FROZEN Producers Offer Early Profit-Sharing Agreement to Actors

Following the unprecedented success of Hamilton, and the subsequent battle for compensation waged by the original cast, profit-sharing for actors and stage managers involved in the development process of a musical has become one of the hottest topics on Broadway.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Disney has made a pre-emptive attempt to skirt similar drama by offering a share of profits to involved actors before its developmental lab of Frozen.

E-mails sent to those slated to work in the lab (which begins later this month) explain alterations to the typical Development Lab Contract that include a $400 weekly salary increase, as well as a split of o.5% of the profits from the first three English-language productions for the first ten years of the profitability, to be split between all actors who work with the show from the upcoming month-long developmental lab through opening night. It is unclear whether this agreement covers the actors involved in an earlier two-week lab process, which occurred this past spring.

Under the once-standard Developmental Workshop contract, actors could typically expect to split 1% of the weekly profits, a practice left over from the history-making A Chorus Line agreement developed and championed by Michael Bennett to compensate the dancers who provided invaluable input during the creation of the Broadway classic.

This will mark the thirst time that Disney has had profit-sharing contracts in place. Aida paid an annual bonus to its development actors for each of its four years on Broadway. Tarzan and On The Record also had deals in place, but neither reached the thresholds for activation.

Although it is impossible to guarantee the success of Frozen's stage counterpart, the film has grossed 1.2 billion dollars at the global box office, which bodes well for the Broadway and future theatrical productions. At one point this year, Hamilton was rumored to be making $500,000 in net profits per week for the Broadway production alone. Should Frozen see the same kind of success, assuming the pool of actors receiving a profit share is of a similar size, actors covered under the offered deal could expect anywhere from $78-$234 per week, based on the number of productions running.

For the full Wall Street Journal article, click here.

FROZEN is scheduled to play an out-of-town tryout in August in Denver before premiering at Broadway's St. James Theatre in the spring of 2018. The theater is undergoing major renovations in order to accommodate the musical's large-scale production sets.

With music by Krisen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and a book by Jennifer Lee, the comedy adventure centers on fearless optimist Anna who sets off on an epic journey-teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven-to find her sister Elsa , whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom.

Disney's animated movie FROZEN won two Academy Awards (Best Animated Film and Best Original Song with "Let It Go") and a Golden Globe (Best Animated Feature Film). It is the fifth highest grossing film of all time and the highest grossing animated film. Released domestically on Nov. 27, 2013, FROZEN posted the No. 1 industry all-time Thanksgiving debut and Walt Disney Animation Studios' biggest opening ever. The FROZEN soundtrack is the top-selling album of 2014 to date and spent 33 weeks in the top 5 on the Billboard 200 chart, including 13 weeks at No. 1. It is certified triple Platinum.