Dylan Sprouse says he has received exactly one residuals check for “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” — and it totaled five cents.
The 34-year-old actor made the disclosure on Tuesday’s episode of his “Wildmen” podcast, where he reunited with Phill Lewis, 58, who played hotel manager Marion Moseby on the Disney Channel hit. The meager payment stemmed from the show’s 2006 crossover episode with “Hannah Montana,” not from the series itself.
“In a time where residuals would have been great, not a single paycheck for being arguably one of the most popular shows,” Dylan said on the podcast. He recalled that showrunner Danny Kallis once brought a newspaper to the set with proof that “The Suite Life” was beating “The Sopranos” in ratings.
“That pops in my head every once in a while when I go, ‘And we still didn’t get a single f—ing residual,'” he shared on the show.
Lewis noted that the series “played in over 90 countries around the world,” He added: “We were on four or five times a night because kids would just rewatch this. They put two episodes on on a Tuesday and they would run them just throughout the whole day.”
The actors explained that the show’s run from 2005 to 2008 predated the streaming era, when Disney Channel was among television’s most-watched networks. Dylan described the channel as one that “prided itself on being a channel where you could turn it on safely for kids, where there’s no advertisements, there’s no anything to cross over, and all you’re going to watch are shows at that age demographic.”
Lewis alleged that the cast — which also included Dylan’s twin brother Cole Sprouse, Brenda Song and Ashley Tisdale — signed what he called “a bizarre contract.” The agreement, he claimed, allowed producers to film unlimited episodes in a year and count them as a single season.
“They called it one season because they didn’t have to pay us bumps,” Lewis said on the podcast. “So we had that, which was very strange.”
Dylan characterized the show’s standing with Disney Channel executives as that of “the ugly duckling.”
“We were extremely popular, but also extremely underfunded,” he explained on the episode. “So I don’t quite understand that.”
The residual complaints extend beyond “The Suite Life.” David Henrie, star of fellow Disney Channel hit “Wizards of Waverly Place,” recently told the “Good Guys” podcast that he barely sees payments from his show either. “Disney was very… I think it was after at that time, they hadn’t like combined, so there really wasn’t much residuals,” he said last month. “Maybe a little bit here and there. But nothing, really.”
Dylan’s podcast appearance marks a rare detailed accounting of how one of Disney Channel’s most successful franchises compensated its young stars, with the five-cent check serving as a stark emblem of what the actors describe as a broader pattern.