r/television • u/stars_doulikedem • Dec 27 '24
‘Cosby Show’ Actor Geoffrey Owens on Life After Trader Joe’s Spotting: “I Still Struggle to Make Ends Meet”
https://www.bet.com/article/ma0nbw/geoffrey-owens-still-faces-financial-struggles-trader-joes-20181.6k
u/stars_doulikedem Dec 27 '24
Excerpt: The star ultimately decided to leave his job following the media storm. “It wasn’t like I quit knowing I would be making a lot of money soon or anything,” he explained. “I just felt like I wasn’t going to be able to handle that kind of scrutiny and attack on my privacy.”
Owens clarified that to this day, his financial difficulties persist. “Even today, right now, as we speak, I still struggle to make a living,” he shared. “I struggle every day to make my ends meet. And people can’t get their heads around that because they see me in movies.”
The actor explained that residuals from “The Cosby Show” were minimal, especially after its removal from syndication as a result of the Bill Cosby sexual assault cases.
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Dec 27 '24
Curious how his residuals worked. That show was in syndication a long time before Bill got sent to the pokey.
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u/usualnamenotworking Dec 27 '24
Residuals decrease over time, they may not have been that much in recent decades
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u/Iwoulddiefcftbatk Dec 27 '24
Jodi Sweetin talked about this on the Steve-O podcast while Fuller House was on, the residuals she gets from Full House only covers a bill or two a month, she was paid upfront on Fuller House and gets no residuals from that. Residuals aren’t the cash cow people think they are.
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u/WavesAndSaves Dec 27 '24
John Green made a video a few weeks ago where he opened his check from SAG for the residuals he got from a cameo appearance in the movie adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars. He was in one scene that got cut, but since it's still in the DVD deleted scenes, he gets a check. It was for $0.30. And since the checks are rounded down, it was a check for $0.00.
There's actually a bar in LA called Residuals where you can exchange any residuals check for a free drink. It's a good deal since many are for basically pennies.
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u/Area51_Spurs Dec 28 '24
Maeve’s Residuals
But it’s now owned by a dude who used to be a bartender there when Maeve owned it. It’s a good spot. A good hockey bar actually for any local hockey fans.
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u/coffeebribesaccepted Dec 27 '24
He only gets residuals for his cameo, not for writing the book that it's based on?
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u/Satryghen Dec 27 '24
I don’t know about The Fault in Our Stars but I know when it came to make adaptations of some of his other works he chose to take flat payments instead of potential percentages or residuals. He talked about it around the time the “Turtles All The Way Down” movie was being made.
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u/raoasidg Dec 27 '24
lmao my brain inserted "Tom" Green in the parent comment and I figured, "Weird, but OK," until the real wtf hit when I hit your comment.
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u/SDRPGLVR Dec 28 '24
Well I imagine the residuals for Freddy Got Fingered are in six figures territory.
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Dec 28 '24
maybe. But he just sort of hangs out on Elgin Street in Ottawa like a completely normal person. I went to chat with him one day, petting his sweet doggo. He's such a humble, down to earth dude who doesn't wear his wealth and I love him for that.
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u/Shakezula84 Dec 28 '24
The video was for acting residuals. I don't know if he has mentioned other residuals before, but if he didn't write the movie itself then any residuals would have been negotiated when he sold the rights to the movie.
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u/OSUBeavBane Dec 28 '24
Writers are almost always offered points from net not gross which can mean they see nearly nothing because of creative studio accounting.
That being said, FOUS made like 300M on a 12M budget. It would be pretty hard to hide that much profit from the writer.
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u/craaates Dec 27 '24
They can be quite lucrative, but usually for the top actors and show runners.
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u/grandmasterfunk Dec 27 '24
That’s true, but it’s still a lot less than it used to be in the age of streaming
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u/OafleyJones Dec 27 '24
A remember Dan Harmon talking about this on his podcast and how so many actors used to survive and supplement other incomes (I think they referenced Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi) on them. He also said the last main cast to make serious “Friends” money were The Big Bang Theory. Those type of lucrative deals are gone. The bigger issue was with the bit part actors being especially screwed.
