Meryl Streep's Net Worth Makes Her the Iron Lady
It was Friday night March 4, 1983. At that time, Streep already established herself as a stellar performer, having won the Oscar in 1979 for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer vs. Kramer.
This was before Meryl Streep’s net worth was its current value of $100 million in 2024. Meryl Streep’s net worth should be more and I can prove it, but I digress. I‘ll get to that a bit later.
Meryl Streep’s Mindblowing Career
Sophie’s Choice
On that Friday night in March during 1983, I was in the movie theater for the opening night of Meryl Streep’s film Sophie’s Choice. The crowd in the packed theater in San Francisco anxiously awaited the debut of Streep’s newest film. The film runs a bit long at two hours and thirty minutes. As the movie neared the end, with its climactic reveal of the character Sophie’s choice (which one of her two children she would save from death), the film projector malfunctioned.
In those days, movies were still on film, not a digital format. The film jammed in the projector, which makes the film melt while showing it is melting on the screen. It is a ghastly sight and was very jarring for the audience at such a tense moment in the storyline. The house lights came up a moment later. The theater manager announced from the front of the theater that the film experienced damage beyond repair and there was no way to show the ending. He offered refunds or free passes to come back to see the film the next day. The audience nearly attacked him. It was the worst feeling of a “cliffhanger” that I ever experienced.
I left without asking for a refund with no plans to come back. A minute of Meryl Streep’s acting is worth ten times the ticket price for me. Also, I was sure I could not go through the emotional trauma of watching that film again. This was the 1980’s in San Francisco and my gay friends were dying from AIDS in droves. I love Streep but that film is too gut-wrenching to see twice without taking a Valium.
Meryl Streep in Sophie’s Choice. The Source: imdb
To this day, I have not seen the ending of Sophie’s Choice. I tried to avoid knowing what happened because I could not bear the idea of any mother forced to choose one child to live over another one to die. Later, I did eventually learn of the film’s ending but never wanted to see the movie again. The thought of it makes me cry too much. Streep won a second Oscar for her performance in the film.
Another Choice
Fast-forward about 12 years after my horrible Sophie’s Choice cliffhanger and I am living in Los Angeles. I had a successful career as a financier in the movie business. With the help of my investor group, I funded a handful of financially successful film productions, and then I switched to raising money for the advertising campaigns.
P&A
In the movie business, they call this P&A, which stands for prints and advertising. The prints are the physical copies of the films delivered in big heavy canisters for playing with the projection equipment.
Go Digital!
I am very happy to say I helped fund the technology that got rid of those analog film copies and switched all the movie theaters to digital formats. You will never again have the experience of watching a projector malfunction and a film melt in the middle of seeing a movie thanks to the newer digital technology.
As part of my P&A funding work, I was always on the lookout for great films that needed advertising money. It is the P&A that helps them have a successful domestic theatrical run. This is a surprising behind-the-scenes thing.
For a film, like Fried Green Tomatoes, made for around $5 million, it needed $15 million for the advertising campaign. The money for advertising can easily be more than what it cost to make the film. In my work evaluating films for investment, I was able to see the final films before we put the money in and we got our money back first from box office proceeds, so all I had to do is pick the winners.
Women In Film
I went to the Dolby Studio Theater in Los Angeles for a film-industry meeting. I arrived a bit early and took a seat in the front row so that I could be first to talk with any speakers after the meeting to hunt for film investment deals. I was gabbing on my cellphone before everything started. I did not notice the attendees as the room filled up. When I finally looked around, I noticed that I was the ONLY man in the room. It was full of professional women. I made a mistake, was one day early, and went to the wrong meeting.
A female moderator came on stage, announced that it was the monthly meeting for the professional association of Women in Film. I raised my hand politely, interrupted the speaker, and said that I made a mistake. I confessed that I came to the wrong meeting that I was not a member, but if it was OK, maybe I could stay? There was a hum of agreement to let me listen to the meeting.
The theme of the meeting was about how to raise financing for films and how to get the doors open to more projects that involved women. I was suddenly in the position of a privileged insider and I knew it. Then, they introduced the guest speaker. It was Meryl Streep! This was my chance to meet her and I did after the meeting adjourned. I can tell you she is a gracious and as nice of a human being that I have ever met.
“A strong-minded woman is a different kind of animal.”
The Smartest Thing
I made a commitment on that day to help women in film. I made amazing contacts and got the early tips on some of the best films for my funding group to invest in for the P&A budget. We never did get to invest in any Meryl Streep films, which I would have done in a heartbeat. I regret that I never got a chance to boost Meryl Streep’s net worth. Nevertheless, I was the only male financial specialist in Hollywood who uncovered a goldmine of opportunity by helping other women in film. They did not refer me many films but when they did, they were usually terrific!
We invested P&A money in films, hundreds of millions, and never lost money. I have a perfect record of being able to pick a film that is fantastic and know exactly how to advertise it to get the audience as excited as I am. There is a thing that happens inside me. When I see a good film, I feel compelled to tell everyone I know about it and that they should go see it. That is the secret to my success. I watched thousands of films and I know a great film when I see one. If you want to tell others, so will everyone else who sees it.
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Men Get More
Even though Streep and for example, Anthony Hopkins are both exceptional, Hopkins gets twice as much salary. To give Hopkins credit, as a supporting and lead ensemble cast member of a film, you can add about $3.5 billion to his worldwide box office. Compared to Streep in these types of roles and you add about $2 billion to her box office total. Add them up and you get very close to $5 billion in box office for both of them.
Is It Gender Bias?
Why the difference in pay and the lower net worth value? The only explanation I can come up with is gender bias. The Economic Policy Institute reports that women are paid 22.6% less than men are. Women, who have similar backgrounds and education as men, get less pay than men do. In Hollywood, it appears the gender bias is happening with females getting less than their male counterparts.
Meryl Streep’s Filmography
I am not going to list all of Meryl Streep’s films because there are too many for this short article. However, I will mention some of the ones that I consider her best films.
Streep won another Oscar for her performance in The Iron Lady (released in 2011). What makes her performances so remarkable are the transformations that Streep undergoes playing a role. I forgot I was watching Streep and imagined it was Margaret Thatcher. The film production budget was around $10 million. It made $115 million at the global box office.
Other Streep films that are must-sees are The Devil Wears Prada, where Streep is deliciously evil. I loved Marvin’s Room also starring Diane Keaton, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro.
Global Super Star
August: Osage County is a film where Streep’s iconic performance is the most memorable with a cast that includes Julia Roberts, Abigail Breslin, Juliette Lewis, and Ewan McGregor. Streep plays opposite Shirley MacLaine in Postcards from the Edge. In the love story, Out of Africa, she plays opposite Robert Redford. What an amazing range Streep has.
She-Devil is funny. Death Becomes Her is hilarious, which also stars Goldie Hawn and Bruce Willis. In The French Lieutenant's Woman, Streep deftly plays a double role of Sarah and Anna. My uplifting favorite is Mamma Mia! You will love to hear Streep sing pop songs by the Swedish group Abba.
Conclusion
Although underpaid, Meryl Streep’s net worth is decent for her career. It could be better though. Somebody step up. Pay her a $20 million salary for a film with sizable back-end participation and make her the megastar for the next blockbuster franchise film. Think about a very engaging spy thriller series, utilizing her amazing transformational skills, with Streep in the lead playing the woman of a thousand faces. This could be the next Jill Bond, 00 5-foot 7 (in heels). If you need a script, I’ve got one.