The team behind Off Campus has pushed back on online claims about a supposed pay gap between its two leads, with creator Louisa Levy saying the figures being shared are inaccurate.
The Prime Video romance has proved hugely popular, with Amazon later saying the series drew 36 million viewers worldwide in its first 12 days and became Prime Video’s No. 1 debut of all time among women aged 18 to 34.
Even with that success, Levy recently found herself responding to criticism after social media posts claimed Ella Bright, who plays Hannah Wells, was paid far less than Belmont Cameli, who stars as Garrett Graham, during the show’s first season.
“Check your sources,” she wrote in the comments of an Instagram post circulating the pay disparity myth.
She expanded on that response by writing:
“These numbers are far from correct.
“While this is absolutely an issue in the industry, as a female showrunner, I fight for gender pay parity in my cast.”
The speculation appears to have stemmed from an episode of the In the Vault podcast, where hosts Ali Gray and Shane Sutherland alleged that Cameli was making $30,000 per episode while Bright was earning $20,000.
“That’s an $80,000 difference,” co-host Gray concluded.
However, the clip did not explain where those salary numbers had come from, and Levy’s response made clear she was rejecting the viral figures rather than addressing a confirmed pay disparity.
There is better news for fans of the series, as Prime Video has already ordered a second season. Amazon later confirmed that the show’s return would introduce India Fowler as Grace Ivers and Phillipa Soo as Scarlett.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly earlier this year, Levy said:
“Sometimes you fall in love with a couple and then you get their happily ever after, and you’re like, ‘What are they gonna do next season? I don’t wanna break them up. But I still wanna watch them.’ And we will.
“Hannah and Garrett are still in season two, they’re still going to be part of it, but their love story is not the thing that’s driving the season anymore.”
That lines up with later reporting that season 2 will shift its main romance focus to Dean and Allie, while keeping Hannah and Garrett in the ensemble mix rather than writing them out.
Off Campus centers on music student Hannah and hockey standout Garrett, who enter into a fake relationship: she helps him academically, and he pretends to be her boyfriend to make another guy jealous.
The series is adapted from Elle Kennedy’s bestselling novel The Deal, with the author also serving as a producer on the screen version.
Off Campus is available to stream now on Prime Video.