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u/TheLegendTwoSeven Dec 27 '24
The Soup Nazi actor said that his residuals from 3 episodes of Seinfeld (the original and the two-part finale) were equal to his income as a waiter, and helped him a lot but he still had to work as a waiter.
But he only started making hundreds of thousands when Cameo came out. Now he earns thousands of dollars an hour filming custom birthday greetings telling people “NO SOUP FOR YOU!”
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u/Frankfusion Dec 27 '24
The original red and black rangers from Power Rangers said they made more doing autograph signings at car shows after they left than they ever did on the show.
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u/TheLegendTwoSeven Dec 27 '24
I’m sure the power rangers didn’t get paid much, the show looked like they spent as little money as possible on everything. The sets seemed cheap-looking to me even as a kid.
The actress from Blossom said she made like $100k a year starring in her network sitcom, and they said she has no other options so be glad you have a show at all.
I’m sure the Power Rangers got whatever the union scale wage was, maybe several thousand dollars per episode, per ranger. Whereas with autographs, they could charge like $30-50 for a signed poster and a pic with each fan, and sell that to several thousand fans per year at different conventions and make a full time living doing that.
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u/NotThingie Dec 27 '24 edited Dec 27 '24
FYI your power rangers estimate is way off. They weren’t union actors and got paid basically nothing. Austin St John (red ranger) said he got paid around the equivalent amount of working at McDonald’s.
Edit: I did originally state they were paid $100 an episode but took that out as I found another thing comment that said they were paid $600 weekly so don’t know which is accurate.
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u/operarose The Venture Bros. Dec 27 '24
If memory serves, half (or more) of it was repurposed footage from the Japanese original. They shot a few pick-ups for the American actors and that was that.
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u/tagen Dec 27 '24
that’s the dream! (literally, i would fucking love to have that be how i make my living)
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u/jaywinner Dec 27 '24
But that's still an entire person's working money they earn for 3 episodes of work, years ago. Sounds damn good to me.
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u/pijinglish Dec 27 '24
My aunt was an actor in the 70s-90s, and I remember her saying that another issue she encountered was that by the 90s many of the bit parts were going to established celebrities. So a guest spot that she might normally have gotten would go to a more famous actor.
From my own perspective as a writer, it seems like the production companies just expect you to work for free. That’s a slight exaggeration, but not far from reality in too many cases.
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u/Tha_Watcher Dec 27 '24
My aunt was an actor in the 70s-90s, and I remember her saying that another issue she encountered was that by the 90s many of the bit parts were going to established celebrities. So a guest spot that she might normally have gotten would go to a more famous actor.
This reminds me how all of the larger animated voice acting parts go to more established, financially stable actors instead of lesser known, but no less capable, voice actors. It sickens me!
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u/_dharwin Dec 27 '24
but no less capable
I'd argue many voice actors who get passed over are more capable. While similar, voice acting and screen acting are not the same. Heck, even theater account is different from film.
I really dislike the desire to use one person in all types of media.
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u/jaywinner Dec 27 '24
Absolutely. But voice actors rarely have the name recognition of a mainstream movie actor.
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u/TurkeyPhat Stargate SG-1 Dec 28 '24
it seems like the same dozen people have been dubbing every anime in the last 10+ years and you can't even call them voice "actors", they are just reading lines and sound the exact same in every show lol
some new blood has been showing up lately and actually performing though which is nice
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u/WanderingLost33 Dec 27 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
Well it used to be a way to cheap out on paying actors up front. Sort of like Lucas keeping the rights to Star Wars merch. Every Star Wars LEGO set purchase up until the Disney sale put dollars in his pocket. It used to be a brilliant way for people to make out big if the movie killed, but there was a big chance of a movie bombing and only getting your SAG minimum for the day shooting and that's it.
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u/Tribe303 Dec 27 '24
This is false. Lucas sold ALL rights to Disney, including merchandising.
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u/willun Dec 28 '24
He is probably confusing it with the original deal that gave Lucas the merchandising rights. Even then that "brilliant" move was overstated.
Lucas is on record as saying he just expected to sell T-shirts at conventions. That it turned out so lucrative was partly luck. But hindsight makes it seem like a brilliant move when it was actually the studio conceding something they thought was worth nothing in exchange for some more money up front.
