Michael Rankins sent me this…
Thanks as always for the brilliant work on your blog, and today especially for posting the Cannon credits video. Did that ever bring back memories!
A question, though, that you with your behind-the-scenes background can probably answer: What merits someone getting "special guest star" status? Watching the Cannon credits, it seems that a lot of the folks who got singled out for this mention weren't necessarily bigger, better-known, or more popular stars than the other actors with whom they shared an episode. So, how did that credit get apportioned? Was it just a matter of someone having a more aggressive agent, or were there other criteria involved?
Once in a while, that kind of billing is dictated by the producers when they land a biggie and want to call a little extra attention to it. There was a point in the seventies when it was known throughout the business that Sammy Davis Jr. was willing to appear on anything (A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G) for any non-insulting money as long as you treated him like he was a big deal. I would guess he always got Special Guest Star billing.
But probably 80% of the time, it's a case of they offer the actor X dollars, he and/or his reps want Y and they compromise on X dollars plus "Special Guest Star" status. Most famously, the late and lovely Jonathan Harris received "Special Guest Star" billing on every friggin' episode of Lost in Space in lieu of higher pay.
And it isn't always that the agent's aggressive. Sometimes, it's a matter of the producer doing the agent a favor. What happens is that they offer X and that's final. The agent knows that his or her client will accept that rather than lose the job…but the agent also knows that the client will bitch and/or moan that the agent should have gotten more money and maybe hint at finding another agent who can. So the agent says to the producer, "Okay, but can you give me something?"
The producer — and I'm saying "producer" here but it may be a lawyer in Business Affairs or someone else negotiating — knows there's a value in maintaining a friendly relationship with this agent and maybe being owed a favor. So they say, "Okay, tell your client you got them a star dressing room." Or "Tell your client you got them their favorite hairdresser." Or a frequent one is "Tell your client you got them Special Guest Star billing."
Good question, Michael. And I don't know who some of those "Special Guest Stars" on Cannon were, either.
