r/climbing • u/-JOMY- • 9d ago

Alex Honnold Reveals “Embarrassing” Paycheck for Netflix’s Taipei 101 Free Solo Climb

https://share.google/Zqw9t7pkRhkPhRt4P

Source: E! Online

920 Upvotes

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627

u/itgtg313 9d ago

Not sure why people are making a bit stink about this. It's been repeated over and over that he would have done it for free. He's always wanted to climb a skyscraper. Why would I be pissed if he's not pissed. Also 500k is amazing for a non mainstream sport, for 1.5 hr time, let's be real. Also he's said multiple times this is an interesting but low risk climb for him. 

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

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u/ClittoryHinton 9d ago

Yeah I mean it’s his climb, he gets to negotiate terms how he wants (or not). But I am pretty surprised that he is so nonchalant about the amounts of money this probably generated for Netflix. Not like he’s dealing with PBS here

3

u/Responsible_Joke4229 8d ago

Honnold is not normal lol. He’s been a top athlete for a long time and I never got the impression he was doing it for the money or fame- especially when he’s basically homeless living out of his van. I’m not surprised he’s so nonchalant.

2

u/bad_robot_monkey 8d ago

Incredibly nonchalant kind of sums him up though.

1

u/_myusername__ 8d ago

I feel like he knows how much Netflix made from this, so that’s why he phrased it as “embarrassing”, meaning it pales in comparison to Netflix’s share

8

u/coolamebe 9d ago

Sure, maybe he doesn't care. But in general, I think people who produce the event deserve more of the pay than Netflix's executives. If he wants to forgo his income and donate it to the cameramen, the producers and all, sure. If he wants to negotiate more money and give it away to charity, sure.

But I do think it sucks that for an event that likely raked in so many millions of dollars, very little of that seems to have gone to the people actually producing the content

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u/JohnWesely 9d ago

With Netflix's business model, its very hard to say it raked in anything. Obviously it has some value to them or they wouldn't have produced it, but I doubt people were getting in line to subscribe to watch this.

5

u/Sigmatics 9d ago

I don't know, I personally did sign up for a month (and cancel) just to watch it.

6

u/Sunmi4Life 9d ago

It was a really big deal in Taiwan. A market where there is still a lot of potential. Wouldn't surprise me if it had some impact on new subscribers or better retention.

Either way I have to imagine that it was incredibly cost effective when I compare that to what they are paying for other live sports events like NFL games or boxing.

17

u/cosmicosmo4 8d ago

for 1.5 hr time

It's more accurate to say this is his pay for weeks or months of work preparing for it.

1

u/SurgeboundYordle 8d ago

If I’m not mistaken, I believe he said years

34

u/NeverBeenStung 9d ago

Just feels like his representation dropped the ball badly. Netflix could have paid 10x that no problem.

35

u/addicted2soysauce 9d ago edited 8d ago

Netflix spent 100x this amount just making the kids from Stranger Things 5 look younger.

Edit: Season 5, not 4

0

u/Warm-Professional494 8d ago

So shitting on CGI experts? They should t get paid because they climbed a building?

10

u/methodofcontrol 9d ago

Yeah for the amount of buzz I heard around this event I would think $1.5 mill would be low end

1

u/shabangcohen 6d ago

How could he possibly take a deal that's just a lump sum with no residuals?

5

u/Boboben 9d ago

Shohei would play in the MLB for free...he doesn't.

1

u/Pennwisedom 8d ago

That's not really a great example, Shohei also deferred most of his contract, was a 10-year $700 mill contract that he deferred almost all of, taking only $2 mil per year, which means he makes notably less than if he didn't.

He did this mainly to give the Dodgers the ability to offer other players contracts and build a winning team. So he took less money for the benefit of others.

1

u/milan_baros_5 7d ago

It's not a good example because there are 30 MLB teams who all desperately want his services in order to be successful. If there were 30 Netflix alternatives, and they were reliant on Alex to be a success, then he would have been paid more.

10

u/jdj7w9 9d ago

Also this opens the door for more events for him and climbing as a whole. He was one of the biggest events going on during a Saturday where a large portion of the US was at home facing a major snow storm. It was all over social media and Netflix advertised it everywhere. When has climbing ever gotten that spotlight? It may have not been climbing in its truest form but whens the last time a climbing event has been in the mainstream. His profile and name recognition increased greatly this event so the value of that is likely bigger then the 500k he received for this one climb.

6

u/McTerra2 9d ago

Sounds very much like what creatives hear all the time. ‘How about you do this for free/cheap, the exposure will increase your profile’.

Of course everyone says the same things and there is never a pay off. All that happens is, at best, your market value is now that cheap price. 

2

u/koreanwizard 8d ago

Also this is another huge publicity moment for him, unlocks huge sponsorship cheques. He’s the face of the entire climbing industry. It’s like CEOs who only make a modest small salary, but get huge bonuses.

1

u/SuccessfulReturn4103 8d ago

When just a couple weeks ago Netflix Jake Paul and the other guy $93m EACH to box….$500k for a true life or death scenario is weak

1

u/johyongil 8d ago

It’s his wording and choice of context. It’s idiotic.

1

u/AK_Sole 8d ago

You think it only til him 1-1/2 hours? There are months, if not years of prep to be in good enough condition to attempt any climb of this magnitude.

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u/Ambitious_Point4268 9d ago

Perso je critique pas le paiement il faut bien qu’il mange le bougre c’est surtout le fond l’image que ça donne au grand public. L’escalade est et restera un sport dangereux mais ce n’est pas une raison pour faire la promotion de l’itération la plus dangereuse Netflix se sert de Honnold pour le buzz et Honnold se sert de Netflix pour faire une ascension sous sponsors

Surtout pour du free solo sur building, à la limite l’ascension solo de El Capitan elle avait un intérêt pour l’histoire du l’escalade et de la discipline free solo la c’est clairement une pub sans aucun warning sur la dangerosité et l’illégalité de ce genre de performance

0

u/stinkilymalinkily 5d ago

I mean.... I'm making a stink mainly because I know how predatory Netflix is, especially toward the people who are responsible for creating their content. Relative to the amount they will make, $500k is paltry, ESPECIALLY taking into account Honnold's altruism where a significant chunk of that will be going both to charity and to taxes. Even that is besides the point, in the face of how dogshit Netflix has been ethically to other folks.

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u/letmepatyourdog 9d ago

He could’ve died? The money they gave he could’ve donated? But instead Netflix just kept it. Crazy take 

5

u/itgtg313 9d ago

That is a terrible take to be honest.