If that’s all the eager witches and wizards were earning for filming back in the day, perhaps it’s fortunate I never received my Hogwarts letter.
Unless you’ve been avoiding popular culture for the past 25 years, you are likely aware of the massive impact the Harry Potter franchise has had in the entertainment industry.
In reality, the Harry Potter films combined make it one of the most profitable film franchises in cinema history.
So yeah, it’s a pretty big deal.
Growing up reading J.K. Rowling’s books or watching the movies, most kids dreamed of attending Hogwarts and having their own magical experiences.
Since that wasn’t possible, many would have settled for participating in the film franchise in any capacity.
Some kids were fortunate enough to be part of the franchise by appearing as extras or even taking on recurring roles.
However, one former star has taken to social media to explain that it wasn’t as glamorous as it seemed.
Samantha Clinch appeared in two Harry Potter films, The Prisoner of Azkaban and The Goblet of Fire. Can’t recall her? She portrayed Eloise Midgen.
Still don’t remember her? She appears in the Yule Ball dance lesson scene, where Rupert Grint’s Ron Weasley ends up dancing hand in hand with Maggie Smith’s Professor McGonagall.
Right before Ron is paired with the professor, he’s fooling around with Seamus Finnigan and jokes that ‘something is about to burst out of Eloise Midgen’.
Hint: It isn’t a swan.
Returning to Clinch, in a TikTok video, she disclosed how much extras were paid per day, usually working for 12 hours. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t nearly as much as the leading stars of the franchise.
She said: “So, for context, in Goblet of Fire Daniel Radcliffe got paid $11 million – that’s £9.5 million. For extra context, we would do 12 hour days. Big 12 hour days.
“We would be called for breakfast in the holding area outside set for 5:30am, in the morning […] are you ready for how much we were paid? £35 ($46) a day. That’s £2.91 an hour, is that legal?”
She added that when she got a more prominent role as Midgen, her pay increased significantly to £70 ($92) per day.
Clinch joked: “When I became the part of Eloise Midgen, honestly little did I know that day when I was going to set, how the day would change for me – and my bank account!”
“They doubled it, they doubled it. In the grand scheme of things getting paid £2.91 an hour isn’t that bad, and there was this constant stream of food. It was like an all inclusive.
“Seriously, the amount of Squares bars and iced buns we got through, minimum £15 a day.”
In the end, it sort of worked out for everyone. Warner Bros got a globally beloved billion-dollar franchise, and the kids got some snacks. Winning.