'West Wing' actors focus on pay awards, not Emmys

This is the week that everyone at The West Wing, the award-winning US television series about White House politics, should – in theory – be deliriously happy. The show has just been nominated for 18 Emmy awards and production is starting on the show's third season.

This being Hollywood, however, it is working out very differently. Four leading actors – Allison Janney, Richard Schiff, Bradley Whitford and John Spencer – are instead demanding a massive pay increase to reflect their exalted status in the television pantheon. But the show's producers at Warner Bros TV are playing hardball and trying to limit how many tens of thousands of dollars they have to shell out per episode.

Yesterday, the first day of shooting of the new season, it was not even clear if the four actors would turn up to work. By mid-morning, their lawyer was still busy negotiating and there was no comment from either side of the dispute.

The rot set in last week, about the same time that the Emmy nominations were announced. The four actors have been receiving about $30,000 (£20,000) per episode and now want that number to triple, with guarantees of further increases with each new season. Warner Bros, according to Variety, has been trying to hold them down to $60,000.

Last week's pre-shooting rehearsals were reduced to farce as Martin Sheen, who plays the President on the show, found himself without actors to go through his lines with. Contractually, the four actors were obliged to turn up yesterday.

The issue of TV salaries has exploded in recent years, with actors claiming they deserve more to reflect the profitability of their shows and to provide them with some security in case they find themselves typecast and have difficulty finding other roles. The six stars of Friends bargained for $750,000 per episode each last year. Kelsey Grammer, the star of Frasier, has just signed a record-breaking deal for $1.75m per episode. Industry watchers doubt the sitcom can continue long under that kind of financial pressure.