How is an soap actor’s salary determined?

Is it more/less than other (non-soap)actors? Is it more/less on one soap or the other? Is it ever per-performance? If you are not a contract player but seldom on (ie Esther,)is your salary less even if you have been with the soap forever?

Do writers/story line-determine an actors salary? Do actors from no longer running evening shows (Jeffery, River etc)make more now because this is a soap, or because they are a star already ?

Do women soap stars make more money than men soap stars? If you have a contract with a soap and you are axed for a soap reason…does that make you more/less attractive to a rival soap?

Just Wondering…

The only thing I know is I read they get around $1200-$1400 per episode. In a year they could have been in 200-300 episodes. 200K-400K a year isn’t too bad. I think being a daytime soap actor is better then a primetime because you are working more and it’s more steady. So many primetime shows go off the air faster then they get started. The only downside is the soap actors only get about 10 days off a year since they film everyday.

At one time, the top daytime stars made a million a year, but that is when ratings were much higher. Today, most of the core long term players who are on nearing everyday are probably making no more than $750,000 a year. In contrast, new players start at $50,000 a year, in Hollywood, much less in NYC. The NYC soap opera actors say they are paid not to do Broadway, which means they don’t think they make much, excepting Erica Cane of course.

But the instability of their jobs isn’t worth it. They all sign contracts, yet they can be fired at the end of any 13 week period. I guess they can collect unemployment, but still imagine being uprooted just like that.

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