Phill Lewis claims Disney filmed extra Suite Life episode without having to pay cast
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody star Phill Lewis has alleged that producers found a way to deliver more material without having to pay the cast for another episode.
Phill Lewis has claimed Disney filmed an extra episode of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody without having to pay the cast.
The 58-year-old actor, who played hotel manager Mr. Moseby on twins Dylan and Cole Sprouse's classic Disney Channel series and its Suite Life on Deck spinoff, has alleged that the production team found a way to deliver more material without needing to compensate the cast for the extra work.
Reuniting with Dylan on his Wildman podcast, Phill asked: "Remember wraparound episodes?"
Dylan said he did, and his former castmate continued: "A wraparound episode was we’d shoot our episode for the week and then they would say, ‘Okay, we’re going to shoot this scene from an episode that you’re going to shoot in two weeks,’ and we’re like, ‘Okay.’ So we shoot that scene.
“Then the next week they go, ‘You’re gonna shoot this scene from the same episode.’ And what they were doing was they were compiling an episode by shooting a scene a week."
Those scenes would eventually be pulled together into a brand new episode, which didn't count as a new episode when it came to their payday.
He claimed: "Not for residuals. We didn't get paid for [that episode]."
Disney is yet to respond to the claims.
Elsewhere in the interview, Phill also alleged that the actors had a clause in their contracts allowing producers to film as many episodes as they could in one calendar year, which would only count as one season.
He said: "They called it one season because they didn’t have to pay us bumps."
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody followed 12-year-old twins living at Boston's Tipton Hotel, and ran from 2005 to 2008, with spinoff Suite Life on Deck airing from 2008 to 2011.
During their conversation, Dylan also revealed the shocking amount he had received in residual payments, the sum an actor receives when something is re-run beyond its original release.
He said: “Correct me if I’m wrong about this because, this is what I wanted to talk to you about, because this surprises people that I’ve told in person.
“And I don’t ever think I’ve said this like out on an interview, but the only residual cheque I’ve ever received for the Suite Life at all was a crossover episode with Hannah Montana for five cents. I’m not joking.”
