Heavy/NBCUniversal Vanderpump Rules news
The 11th season of “Vanderpump Rules” began filming in June 2023, soon after the reunion for season 10 was filmed and in the midst of the fallout of Tom Sandoval’s affair and his split from Ariana Madix.
Due to the surge of interest in the show after the news broke, executive producer Alex Baskin revealed that the salary negotiations were a complicated affair.
“This is as hard as it’s ever been because typically, we have a rate card, a tenure card, we’ve used in prior seasons,” he explained in a late-January interview with the Los Angeles Times. “There are all sorts of asks across the board. Something like a producer credit is off the table because that isn’t something that we could open up.
“Otherwise, I knew that it would take a little bit of time for the cast expectations to settle,” he continued. He said cast members pointed out “rightfully” that the Bravo show was really successful in the wake of the news so they wanted their share of its success. However, he said producers also had to explain that shows are “challenged” in the current state of the industry.
“Those are tough conversations,” he added. “I did think that everybody, with the exception of Rachel [Leviss], who had to make a personal decision, wanted to come back. Everybody did better than what they had previously gotten.”
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Alex Baskin Peeled Back the Curtain on Negotiations With Raquel Leviss
The executive producer gave more insight into negotiations with Leviss, who ultimately chose not to return for season 11. “We had conversations with both her reps and her directly,” Baskin revealed. He said their goal was to see how she was and whether she wanted to return to that charged environment.
“She was very conflicted about it,” he admitted. “She expressed a concern about the way that the group would treat her or concern for being in a group situation. We said we don’t expect you to be in any situation in which you don’t feel safe or comfortable.”
Beyond those conversations, Baskin said there were “a lot of conversations about money.” He added that her team really wanted Leviss to be “rewarded.” In fact, he claimed they even brought up the possibility of her getting a “development deal.”
Although Leviss chose not to return, Baskin said it would have probably turned out differently than she expected. “I think that she would have been surprised by the consideration that was given to her, and I think, as you’ll see in the first episode, there was a willingness to hear her out,” he said.
Raquel Leviss Revealed in August 2023 That She Wouldn’t Return for Filming
Leviss announced that she wouldn’t be back on “Vanderpump Rules” in August 2023 during an appearance on Bethenny Frankel’s podcast. During that interview, Frankel famously claimed that Leviss had been paid less in a year than her own interns.
Afterward, Leviss’ co-star Scheana Shay refuted Frankel’s claim. She said she knew that Leviss made more than that because she had helped set her up with her attorney.
While discussing the matter on her podcast “Scheananigans With Scheana Shay,” the mother of one said that their attorney negotiated “$19,000 an episode” for Leviss, which meant she made $361,000 over 19 episodes.
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