How child star salaries work after Harry Potter actors revealed to earn £500k for first season
The salary of the main trio of actors from the Harry Potter HBO reboot has been revealed just days after the first trailer dropped – but salaries for child stars work slightly different to those of adult actors.
The Harry Potter HBO trailer gave us our first proper look at the new trio in action playing Harry, Ron, and Hermione, three roles that made their previous inhabitants some of the richest actors around.
Daniel Radcliffe earned almost £100 million from his eight-film stint as Harry, whilst Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are also estimated to have earned £49 million and £21 million respectively.
Whilst Alastair Stout, Dominic McLaughlin, and Arabella Stanton are earning comparatively less than Radcliffe earned for the first film, picking up £500k for their performances in season one, this is still a mind-boggling amount of money for any 11-year-old to earn.
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Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on who you ask) Stout, McLaughlin, and Stanton will not simply be able to withdraw half a million in cash and spend it all as soon as the cheque clears.
In the US there is a legal requirement in California called ‘Coogans Law’ which states that at least 15% of the earnings of a performer must be placed in a trust to prevent their legal guardians from spending the money.
This was named after Jackie Coogan, a child film star from the 1920s whose mother and stepfather spent the majority of his $4,000,000 without his knowledge, the equivalent to over $100,000,000 today.
In the UK, where the Harry Potter HBO series was filmed, however there is no specific legislation that mandates the guardians of performers protect their earnings in the UK.
This does not mean however that there are no protections for the earnings of child-stars in the UK.
Oftentimes production insurance involving minors will require a percentage of the money be put into a trust, and theft laws in the UK still apply to minors, meaning that the money child stars earn cannot simply be spent by the parents as it is legally theirs.
It is expected then that the guardians of the new Harry Potter will put their money into a trust fund they will be able to access at age 18 and make withdrawals to pay for certain expenses.
The money Radcliffe, Watson, and Grint earned from the Harry Potter films was managed by each of their parents, with Radcliffe stating it was ‘ridiculous’ how much he earned.
Speaking to Parade in 2012 Radcliffe said: “"If somebody asked me, ‘Did you think you deserve that money?’ No, of course I didn’t.
"‘But would you have taken it anyway?’ Of course.”
Watson meanwhile stated in 2010 that she had no idea how much she was earning until her dad sat her down to explain, saying to Vogue UK: “By the third or fourth film, the money was starting to get serious.
"I had no idea. I felt sick, very emotional.”
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone will release Christmas Day 20206.
Topics: Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, TV and Film, TV, Money
Michael Slavin