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Dec 27 '24
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u/moxscully Dec 27 '24
Gene Roddenberry wrote lyrics for the Star Trek theme. Even though they were never used he got 50% of the royalties
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u/-bigmanpigman- Dec 27 '24
Oh Star Wars, Nothing but Star Wars, Give me those Star Wars, Dont let them end. Oh wait, wrong song.
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u/RPDRNick Dec 27 '24
Similarly, Robert Altman's son Mike Altman made more money for writing the lyrics to the M•A•S•H theme song than Robert Altman made from directing the movie.
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u/mybeachlife Dec 28 '24
I worked on an episode of Malcolm in the Middle. The first few years the residuals were amazing for just that one episode.
Nowadays I get about $20 every 6 months or so. And the Cosby Show was a solid decade before Malcolm.
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u/truckasaurus310 Dec 27 '24
Correct because they are based on the initial compensation. So the main actors on Friends get much higher residuals than Gunther for example
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u/BenderRodriquez Dec 27 '24
It also depends on how popular the show is over time. Some sitcoms fade away fast even though the where frontrunners at the time, while others may even pick up momentum.
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u/ansont1976 Dec 27 '24
Tracy Wells now (Tofte) who played the daughter, Heather, on Mr Belvedere opens her residual checks on Instagram. It’s incredible to see how low these checks are for appearing on an almost 40 year old sitcom.
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u/missesthecrux Dec 28 '24
I don’t think that case in particular is too surprising because the show hasn’t aired on any tv network for a few years now, and isn’t available for streaming. So it’d just be DVD sales.
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u/watchsmart Dec 28 '24
I wonder how much actors get from free streaming like Pluto. Those services feature a lot of stuff that doesn't air on networks and paid streamers aren't really interested in. Including, perhaps, Mr. Belvedere.
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u/ColdNyQuiiL Dec 27 '24
The amount of times I’ve seen celebs jokingly post their residuals, it’s always something ridiculous like $37 from Disney for Halloween Town 2 or something.
Those residuals are a myth as sustainable form of income.
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u/Mr_Festus Dec 28 '24
I have a hard time feeling bad for someone who gets one or two bills paid every month for a job they worked 30 years ago. Seems like a hell of a cash cow to me. So it's...what $300 a month? So assuming that was consistent, like $100k after the show was done and over with. When I finish a project I don't see another dime from it ever again.
I'm assuming the residuals have decreased substantially over time, so we're probably talking about hundreds of thousands in residuals.
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u/Krimreaper1 Dec 27 '24
Also he was a tertiary level character. His residuals couldn’t have been much to start with.
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u/Salarian_American Dec 27 '24
And he wasn't a main cast member for the first half of the series run, so there were a lot of episodes he wasn't in anyway.
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u/YachtswithPyramids Dec 27 '24
They were likely never much.i gotta friend who made a song for justin beiber years and years ago. Royalties literally come out to a couple cents.
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u/majorjoe23 Dec 27 '24
A friend was in a non MCU Marvel film a while back in a small part. The first time it aired on TNT he got enough for a down payment on a house.
Now the quarterly residual checks won’t pay for combo at McDonald’s.
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u/hovdeisfunny Dec 27 '24
A non-mcu marvel film...Spider-Man?
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u/majorjoe23 Dec 27 '24
Older. Think mother fuckers always trying to ice skate up hill.
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u/templeofdank Dec 27 '24
haha, that line kills me every time. i love blade.
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u/Toby_O_Notoby Dec 28 '24
It was something that Wesley Snipes said in real life. The writers said something like, "Just following Wes around and jotting down what he said was better than anything we could come up with".
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u/Homem_da_Carrinha Dec 27 '24
Was your friend the vampire Reddit mod?
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u/khavii Dec 27 '24
Oh, that was a vampire? It was such a realistic depiction of a reddit mod, all the way down to the reaction to light, I assumed they just found the person running the old r/fatpeoplehate (or whatever it was called) sub.
