Steve Harvey Explains How He Stopped Giving Away His Money in Hollywood

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• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 2:41Speaker 04

  So let's talk about this, Steve Harvey Global. So that's all your companies are underneath that, right? So I want to talk about the Family Feud, Africa. But first, I'll pick up on a conversation that we just had as far as you realizing that you wanted to change things up how usually Hollywood is done, where you wanted to eliminate like the traditional agent route, hiring a full-time attorney, shout out to Brandon, and actually, you know, doing the deals yourself, negotiating the deals yourself, you and your attorney, and not having to pay the percentage and not having to go through all of the hassle of dealing with the traditional. So can you talk about that a little bit?

• 3:23Speaker 05

  Yeah, see, it took me years to come to this. Because Hollywood is a system. They have an ingrained system out there, man. You come out here, you get an agent. Then a lot of them got a manager, too. And then when you sign a contract with a Hollywood attorney, they 5% of your contract for the duration. So if you sign a five-year deal, they get 5% of your money for five years. And everybody falls into that deal, man. Because they lock you in. And then what's crazy, what I found out was, is not a lot of agents that's beating the bushes to procure you employment. They simply list you on their roster, and when somebody wants you,

• 4:07Speaker 05

  they go online and your name is under this agency's roster, and they call these people. Now, because they picked up the phone, now their ass is in for 10%. Now, when they come in for 10%, then you want to go do the deal, they pick up their phone and call their favorite lawyer, who is their boy, who they work in conjunction. "Steve, we got the guy that's gonna cut your deal." You so busy being happy to be on TV, you say, "Okay, cool." Because you don't have that lawyer normally. And now, right there, you 15% of your money gone. Now, if you real stupid, you got a manager. "Who is this dude?"

• 4:47Speaker 05

  That's some dude that's usually your homie, that you started out with, and you make him your manager. Now, he can be anywhere from 5% to 20%, depending on how you cut your deal with him. Now, you looking up at your money, man, and you could be out of anywhere from 15% to 25% to 30% of your money off the dribble.

• 5:09Speaker 04

  Before taxes, anything?

• 5:10Speaker 05

  You ain't got nothing. So if you make $1 million, $300,000 of that is gone. Yo, man.

• 5:18Speaker 03

  And you doing it in California.

• 5:19Speaker 04

  Yeah, and then you gotta pay taxes.

• 5:20Speaker 05

  Bro, and now you got that franchise tax. That's something. So now you sitting up here going, then the government, they want 40. Now you sitting up here, man, 70% of your money gone. And that's real, man. That's real talk. That's why, man, Hollywood is the land of illusion.

• 5:41Speaker 05

  Most of us, man, are not making what y'all think we making. We just not, man, because we in that system. And it's not, it's not just because you stupid or nothing. It's just you get caught up in the system. So as the years went by, and I'm just not getting free of this, you know what I mean? It took me a long time to figure it out. So I said, "Wait a minute, man." So I had this lawyer that was doing some deals for me with a business I had. This guy named Brandon Williams. And he was black, and he was with this huge law firm, an acquisition-merger firm, right? And he used to come up to Chicago and do deals for me, and I just liked him, man. So one day I was sitting up, man, I was watching Godfather, and I was watching my favorite movie, man.

• 6:27Speaker 05

  And Tom is the concierge or whatever that name is for the family, right? But he's not Italian, and he's not, he's not a made man or nothing. But he cut the deals for the Godfather. And I was sitting up really watching that movie, one of my favorite movies. I said, "Man, that's what I need. I need a Tom. Somebody that just cut my deals." So Brandon Williams, some years ago, we hooked up. And I just approached him one day. I said, "Man, you ever thought about doing something else?" And he said, "No, I'm really good where I am." You know, but that's because, you know, you in the system too, bro. So just let me talk to you for a little bit. And we talked about it. I said, "Man, I'm gonna travel.

• 7:11Speaker 05

  I'm gonna travel the world, man. I'm finna be global. I'm gonna be, I'm gonna take my brand and spread it across the world. I ain't gonna just sit here on United States TV. I want to go be global." I said, "Man, we can travel. We can do this." And he said, and then he went home and talked to his wife. And like, we often joke about how much smarter our wives are than us. And y'all don't get to see them in the background, but them women, man, because they know who they really are. She said, "It's a no-brainer." And he had a conversation with his mom, who's a lawyer. And next thing you know, he came back, and we formed a relationship. And it took me some while to get out of some of the contracts I was in. But after a while, as contracts was ending, I got rid of the lawyer.

• 7:56Speaker 05

  I said, "Hey, man, you read that paperwork and tell me what it say. Because only section I can really understand is compensation."

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  This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. One thing I've learned over the years is that building wealth starts with being intentional. And one of the things we talk about all the time on Earn Your Leisure is that it's not just about how much you make. It's about how you manage the money you already have. That applies to everyday spending, too. The more aware you are of where your money is going, the better decisions you can make. That's one reason I appreciate Apple Card. You can earn daily cash back on every purchase you make with Apple Card, and you earn that daily cash back every day. I also like that Apple Card keeps things simple. There are no annual, late, or over the limit fees. No fees, ever.

