Terrance Howard, who starred in the popular show Empire for its entire 6-season run, has filed a lawsuit against CAA, claiming he was underpaid and alleging a conflict of interest in the agency’s handling of his salary. The show was a massive success, garnering numerous nominations and awards, per The Hollywood Reporter.Despite the success of Empire, Terrence Howard claims that his contract, negotiated by CAA, only paid him $325,000 per episode during the peak of the show’s popularity, reports added.
The actor revealed,
“I was never given a producer credit even though I rewrote most of the scenes and acted in the capacity of producer.”
Terrence Howard accuses CAA of a conflict of interest, claiming that the agency, representing the show’s creators and production company, provided him with false information about salaries, leading to him being underpaid compared to other actors of similar fame such as Jon Hamm in Mad Man or Kevin Spacey in House of Cards.
He expressed,
“I trusted CAA to look after me, and they looked after themselves.”
The lawsuit also alleged that the agency’s refusal to negotiate in Howard’s best interest was racially biased.
“Discovery will show that this was racism. You won’t find in Discovery that a white actor — Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-nominated — was treated like that,”
said Howard’s legal team.
“CAA simply told Howard, ‘We’re not going to take the 10 percent agency fee this time because we packaged things together.’ In reality, it was a terrible thing because they had no incentive to fight for this man when he demanded to have his salary negotiated comparable to every other lead white actor out there,”
they continued.
Howard’s legal team also criticized CAA and other agencies for their involvement in packaging fees, where agents receive direct payment from studios for securing famous actors for a writer’s project.
“Over the last several years, agencies have become much more powerful and found a much more lucrative way of making money. It’s by being the packaging agent, where you represent actors, producers, production companies and your own financial interest. That’s where that fiduciary duty begins to break down. That’s why we’re here today,”
they added.
#Clique, what are your thoughts?