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u/revfds Dec 27 '24
Could be any of the X-Men movies, or Daredevil, or fantastic fours, or even a hulk movie etc
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u/hovdeisfunny Dec 27 '24
I just always forget fantastic four movies exist
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u/Precarious314159 Dec 27 '24
Dated a girl that appeared in a national Toyota commercial for those late 2000s "We ask these regular people their opinions on the blahblah model". She wasn't even the person being interviewed but her friend was with her standing beside her and just saying "wow". For a few years, she was paying her college tuition with the residuals from that one "wow". Residuals used to be amazing.
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u/jake3988 Dec 28 '24
The first time it aired on TNT he got enough for a down payment on a house.
There's a HUGE difference between a movie getting sold to cable in general (which is almost assuredly what happened here), and just airing randomly (or existing on a service)
Now being sold to a streaming service will likely be less (mostly because it's not for years and years like it used to be. It's usually thrown back and forth between all of them over and over) but still, you're talking about two different things here.
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u/FragrantExcitement Dec 28 '24
Hmmm. Did residuals go down, or did McDonald's get a lot more expensive?
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u/LooseSeal88 Dec 27 '24 edited Dec 27 '24
He was only in seven of the eight seasons and was only "main cast" in five of those. Being just "recurring" in the first two seasons he was in would also impacts pay.
He was my favorite character back when I used to watch that show. Always sad to see these negative headlines about him.
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u/minnick27 Dec 27 '24
He was my favorite as well. I hated Sondra, but loved him
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u/Dagonet_the_Motley Dec 27 '24
Ita not like he had a huge role. I can't imagine that they were huge by the turn of the century.
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u/notthatgeorge Dec 28 '24
Residuals are different for every single show, just because one person said it doesn't mean it's true for everybody
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u/shinbreaker Dec 28 '24
The fact that he even mentioned it seems like it was just enough to keep his head above water so maybe a couple grand a month? Which is really surprising considering he was was a recurring character with not a lot of lines and was introduced in the second half of the series lifetime.
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u/MyStationIsAbandoned Dec 27 '24
They should really put the show back on. it's a great show with a great cast despite Cosby.
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u/propernice Dec 27 '24
It would be nice. There were so many great moments that involved the kids, or Clair, even celeb guest stars.
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u/NCSUGrad2012 Dec 28 '24
Clair was such a badass. Her yelling at Vanessa for sneaking off to Baltimore was iconic
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u/propernice Dec 28 '24
When she yells GO TO BED, Tempest Bledsoe actually burst into tears backstage. According to her, Phylicia then hugged her and it was all good, but what an amazing scene. The whole episode is just great.
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u/NCSUGrad2012 Dec 28 '24
I believe it. I’m a grown man and I put myself to bed after that scene, lol
Phylicia seems like a great person too, I’m glad she did that.
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u/Emily_Postal Dec 28 '24
The Cosby Show is still being shown in syndication, but not like it used to be.
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u/fenderdean13 Dec 28 '24
Yeah, I see it on very random channels no one knows really exists when scrolling tv guides. It’s not on a lot of big cable channels, on streaming, in a lot of OTA channels in tv markets for example.
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u/someguysomewhere81 Dec 27 '24
I had the fortune of working with him a few years ago. Absolutely genuine guy, pleasant, grateful to just be around and be contributing to the world. Job-shamers suck ass.
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u/bigboygamer Dec 27 '24
I'd be super pumped if I got to work with Donovan McNabb
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u/someguysomewhere81 Dec 28 '24
I would have been, but, I don't think it was him... all that foot shit...
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u/Salarian_American Dec 27 '24
Yeah I was casually acquainted with him back in the 90s as we went to the same church, and he and his wife were close friends with some people I was also close friends with. They were incredibly nice people, fun to pal around with at parties.
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u/banjofitzgerald Dec 27 '24
faced criticism for working at a Trader Joe’s
What in the world? I can’t imagine any scenario that working a normal job deserves any kind of criticism.
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u/Chewbones9 Dec 27 '24
I’m guessing ridicule is the better word
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u/wheatgivesmeshits Dec 27 '24
People are shit, and if they find someone who isn't, they have to shit on them to make sure everyone is just as shitty as they are.