• 9:34Speaker 03

  And you can choose to grow your daily cash by opening a high-yield savings account through Apple Card. At the end of the day, building wealth is about developing better habits and making intentional decisions with your money. Apply for Apple Card in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Variable APRs for Apple Card range from 17.74% to 27.99% based on credit worthiness. Rates as of October 1st, 2026. Existing customers can view their variable APR in the Wallet app or at card apple.com. Savings is available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Savings in Apple Card are by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch, Member FDIC.

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• 12:56Speaker 05

  Now I'm reading the Bible now. "Whence furthermore..." That's why my Bible is the New Living Translation because I need just regular English words, man. Because once you say furthermore, whence, henceafter, I'm out. So I got him and then slowly but surely, over the years, as contracts would expire, I would take the lawyer out of this, take the lawyer out of that. And then I got smarter and I said, I don't really need an agent. You know, I got some agents that do, IMG does some stuff, like we in partnership with Miss Universe and stuff, and that's a whole nother story. But we in business with some stuff and I'll allow you to package

• 13:37Speaker 05

  the deal for me, but that's between you and the network. But as far as now, in my life now, nobody. Ain't nobody getting 10, ain't nobody getting 5. I found a way to just keep them out. And that ain't bad business, man. I'm just, why would I? You're not doing nothing. I'm the one who got to put these suits on and turn these corners and create these jokes and solve these problems and be entertained. And not you, man. So it was a really blessing from God, man, to taught me that side of the business. And it's brought a lot, lot more of the money to my side of the table.

• 14:14Speaker 03

  And so when you do things like that, it obviously allows you to pay more to the people that you have. Why do you think that more people in Hollywood, the beast of Hollywood, are not taking that approach?

• 14:25Speaker 05

  Well, I just think, man, you get caught up in the system and it's comfortable and it's easy. And you know, look, man, you got to look at some of these big boys out here. They making so much money. You know, you look at Tyler and Denzel and Samuel and these boys and Will, Will Smith. These dudes is really making money, man. You know, I mean, they, listen to me, they, they making, they, they scraping it. So, and I don't really know their particular business, but you know, if you make it X amount of dollars and you know off the dribble and you comfortable and you got a team, sometimes comfort because you don't want to have, you got to get a lawyer. You do have to get a lawyer. I'm

• 15:06Speaker 05

  just not finna pay you 5%. You know, why don't you tell me what your hourly rate is? How many hours it take you to cut this contract? And then let that be your money. But you get in the TV business, it's like that. Now, I would think of Denzel because he's such a brilliant dude, man. And his wife Paulette, I'm pretty sure she done sat down and figured this out. So, and Tyler, Tyler's a gangster too. Because Tyler, I think, has done more. In our lifetime, man, in this generation, I don't think there's been anybody black that's been more successful than this dude in terms of ownership. Now, the Queen was

• 15:47Speaker 05

  Oprah for a long time. Oprah, Oprah ain't no joke. But she teaches it to us. She done told me, Steve, got to get ownership. That's Tyler's whole mantra. But I think what, what Tyler finna do of late gonna change the game. He's finna, he's finna go past everybody.

• 16:02Speaker 03

  So just really quick, so even like the shows that had your name as a title. So we had the Steve Harvey Show, which is on WB, and obviously you had the Steve Harvey Show on NBC, talk show. They licensing the name or how does that work? There was no ownership in those?

• 16:16Speaker 05

  See, I didn't get, I wasn't a businessman when the Steve Harvey Show was out. I was just happy to be on TV. You know, I just took my check and went out and said, I own 12% of the show back end. But I learned real quick in Hollywood, you never see back end. They got a different type of arithmetic. It's like the music industry. The only people that you make true back end with is book people. Book people are the most honest people I've ever done business with. Books, they're honest. Music and TV, you're not gonna get no back end partner. How? Man, by the time they get through doing their arithmetic, I ain't made back end on none of my shows, ever.

• 16:57Speaker 03

  Because they saying they didn't hit the numbers that it was supposed to hit? Even in syndication?

• 17:01Speaker 05

  Bruh, Steve Harvey Show, never saw back end, never. I just, it's just crazy, man. So I started figuring that out and I went, okay. You know, my business with Fremont, which is one of the best companies I've ever dealt with, they're very honest and forthright. But when I signed a deal to do Family Feud, you know, look, man, Family Feud was a 20-year franchise and they had ownership and they couldn't get, you know, I was going through tax problems back then. I just wanted a check. So I took the check. Over the years, I still couldn't get ownership, but since I can't get ownership, I tell you what, though. I tell you what, I might not have ownership, but you gonna feel like I'm one. And so we've,

• 17:46Speaker 05

  we've negotiated really nicely with them.

• 17:48Speaker 03

  And you the longest-running host in the history of the show.

• 17:51Speaker 05

  And it's the number one syndicated show on earth.

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• 19:39Speaker 06

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• 19:41Speaker 02

  Oh, hey.

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• 20:15Speaker 00

  This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.