Almost 10 years later, Shameless Star Emmy Rossum has opened up about her behind-the-scenes fight for fair pay.
The Golden Globe nominee recently recalled that she was “shocked” when her salary increase negotiations on the 2016 Showtime series became public, noting that she “definitely didn’t want” to influence her fellow cast and crew amid negotiations over their own salaries.
“Well, when I started the show, it was very clear that (William H.) Macy made a lot more money than I did,” she explained in an interview. Call her dad podcast. “He’s a lot older, a lot more experienced, with a lot more credits and a number one contract.”
Rossum added: “And then by the third season, they came to us – we had a six-year contract – offered to add another year. And I think at the time my lawyers felt like we had the receipts. We could see the storylines forming. We knew about the fan interaction and felt like it made sense to ask for it. We didn’t get it. And that’s OK. We thought, ‘We tried.’ We didn’t get it.”
In 2016, Rossum resumed negotiations with Warner Bros. TV, and negotiations became public in December of that year, ahead of her return for season 8.
“And by that point, I’d already directed a lot of the show, and it was very much like a two-handed job. And we said, ‘Let’s do it again.’ It got canceled pretty quickly, and they stuck around for a while. And then I wasn’t sure if we were going to get it. It’s always scary to ask what you think you’re worth, to say, ‘I think that’s what I’m worth.’ You have to take up space in the room, and their job is to make the show for the minimum price to get the maximum profit. Every business works like that. So I can understand it from another point of view,” she said. “And I didn’t know if they would come to our side and do it or not, and we were already close to filming the next season.
“I was sitting one day – I was on a writing retreat, and I was procrastinating, and I opened Twitter and there was a headline that we were at an impasse, and I was shocked. These are private business negotiations, and I never thought they would become public. Not just to the public, but to the cast and crew. Everyone was doing their own negotiations. So I definitely didn’t want that,” Rossum said.
The actress noted that she “didn’t say anything” to her colleagues or the press about these messages. “And the situation really changed. I think people started writing other articles immediately commenting on it, quite surprised that I wasn’t getting paid equally anymore. And the problem was resolved within a day. I was shocked and frankly very, very surprised that we actually got it,” she said.
Emmy Rossum and William H. Macy in Shameless (Cliff Lipson/Showtime/Courtesy Everett Collection)
Days later, Rossum struck a deal with WB, setting her return for the next season. “Playing Fiona Gallagher has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. I’m so excited to continue playing the role. SHAMELESS family! We’ll be back to work in May!” she wrote on Twitter at the time.
“I just want to stay professional and I never focus on the money,” Rossum told Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper. “It’s about what’s fair and what’s right, and I think people should be paid for their work. It was really about being valued equally when I did equal work. For me, it was that simple. I was very, very happy when we got it and very, very happy for what it seemed to do for other women.”
Rossum continued to portray Chicago’s streetwise South Side resident, Fiona Gallagher, for Season 9 before leaving the series. The drama series, developed by John Wells and adapted from the British series by Paul Abbott, eventually ran for 11 seasons from 2011 to 2021.