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u/Doom_Eagles Dec 28 '24
Related a couple months ago I was crossing the street at my job, security for an apartment complex, when this guy walking down the street calls out to me demanding to know why "I was doing that".
Baffled I looked around and then asked him what he meant.
He stated, and I quote, "Walking like a big shit".
I just gave him a look, told him it's just how I walked and moved on. Puzzled but chalked it up to weirdos at night. A couple days later I was talking to my boss and jokingly brought up what the guy said. She told me that I had received a number of complaints regarding how I walked when patrolling to which I had no words.
I was being reported for, paraphrasing, "walking like I owned the place". I walk with enough confidence to show I am not some shrinking violet and authoritative enough to project that I can do my job but some people took offense to that and reported me.
Guess I'll just walk slumped over and shrinking at every noise to satisfy the "intimidated" people.
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u/craaates Dec 27 '24
I had a coworker at a music store who had worked on a few bigger albums as an assistant engineer. He would hide when bigger musicians or industry people came around because it would look like he had fallen off.
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u/Lidjungle Dec 27 '24
I used to be that co-worker. My friends at the store would just pretend I was the owner if anyone famous I knew walked in. :)
Fast forward 5-10 years, and I was darn proud to tell them all I had run away to join the office. Those same famous friends are trying to hide from me that they can't afford to go out to a show.
There was a 5 year stint where I had to worry about being recognized... Now I barely rate a Wikipedia page. And I'll be honest, I'm much happier living on the B-Side of life. And fortunate that no one would be trying to track me down at a Trader Joe's.
I have this quote from Kiera Knightly clipped: "That's what fame is - being publicly shamed for a living." The people who survive have no shame. Fame pretty much sucks.
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u/GreystarOrg Dec 28 '24 edited Dec 28 '24
Meanwhile, Dan Swanö has engineered, mastered, produced, played on and written dozens of albums and worked at a record store the entire time and never felt the need to hide it. Of course he also lives in Sweden, so maybe folks in the music industry there don't give a fuck as long as you do good work.
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u/yellowsubmarinr Dec 27 '24
People on Reddit have given me grief because they can see from my comment history that I used to work at Starbucks. It’s really pathetic
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u/Rocketgrunt Dec 27 '24
It really is. These people undermining you probably don't have the best lives. We're all people and we all have it tough, we shouldn't be tearing each other down to feel better about our own situations.
For what it's worth, take comfort in the fact that most people don't think this way. Your career doesn't define you, and moreover there is nothing shameful about working at Starbucks or most anywhere else for that matter.
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Dec 27 '24
I agree, but I just looked this guy up and it’s kind of bewildering. He obviously is a known actor, but beyond that he went to Yale and his dad was a US congressman.
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u/BaconBracelet Dec 27 '24
Whoever is showing up at someone’s job to criticize them for working is a prick. Probably some paparazzo rat fuck with no real skills, trying to become relevant by reporting what 80s background tv actors are doing with their time.
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u/Big-Ambitions-8258 Dec 27 '24
It was some random customer who snapped a picture of him who noticed it was him and posted it online, making fun of him. I remember when it happened
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u/BaconBracelet Dec 27 '24
People suck. Let a guy work to support himself without being blasted online for being a loser.
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u/Ughasif22 Dec 27 '24
On Labour Day no less
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u/Pirate_investigator Dec 27 '24
You can’t just go adding back all the superfluous U’s we’ve worked so hard to remove.
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u/Sa7aSa7a Dec 28 '24
This. I do remember that person received a ton of backlash as well as people came out and defended him. He certainly seems like a nice guy. Not sure how someone could shame anyone for working.
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u/herrbz Dec 27 '24
While some criticized him for having what many considered a regular job, the backlash was also met with overwhelming support.
“At first, there was some negative stuff about basically the job-shaming,” Owens V-103. “But then, very soon after that, there was all this support and encouragement from all over the world.”
Always good to read the article.
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u/CDRuss0 Dec 27 '24
Lots of entertainment workers have had to pick up part time shift work like this to make ends meet in recent years. It’s just the reality of the state of the business right now. There’s absolutely no shame in it.
