How Amy Schumer Achieved a Net Worth of $16 Million
It was recently reported that Amy Schumer has accumulated a net worth of $16 million. While it is not uncommon for the top comics in the industry to earn an exceptional amount of money, once an entertainer moves into the eight and nine-figure range it gets the attention of a lot of people. It is funny how it works. Under conventional wisdom, the line of thought is that your earning potential is dependent upon the value you bring to the industry, but it also depends on how much money you already have. When people see that you have earned a lot of money, they automatically think that you must be good at what you do.
With all that being said, it is still worth examining how Amy actually reached a $16 million net worth. She started her career like so many before her, performing in comedy clubs in and around the New York City area. Where she got her big break is being cast in the popular reality television competition, Last Comic Standing. While she did not win the competition, she did impress the judges and sent notice to the American viewing audience that she would be a force to be reckoned with.
She would land her first comedy special on Comedy Central, which was entitled Mostly Sex Stuff. The special would lead to a weekly sketch comedy show called Inside Amy Schumer. Amy was well on her way, but she was a long way from her current net worth of $16 million.
What the special and show did was help create space for herself in a very competitive industry. What really thrust Amy into the mainstream spotlight was her film, Trainwreck, which was a romantic comedy. The film was released in 2015 and it immediately planted her squarely in the big leagues. The nighly standup performances in New York clubs was over for Amy. The film had a budget of only $35 million and it grossed that in the first weekend. It would go on to gross $140 million worldwide and a star was born.
Shortly after that, Amy secured a book deal that earned her an $8 million advance. The title of the book is The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo, and it was released in 2016. Another area in which Amy has earned a significant amount of money is in a series of Budweiser commercials. She even caught the attention of Forbes and landed on their list of the top paid comedians in the world. She is the first female comedian to crack the top 10 on this list, which is saying a lot when you think of all of the top female comedians that have come before her.
Toward the end of last year, it was rumored that Amy negotiated a sweet deal with $Netflix for a comedy special in which she would be guaranteed $12 million dollars. It is not clear if that is being calculated into her current net worth, but probably not, so there should be a significant increase in her assets over the next 18 months or so.
Amy has built a lot of momentum of the last several years, and despite being drug into a heated and controversial battle between Kevin Hart and the LGBTQ community, Amy is holding steady in popularity and appeal.
Schumer was also in a film with the famed actress, Goldie Hawn, called Snatched. The film was hilarious and once again, Amy got the attention of comedy fans around the world. It is easy to look at the current success of people like Amy Schumer and forget that she has paid her dues, something that every successful comedian has to do. Become a well-known and well-paid comedian is a process that not very many are able to endure. There are a lot of peanut butter sandwiches and sleeping in the car for many.
Amy’s show, Inside Amy Schumer, was nominated for a number of Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Variety Sketch Series. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award in 2016 for her performance in the film Trainwreck. It appears that while Amy Schumer has arrived at a net worth of $16 million in rapid fashion, she has earned every dime of it to this point.