Jon & Kate Plus Eight

[rebotco]

I don't know how reality participants are paid (for example, are Kat von D's customers paid when they appear?), but I do know that reality shows are never filmed with radio on in the background, to avoid costly royalty fees. So it doesn't make sense that non-filmed performers (musicians, songwriters, etc.) would get paid for such an appearance, and the people who are the subject of the filming wouldn't get paid! I'm no lawyer, but for that reasoning alone it would seem the Gosselin kids should be paid for this show and I think the Coogan laws should be expanded to include child reality show participants.

[Google]

 

[captain]

Originally Posted by PugMum

Why do they have to announce what they do with their money? It is really no ones business. And since it is money that J&K have earned so they do not owe anyone any explanations.
It can be argued that the kids are receiving their "pay" now in form of vacations and "Crooked Houses" etc. Because technically the kids are not "working". They are being filmed doing day to day activities. Albeit they might be planned activities, but having pre-planned activities does not make it "work". Many families plan their activities in advance.

You must quit reading my mind

[MizDaisy]

Originally posted by fluff:
When, as recently reported, the children spent hours at a TLC photo shoot, that's work, how can it be anything else?
That's not how children would regularly spend their day.

According to an article I read, the kids traveled on a private bus for 2/12 hours that Saturday morning, went to a to hotel where they got ready for the shoot, went to the studio at about 3:00 pm, left the studio at about 9:00 pm, and then the 2 1/2 hr. ride back to PA. That's a long day for an adult, let alone 5 year olds! Not working, my a**!!

I don't understand how anyone can argue that the children should not have a share of the monetary proceeds of the show guaranteed to them when they get older, that their parents should be allowed to spend it however they see fit.

There's really no way to know what, if anything, the Gosselins have secured for their kids. Maybe they have, but there is no downside to passing laws to assure those kids receive at least a percentage of their earnings. I hope now that Paul Peterson has made sure the Octokids' earnings will be protected, he can focus on the G8, perhaps getting a guardian ad litem appointed, to find out if anything needs to be done to protect the kids' income.

[Margaritaville]

And since it is money that J&K have earned so they do not owe anyone any explanations.

And how is it, exactly, how J&K have earned the money as opposed to the kids earning it? As I stated before, without the sextuplets, J&K would never have inked any kind of deal with TLC or any other network. Therefore, the money is earned because of the children and by the children. And somehow I doubt that as these kids reach adulthood they will look back and be glad they did the show. I have a feeling they will all be resentful of their childhoods being so public. I foresee them making additional money via publishing companies in autobiographical book deals.

I don't doubt that J&K may have had good intentions at the beginning of this mess. However, I believe they lost sight of what is in the children's best interest a long time ago. The love of money is the root of all evil, and it appears to have taken control of the Gosselin family.

[newshound]

Originally Posted by fluff

If the children have to settle for being paid in "stuff", why isn't the multitude of freebies Jon and Kate have received sufficient compensation for them?

Excellent point. If Jon and Kate are protecting their interests through careful contracts with TLC, then somebody should be protecting the kids' interests. Just as it's not enough for J&K to "trust" TLC, it's not enough to "trust" that J&K are looking out for their minor children's interests. I agree that we have to give them the benefit of the doubt that as parents they are caring for their children's welfare, because I don't think the children are being abused. But we shouldn't give J&K the benefit of the doubt regarding money because the precendence exists for financial protection of child actors in scripted tv; the same should be extended for reality tv.

[Jexter]

Originally Posted by Margaritaville

...without the sextuplets, J&K would never have inked any kind of deal with TLC or any other network. Therefore, the money is earned because of the children and by the children.

I love this point. It is spot on and core to the entire issue.

[fluff]

Originally Posted by MizDaisy

There's really no way to know what, if anything, the Gosselins have secured for their kids. Maybe they have, but there is no downside to passing laws to assure those kids receive at least a percentage of their earnings.

What a shame laws should need to be passed to ensure the children get a share of the money they earned.
It really should be a "given" that any parent would secure their children's financial future if they had the means to do so.
I would think most people's conscience would make that an even higher priority if that fortune was made on the backs of those children.

I don't think Jon and Kate has always made the best decisions for the welfare of their children, so I don't think they've earned the courtesy of the assumption that they must have made provision for their children.
Good luck trying to trade a Cooked House for a college education.

[ButterflyFaery]

Want To Book Jon & Kate To Speak To Your Church? You Better Read This First! | RadarOnline.com

interesting article....why don't they just say...yea we will speak at your church if you pay us enough....gezzzzzzz

[fluff]

I read elsewhere that the fee for speaking engagements has changed since that letter was compiled and they now rake in $25,000 a time.
As I always say, I have no idea if that's true, so make of it what you will.

I can't fault them for getting the best deal available and taking whatever people are, frankly, stupid enough to pay them, or Kate more specifically as she's the one who does them.
I'd rather her get $1m a time and keep the children off tv.

[Jexter]

Originally Posted by PugMum
Why do they have to announce what they do with their money? It is really no ones business. And since it is money that J&K have earned so they do not owe anyone any explanations.

If taxpayers are paying for the Gosselin kids' college education, then it is very much our business.

And, if it is true that we have a moral (if not legal) obligation as citizens of this country to ensure the well-being of minors, then the financial and emotional intersts of the kids are also our business.

The sordid details of the impending divorce? No. But the kids' well-being and any financial burden tax-payers have to bear? Yes.

As much as Kate is a capital "B" to Jon, and as much as Jon has rebelled by dating anything in a skirt who isn't a capital "B", the emotions running amok among the general public (including us on the boards) are ultimately driven by the kids.

Seriously....who would watch a show with just Jon and mean-old Kate?!?!

As a poster said above, this show, and the money made from it (by Jon, Kate, TLC, and anyone else with their hand in the pot), is ALL because of the kids. No more, no less.