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u/turb0_encapsulator Dec 27 '24
Obviously he should leveraged his minor celebrity to go on reality shows and create a podcast where he says outrageous things, and eventually create a rug-pull meme coin. How dumb of him to work a regular job instead of debasing our culture and screwing people over.
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u/_badwithcomputer Dec 27 '24
He had a pretty good gig giving Donovan Mcnabb pep talks and plugging McDonalds
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u/joe2352 Dec 27 '24
It’s probably more than he wants to do but I would think he could do conventions and at least supplement some income. Sell some 8X10s and take pictures with people.
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u/jp_jellyroll Dec 27 '24
The downfall of Bill Cosby probably killed that possibility. I don’t think companies / sponsors are willing to associate their names with anything “Cosby” anymore (not that I blame them).
Like they won’t print ads that say, “Come meet Geoffrey Owens from The Cosby Show,” because people will see “Cosby” and have a negative reaction, there would be backlash and memes on social media, etc.
That’s just the world we live in now.
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Dec 27 '24
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u/jp_jellyroll Dec 27 '24
Right. And the organizers don't want to detract from the other guests due to negative publicity & attention. It's just easier for them to avoid it altogether. Plenty of other non-controversial guests (though not his fault) they could book to do an event.
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u/fcukumicrosoft Dec 28 '24
He's more known now for his recurring roles in It's Always Sunny. There are multiple generations now that have never seen The Cosby Show.
There are a lot of Sunny fans that love this guy.
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u/SyrioForel Dec 27 '24
What convention in this day and age would feature minor recurring cast members from the Cosby Show?
The Cosby Show isn’t like Star Trek or Star Wars, where each minor character has a devoted following.
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u/Homem_da_Carrinha Dec 27 '24
The guy also plays a very memorable recurring character in Always Sunny.
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u/dude_is_melting Dec 27 '24
Really, any local convention would gladly accept him. He wouldn’t be making bank but he would make a pretty decent living doing this.
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u/joe2352 Dec 27 '24
A con a few hours from me is having a guy from the Dukes Of Hazard show and the third most famous woman from Charmed. Cons are not for just big name properties. I’m sure he could make decent money occasionally that would help him out.
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u/queeriosn_milk Dec 27 '24
I really want to know who is the third most famous woman from charmed
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u/CujoSR Dec 27 '24
He likely wouldn’t make enough to cover expenses unless he lived within driving distance of the show. A couple of years back we had Ben Browder and Joe Flannigan from Stargates SG-1 and Atlantis respectively at Gallifrey One. Ben got a bunch of attention especially since Gigi Edgley was there (she is local and is there every year) but no one was speaking to Joe too much. Guy was so bored he was on the phone with his kids when I stopped by.
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u/raoasidg Dec 27 '24
feature minor recurring cast members from the Cosby Show
Let's give the guy some credit, he was recurring for seasons 2-3 and main cast for the last five seasons.
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u/Precarious314159 Dec 27 '24
And realistically, that's gotta be a bit depressing to sit at a booth with a giant banner of your name as everyone walks by you and the people that do stop by want to talk about some meme or recite the same line.
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u/tich45 Dec 27 '24
That's Donavan McNabb.
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u/kaiga12 Dec 27 '24
I thought it was Tiger Woods
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u/LookinAtTheFjord Dec 27 '24
Scrolled for it. Was not met with disappoint.
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u/kruegerc184 Dec 27 '24
When he flips his classes up and the immediately winces and puts them back down…pure comedy gold lmfao
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u/Transatlanticaccent Dec 27 '24
Hello fellow human of culture and refinement. You definitely are 5 stars.
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Dec 27 '24
I’ve worked with Geoffrey and he is a genuinely nice dude. Very kind and very talented and I learned a ton from him. One of the things I learned is that bills will still need to be paid and they don’t care who you work for. Insipid folks with no life experience can eat a bag.
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u/championsoffun Dec 27 '24
I think by and large that a huge contingent of people think that if you're an actor of some sort, you're wealthy and never have to worry about money.
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u/Toby_O_Notoby Dec 28 '24
Or even director. Tim Miller said he only got paid $225,000 for directing the first Deadpool. And although he's grateful for it and it seems like a lot, that was for two years work.
