Cinematic / Alamy Stock Photo; The Unplanned Podcast/YouTube Drake Bell reflected on starring in Nickelodeon'sDrake & Joshas a child during his July 2 appearance onThe Unplanned Podcast The actor, 39, said he doesn't receive residuals from his time on the kids' show and alleged that the way that child stars are treated contributed to his bankruptcy "If Elon [Musk] gets us to Mars and they showDrake & Josh, it's impossible for me to get paid for it," Bell said Drake Bellis feeling short-changed. During a July 2 appearance onThe Unplanned Podcast, the actor, 39, revealed to hostsAbby Howard and Matt Howardthat he doesn't receive residual checks from his time as a child star on Nickelodeon. Following his debut on the network onThe Amanda Show, Bell starred alongsideJosh Peckin the hit seriesDrake & Joshfor four seasons between 2004 and 2007. Bell described the system in place for protecting child stars' earnings as "flawed" before revealing that his experience on Nickelodeon wasn't as profitable as people may assume. "That's the perception of the world, it's always been this way," Bell said, after Matt confessed he grew up idolizing kids on TV. "It's like, you know, 'Oh, you made a Folgers Coffee commercial. You must live in a mansion in Hollywood. Like, I saw you on TV. You're rich.' "That's far from the case," he continued. "And especially, which is the bummer for most of us on Nickelodeon, we don't get residuals for our shows." Bell explained that almost everyone who featured on the network received a one-time payment for their work, while other people in the television and film industry are paid every time their art is shown. He gave the example of Netflix having to pay the cast ofSeinfeldevery time a subscriber streams the sitcom. The actor added that residuals are how actors make the "majority" of their money. "You wanna get into syndication," Bell explained. "You wanna get to 100 episodes so that you can get to syndication, and then you wanna get into syndication because then you get your residual money, that's where you make your money." "For example, theFriendscast at the peak was making a million dollars an episode," he continued. "You make 13 episodes that year, you make $13,000,000. You make 20 episodes that year, you make $20,000,000, right? "But right now, each cast member ofFriendsjust in syndication alone is making over $20,000,000 a year, and they're not filming a show every week. They're not going to work, but they're playing their show and they're using their likeness and they're doing all this, so they get paid for it. And they're making over $20,000,000 in a year just because other networks are buying the rights for syndication," he added. Nickelodeon / Courtesy Everett Collection Matt questioned whether Nickelodeon stars didn't receive residuals because of their age at the time they were filming. "It's a lot of evil, corrupt people. That's the only thing, that is the answer," Bell said, adding, "There's no other answer." He then clarified that only a few guest stars from the show continue to receive a check in the mail from all the people who featured on the network around the time that he did. Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The Unplanned Podcast/YouTube Bell said he sees marathons ofDrake & Joshon television with commercials that make corporations huge sums of money, yet he doesn't receive anything from the replays. "Do everything that they do to us mentally and emotionally, and then throw us to the wolves," Bell said. "And we're like, okay, cool. I got rent this month. "There are three channels doingDrake & Joshmarathons," he continued. "Netflix just bought it, it's top 10 on Netflix, and I gotta figure out how to pay my rent this month. "And some fat cat with a cigar is just sitting up at the top of Viacom just going [chuckles]. What do you call it? It's just like getting high on child labor," Bell added. Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty TheDrake & Joshstar said people outside of the industry don't understand that it's easy to go broke without residual income. Paying publicists and managers, traveling to auditions and California taxes are just a few things that contribute to a huge financial burden that people don't see. "People don't understand how the business works, the business side of this. They just see what the perception is on Instagram and social media and all the glitz and the glamour of Hollywood," he said. The PEOPLE Appis now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! Bell added, "We're putting in all of this work. This corporation is making billions with a 'B' off of us, and we're being compensated for the week of work, cool, but that's it. And forever, in perpetuity, it literally says in the contract, across universes and galaxies and planets." Claiming that a lack of residuals contributed to his going bankrupt, Bell emphasized, "If Elon [Musk] gets us to Mars and they showDrake & Josh, it's impossible for me to get paid for it." Read the original article onPeople
