‘Karate Kid’ star Martin Kove pulled in a stunning amount of income for the latest season of ‘Cobra Kai’ and there is a battle over the commissions for those paychecks.
According to legal documents, obtained by The Blast, several people involved with managing the actor’s career are currently fighting over who gets the high commissions for negotiating his current contract.
As you know, ‘Cobra Kai’ started as a YouTube TV original series and ended up airing on Netflix for the last few seasons. Kove played the character John Kreese, owner of the Cobra Kai dojo, made famous from the original ‘Karate Kid.”
In most cases, the amount each actor earns for a show can depend on the ratings and if the show is popular amongst fans. Normally, agents, managers, and lawyers will negotiate with the production company to get as much money as possible for their clients.
Martin Kove Raked In Six Figures Per Episode For His Role On ‘Cobra Kai’
In Martin’s case, a talent agent named David Shapira filed legal documents claiming he should get 10% of Kove’s earnings from ‘Cobra Kai’ seasons 4-7. According to the filing, in October of 2019, Shapira ran into Kove at a film screening and claims the actor told him to represent him as a talent agent. Following the meeting, a representative for the actor allegedly reached out to Shapira and said he would be compensated for future seasons of ‘Cobra Kai.
Now, here’s the shocking part.
The talent agent claims he offered numerous suggestions to Kove’s lawyer for negotiations with Sony for the show. In the end, the documents state, “Ultimately, the deal was closed on December 30, 2020, and Kove received a $150,000 signing bonus plus $175,000 per episode guaranteed.”
‘Corba Kai’ Star Martin Cover Earned Around $2 Million For ‘Cobra Kai’ Final Season
That’s right, Martin Kove raked in $175,000 an EPISODE for ‘Cobra Kai.’
If you are doing the math, that’s close to $2 Million if the show’s final season has 10-12 episodes.
As for the battle, it appears the labor commission sided with the actor and his team — and is not paying the new talent agent for his efforts.
The next season of ‘Cobra Kai’ has yet to get a release date, but Sony announced the sixth season of the show would be its last.
The final season was set to start production in May of this year but has been pushed back due to the Writer’s Guild strike. One of the writers for the series tweeted a picture of the show’s writing crew, with the caption, “We hate to strike, but if we must, we strike hard. Pencils down in the Cobra Kai writer’s room. No writers on set. These aren’t fun times, but it’s unfortunately necessary. The moment a fair deal is in place, we’ll get back to kicking a**. In the meantime, sending strength and support to the negotiating committee. You got this.”
The bottom line is we are huge fans of ‘Karate Kid’ and Mr. Kove — so we are going to go on a limb and just say it — he was worth every dime!
