Since he was hired as a writer (and later cast member) on Saturday Night Live in 2003, Jason Sudeikis has been putting in the work, pretty much non-stop. Between his years on SNL, his ever-growing resume of movie roles, and some savvy real estate investments over the years, Jason had already amassed an impressive net worth by the time he landed his real money-making gig as the star of Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso (more on just how high that payday is in a bit).
And now? Now his net worth is skyrocketing.
Yep, $25 million. While not a ton of information is available about his specific salaries on different projects over the years, his high-profile contract for the third season of Ted Lasso was so enormous it made headlines all on its own.
What does Jason Sudeikis make for Ted Lasso?
From day one, Ted Lasso has been a massive payday for Jason, who is estimated to have earned $250,000 to $300,000 (and by some reports as much as $400,000) per episode during the show’s first two seasons. When it came time to renegotiate his contract for season three, however, Apple TV+ gave the actor a big pay bump, increasing his salary to around $1 million per episode. “The sum also includes creator fees and compensation for his role as the show’s head writer and exec producer,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
To be fair though, it sounds like Jason more than earned the increased salary since he’s said that, in terms of runtime, season 3 (which is rumored to be the show’s final season) is actually almost like two seasons on its own.
“If anything, the endeavor took as long as it did because of just how dense the stories are,” he told Variety. “…And so while we’re flattered by the curiosity of ‘Is this the final season,’ the fact is that content-wise, if you just go by running time, this season has a Season 4 within itself.”
Of course, thanks to his higher salary, Jason *could* have more incentive to sign on for a potential Ted Lasso season 4, which we would be completely here for.
How much did Jason Sudeikis make for SNL?
Like we said, not a lot of Jason’s non-Ted Lasso salary info is public, but we can make some educated guesses about his earnings back in his Saturday Night Live days, based on some general information about SNL cast salaries.
In most cases, SNL reportedly gives pre-determined pay bumps to cast members based on how many years they’ve appears on the show. It’s hard to guess what Jason’s salary was during his first two years at SNL when he was strictly behind-the-scenes as a writer, but in 2005, he made his debut on screen and was eligible for the show’s standard first-year cast member salary, which Celebrity Net Worth says is currently about $7,000 per episode, or $147,000 per season. In their second season, cast members get a raise to $8,000 per episode (which comes out to $168,000 per season) and then they get another bump for their fifth anniversary, when they start to pull in $15,000 per episode (or $315,000 per season).
NBC’s current standard SNL pay scale reportedly tops out at around $25,000 per episode, which works out to $525,000 per year (but there are outliers—Kenan Thompson, who has been a member of the cast for a record 20 seasons, is estimated to earn $2-3 million per year now, after his literally two decades of salary negotiations and raises).
Jason spent nine seasons as an SNL cast member before leaving in 2013, and, based on the current SNL salary scale, safe estimates of his earnings during his time performing on the show would range anywhere from about $2.5 million to $3.4 million (with the lowest end of that assuming he got no more raises after his fifth season and the highest end assuming he immediately got bumped to SNL‘s standard max in his sixth season and earned that until his exit).
He also does brand endorsements.
In addition to his work as an actor/writer/comedian, Jason has, like many other celebrities, sometimes had a side hustle promoting brands. In 2012, he became the voice of Applebee’s, which joked on Twitter that it paid him in apps for the work:
Source URL: Jason Sudeikis’s Net Worth Is Huge Thanks to ‘Ted Lasso’ Salary (cosmopolitan.com)