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I would grant you that there probably are countess great actors currently unemployed however quite a few actors received jobs last year in major motion pictures and the Oscars and SAG's, Golden Globes etc reward the best of those. Phillip Seymore Hoffman and Reece Wistherspoon did a terrific job in their respective movies. They might have received a break or got "lucky" by being discovered but they arent winning best actor because of their connections, its based on their performance.
As for being overpaid, wouldnt say that either. Tom Cruise can command $25 million for a film because he can "open" a picture. The studio can pertty much assure a $30 million plus opening weekend and $100 million domestic gross. It goes down from there. Now that Reese Witherspoon has won an Academy Award her popularity increases and thusly she is in the public eye even more and the public can expect a quality performance thus increasing the box office. Therefore she can now ask for $15 million versus her previous $12 million.
Professional athletes on the other hand are overpaid. Both the film industry and professional sports are a business. They are here to entertain us and generate income for their owners, share holders etc. An athlete like Kobe Bryant or Lebron James is worth $16 million a year as they sell out arenas and the public will watch the games on TV and buy the merchandise. The lesser players like the 12th man earning the NBA veteran minimum of $1 million who plays 3.4 minutes a game is vastly overpaid.
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