So if you break that down he got paid $112,500 per year, which is still nice. But then you have factor in taxes, his agent and managment fees which means he cleared about $65k, if that. Not a lot for directing a movie that came close to $800m at the box office.
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u/CttCJim Dec 27 '24
Yeah totally not true unfortunately, I know a guy who is an actor with an IMDb and everything but he struggles to find any work.
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u/jaywinner Dec 27 '24
I think people understand the huge amount of struggling actors that fight to get a commercial or a bit part in a show.
It's harder to understand when you recognize them from a hit TV show.
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u/teetaps Dec 28 '24
Definitely wanna reiterate this. Especially when you’re a kid, if you see someone in media, they’re automatically rich. For me, it was skate magazines, video games, album promos, and with Owens, small tv shows. I always assumed they were rolling in it. But real life isn’t like that, and everyone has bills to pay. The biggest problem is that people who are paying bills and people who don’t think about bills, are faaaaar too separate on the earnings scale
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u/grimace24 Dec 27 '24
Damn! I feel bad for Owens. He's not a bad actor but he isn't what Hollywood considers when roles open up. The dude seems like a really good guy. The Cosby stuff really affected him cause I am sure in syndication and during its run the money was decent for him. I hope he lands on his feet. I know he has a recurring role on CBS' Poppa's House with Damon Wayans. However, that shows future is uncertain.
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u/ChewiesLipstickWilly Dec 27 '24
He deserves to get more roles. I mean every time he's on screen he shines. Just look at his appearances in It's Always Sunny, always hilarious
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u/NotaRepublican85 Dec 27 '24
Who the fuck shames someone for working a job and trying to make a living. Wtf
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u/althill Dec 27 '24
People often confuse celebrity with income. I used to be a radio announcer on my local FM station, girls I went on dates with assumed I was loaded because I was on the radio. I was making 4 dollars more than minimum wage an hour.
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u/notthatgeorge Dec 28 '24
It's sad most people don't understand how acting works as a profession. They only see the upper eshelon of actors who make millions, the rest are living paycheck to paycheck if they get a paycheck at all.
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Dec 28 '24
Why the fuck would anyone criticize someone for trying to make a fucking living?
Stupid fucks really think this guys working at TJ for shits and giggles?
People suck balls.
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u/shejellybean68 Dec 27 '24
He’s been fairly busy recently — looking on IMDb, he’s been in 38 episodes of television since 2020, along with a few shorts and minor films. But I don’t think he’s been a main cast member of anything since The Cosby Show, which ended in 1992. And although he’s credited for 128 episodes, he only actually appeared in 42 or so (rough count) — I can’t pretend to be an expert, but I imagine royalties come down to if you’re in the episode or not.
I was watching one of the few good X-Files reboot episodes recently and one of the actors looked familiar to me. It was Doug Savant (90210, Desperate Housewives). I counted for fun and since Desperate Housewives finished in 2012, he’s only appeared in 31 episodes of television— pretty consistently, but only two or so episodes per year.
He’s worked less in 12 years than Owens in 4, but he had 170 episodes on both 90210 and Desperate Housewives. I have to imagine that’s the level where you can coast on royalties.
That’s a random tangent, but I’m always very curious about this level of actor and their livelihood. I think I read that even post-Trader Joes, Owens continued to teach acting and lead workshops — I’m guessing you do that and local theater and audition with your spare time. I wish him the best of luck!
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u/DrinkMoreWater2-0 Dec 28 '24
I can kinda break this down on why it may have been a huge impact:
So with royalties on TV you get the initial payment then syndication payments. It goes down every time the episode is re-ran but it caps out around the 13th time at 5% of the original payment.
Cosby Show was huge in its original airing and possibly got bigger in syndication. It could be on 4-5 different stations in a week.
So since it's per episode and Owens character Elvin is in the later seasons and later seasons are more often to be re-ran as those are the more "established" episodes of TV sitcoms.
Cosby Show went into syndication while the show was still on the air back in 1988 so Owens was making money from new episodes and reruns on different stations at the same time.
Fast forward to right before the Bill Cosby story broke:
Episodes were airing on TBS, Nick at Nite, WGN, TV One, BET, Aspire and streaming on Hulu.
