, Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik, who renegotiated their contracts for substantial pay increases last fall.
It's a scenario similar to the cast contract negotiations in 2010 but with one major difference: in 2010 the cast were still under contract while negotiating, meaning they were required to work and film the next season as their respective teams worked on negotiating pay raises behind the scenes. No such contract exists this time, which means the actors are in no way obligated to show up on set. The five actors are all negotiating simultaneously, and if the two parties don't come to a deal soon production could start late.
Deadline writes the two parties are currently far apart with little talking between them, but says that even if production is delayed until after Labor Day that the show is still expected to be able to deliver an hour-long premiere on September 22. Deadline's sources don't believe it will come down to that, saying that Warner Bros. TV is known for waiting until the last minute to close deals, with substantial talks possibly coming next week between the two groups.
Under their previous contract, Parsons, Galecki and Cuoco each earned $350,000 an episode for season 7, with each also earning additional profits from .25 point of the series' backend. Deadline estimates that their new contracts could approach "Friends" territory, with each of the main five actors receiving close to $1 million an episode and an even larger take of the show's backend thanks to the shows massive popularity.
CBS and Warner Bros. TV renewed "The Big Bang Theory" for three more seasons in March, contingent on the cast returning. The show is regularly nominated for a slew of awards, with lead actor Jim Parsons winning the Emmys' "Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series" award multiple times for his role as the socially awkward yet brilliantly smart scientist Sheldon Cooper.
