What Happens To Matthew Perry's 'Friends' Royalties After His Death?

Matthew Perry passed away, but his legacy¡ªand his paycheck¡ªas Chandler Bing on Friends continue on, the latter in the form of hefty residual payments from the show's syndication and streaming.

Friends' cast is one of the highest-paid in television history, with each star earning $1 million per episode in their final seasons, plus re-run residuals. Discover what happens to Matthew Perry's friends residuals following his tragic and untimely death.

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What did the Friends' cast earn?

Every member of the Friends cast reportedly earns around $20 million each year. Each cast member¡ªPerry, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, and Courteney Cox¡ªreceives 2% of the show's yearly syndication revenue.

When did the cast get equal pay?

Despite Warner Bros.' preference for individual contracts with each star, the Friends cast banded together for Season 3 talks to guarantee pay parity (and rises) for all. The studio agreed to pay the cast members $75,000 per episode (a total of $1.875 million), which was the amount provided to the star with the lowest salary for the season.

Why did the cast collaborate for equal pay?

The collaboration of Aniston, LeBlanc, Cox, Perry, Schwimmer, and Kudrow set a pattern for later ensemble casts like The Big Bang Theory, whose stars employed collective bargaining in wage negotiations to achieve pay fairness for all of their participants.

How much do friends who repeat earn? The ensemble earns an estimated $120 million each year from reruns, with each cast member receiving approximately $20 million.

How will the friends' residual pay for Matthew Perry be distributed now?

Is Matthew Perry still receiving Friends residuals? Perry continued to collect Friends residuals until his death in October 2023. His residual payments will now go to his estate and/or the recipient or beneficiaries named in his will.

It's unclear who will receive Matthew Perry's Friends residuals, but if he had a will, he would have nominated a beneficiary for the payments. For instances like this, the SAG-AFTRA union has a residuals estate department.

When a union performer dies, the department is to be notified, and paperwork to transfer residual funds to the performer's selected dependents is to be sent. Because Perry was unmarried and had no children, it is probable that the beneficiaries are his parents; however, this has not been formally established.

In addition to assisting people with addiction issues, Perry converted his previous Malibu home into the Perry House, a sober living facility that operated until 2015.

"I would like to be remembered as somebody who lived well, loved well, and was a seeker," Perry stated in the 2022 interview. "And the most important thing about him is that he wants to help people. "That's exactly what I'm looking for."

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