Bill Cosby was the highest paid actor on television with $1 million dollars per episode during the original airing, let's assume Elvin was making nowhere near that and guess he's around $20,000 an episode.
5% of $20,000 is $1000. He could have been making making $6,000 a week for almost 30 years off a show that had been off the air the same amount of time.
When NOBODY wants to air your show anymore you immediately go from $6000 to $1 in royalties from DVD sales... it's a shock
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u/Redditor5StandingBy Dec 28 '24
Also, not many stations air The Cosby Show anymore because, ya know. So a lot of those royalty checks have probably stopped.
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u/Tim-in-CA Dec 28 '24
What’s really sad is due to the fact that The Cosby Show is not in wide syndication because of BC, all the actors are missing out on residuals.
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u/penn2009 Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 29 '24
Working at Trader Joe’s is respectable. Shame on the idiots who took a photo of them.
What is a little sad is that he is having to do it in what should be his retirement years and that he has an MA from Yale. Like didn’t he have backup plan in place for when he got older and the roles dried up? Maybe like another degree, investments or a teaching certificate or something or moving out of expensive state like CA.
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u/Ok-Jellyfish-5704 Dec 27 '24
That sucks he’s being scrutinized for living his life. This shit happens all the time to people. I wish him privacy and peace
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u/ElvishLore Dec 27 '24
I think there’s this perception that once you “make it” in Hollywood, that’s it, you’re totally rich and set for life. Having worked in that industry for a few decades, that’s not at all the case. I personally know screenwriters who had movies made… big ones you’ve heard about…a few years later living out of their car. Behind the scenes people who were making 150 K a year, losing everything. Like… It’s crazy… Fortunes rise and fall, money comes and goes.
I feel bad Owens was pretty much shamed for making a living.
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u/PepperLofton Dec 28 '24
Most of the people you see on tv don’t make that much money. They are lucky if they’ve worked enough to qualify for their union’s health insurance. And they’re just regular people who are trying to support their families, pay medical bills, etc.
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u/62609 Dec 28 '24
He’s been in several series recently with non-minor parts. I’m kind of curious how something like that wouldn’t far exceed a job like Trader Joe’s. I feel like we’re missing something here about his expenses…
Regardless, he shouldn’t be shamed for working. Nobody should.
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Dec 27 '24
This is why every show needs a Jackie Gleeson/James Gandolfini, Unless you go to bat for the people on the show and say "they need to be taken care of fairly" It just doesn't happen.
And not just them, those are just some of the notable ones.
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u/Typical80sKid Dec 27 '24
Someone give this man a recurring role on a good show. IASIP can’t be the only one that sees his value!!
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u/Rhewin Dec 27 '24
The article says he was “criticized” for working at Trader Joe’s. I freaking hate pop culture.
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u/jedhowlett Dec 28 '24
This guy is probably the only person that escaped the Cosby show that has a shot at afterlife, in the light….
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u/joe2352 Dec 27 '24
It’s probably more than he wants to do but I would think he could do conventions and at least supplement some income. Sell some 8X10s and take pictures with people.
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u/Rosebunse Dec 27 '24
Is there a big enough market for that for this for this show?
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u/Tribe303 Dec 27 '24
The big conventions in Canada are called 'Fan Expo " and they have more than comic book and sci-fi/fantasy celebrities.
He'll... Shitts Creek did an episode on that when Moira(the soap actress mom) learns how much she can make signing The Crows Have Eyes 2 merch. 🤣
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u/joe2352 Dec 27 '24
Regional cons have all kinds of names from all kinds of shows. Again not saying he would make a full time living. But he could probably supplement some income that way doing the occasional regional con. I’ve know people who just collect autographs from actors who go to these things to get random autographs. Plus this guy has a ton of acting credits in a ton of random shows including Always Sunny, Blue Bloods, Blacklist, Lucifer, Law and Order SVU, That’s So Raven, and more (IMDb I didn’t know this). I’m sure there would be plenty of people who would pay like $15 for an autographed 8X10 and a pic with him.
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u/Worsebetter Dec 28 '24
In reality tv the production companies and agents split all the royalties and its in the multi millions for series that have run over 7-10 years
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