It was one of the biggest kids’ shows of the 2000s, but Dylan Sprouse says The Suite Life of Zack and Cody has barely paid him a penny since it went off the air. Quite literally: the actor revealed that the only residuals check he has ever received from the Disney Channel hit was worth five cents.
A five-cent payday
Dylan, 34, made the revelation on Tuesday’s episode of his podcast, Wildmen, where he was joined by his former co-star Phill Lewis, who played the famously uptight hotel manager Mr. Moseby. According to Page Six, the tiny check came from the show’s 2006 crossover episode with Hannah Montana.
Dylan said it was frustrating that, at a time when residuals would have made a real difference, he didn’t receive a single meaningful payment for what he called “argually one of the most popular shows.”
Beating ‘The Sopranos’
The actor recalled a moment from the show’s heyday when showrunner Danny Kallis arrived on set carrying a newspaper that reported Suite Life was out-rating The Sopranos. Dylan said the memory still pops into his head from time to time, along with the reminder that the cast never saw residuals to match that success.
He pointed out that the series aired from 2005 to 2008, before streaming services existed, and at a time when Disney Channel was one of the most-watched networks around. He noted that the channel prided itself on being a safe, ad-free space for kids, showing only programs aimed at that age group.
“A bizarre contract”
Lewis, now 58, backed up his former co-star, saying the show played in more than 90 countries and was repeated constantly. He recalled that the network would air new episodes and then run them again and again throughout the day, with the show on “four or five times a night.”
Lewis also claimed the cast, which included Dylan’s twin brother Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song and Ashley Tisdale, signed what he described as “a bizarre contract.” Under the arrangement, he alleged, the studio could film as many episodes as it wanted in a year and still count it as a single season, meaning the actors missed out on the pay increases that usually come with each new season.
Dylan added that, among Disney Channel’s higher-ups, Suite Life was treated like “the ugly duckling.”
“We were extremely popular, but also extremely underfunded,” he said. “So I don’t quite understand that.”
Not the only Disney star
The Sprouse twins aren’t alone in raising the issue. Page Six notes that Wizards of Waverly Place star David Henrie said on the Good Guys podcast last month that he also earns very little in residuals from his own Disney Channel series, describing the payments as “maybe a little bit here and there.”
For a generation of fans who grew up watching Zack and Cody’s antics at the Tipton Hotel, the revelation is a surprising peek behind the curtain of one of Disney’s most beloved sitcoms.
Source: Page Six, citing Dylan Sprouse’s Wildmen podcast.
