50 Cent Revealed He Took a Massive Paycut for ‘Power’
50 Cent became as successful of a producer as he was a rapper thanks to creating the Power universe. But initially, being a producer proved to be a bit less lucrative than his other business endeavors.
50 Cent was willing to take less money to make ‘Power’
Power has become the Starz network’s biggest program, and has spawned a successful franchise. Since the conclusion of the original, the series has since spun-off into several other popular movies, expanding its lore. 50 Cent originated the idea after his connections got him in a room with television producer Courtney Kemp.
“This project actually started in the SOHO House with me and Mark Canton. Mark is an actual producer of 300,” he once told Vibe. “He’s brought you so many hits I can run through a line…Bad Boys, The Bone Collector, Krush Groove, the Prince movies, Purple Rain….a lot of hit material. So I actually sat with him and we talked about developing this project. And he actually made the connection between me and Courtney Kemp [Agboh] of The Good Wife. Following that, me and Courtney ran with the ball. We got together and started developing with concepts and ideas for the actual show. It came all the way together.”
But he was also willing to make considerable sacrifices to make Power a reality. Back then, 50 Cent was still mostly known as being a rapper. In an interview with Vulture, he agreed that he might not have been taken seriously as a potential television producer. But perhaps this gave 50 Cent even more incentive to create Power, a dream he was willing to take a paycut to realize.
“There’s no one that could come and tell me to take $17,000 to act and executive produce and make music. I gave them the theme song for Power,” he said. “I gave them the things that connected, hopefully, in a different way for it. You see what I’m saying? All those things for $17,000 per episode? I get paid more to go to the nightclub and wave. But I wanted to make the show. I wanted to make it so bad. When I was talking to executive producer Mark Canton in the beginning, I was like, ‘Nah, I got to be like this.’”
‘Power’ was shopped around to many networks before landing on Starz
Power’s road to Starz wasn’t an easy one. Although now it’s arguably the series’ flagship show, 50 Cent and Kemp tried pitching the series to other popular networks. All of which turned it down.
“HBO, Showtime, Paramount, Hulu. We went to all these organizations in the early stages. They probably had something else they felt was similar, or it wasn’t what they was looking for. I’m sure now they wish they didn’t pass on it,” he said.
50 Cent found a suitable home in Starz, which allowed the series to thrive. But even after the success of the series, he asserted there were still challenges renewing Power for other seasons.
“And then every two years, it felt like we was auditioning for a major carrier,” he said. “It’s time to renegotiate, and it would be an issue. So for me at that point, really what it is, is racism. Because the project is a success, but the platforms are not necessarily acknowledging things that have diversity connected to them. I’m outperforming a lot of the shows that they had in the award-show ceremony, and they’re not putting the work in the awards show, even to watch it lose.”
50 Cent also felt slighted about Power not being considered for any major awards. After a while, the rapper simply stopped trying to appeal to critics.
“I kept going to go see the Hollywood Foreign Press people, and after the third time, I’m like, I don’t have time to meet these people again. To me, they’re a bunch of weirdos. I don’t care about them. At that point, I turn into the rapper 50 Cent,” he said.
