An idea about six pals in their twenties navigating life in New York City made Friends creators, David Crane and Marta Kauffman, extremely wealthy individuals. The pair have made millions from the show, and their respective net worths are each estimated at around $400 million apiece, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Not only did the team create Friends, David and Marta also served in other capacities, including executive producing and writing the iconic NBC sitcom. But the serious bucks kicked in once the show went into syndication.
Since the show’s 1994 debut, Forbes estimates that Friends has generated a whopping $1.4 billion in earnings. Of that, the publication estimates that the creative team David and Marta — along with coexecutive producer, Kevin Bright — “shared in pre-cash earnings of at least $550 million — a number insiders say is conservative.”
Over the show’s 10-year run, the team of David, Marta and Kevin made an estimated $70 million in producer fees, according to Forbes. But the big money came rolling in following syndication proceeds, which the magazine has pegged at $475 million for the creative team.
During Friends‘ tenure on NBC, David and Marta cocreated Veronica’s Closet. It was one of the lucky shows to get the sitcom ratings juggernaut as a Thursday night prime time lead-in. The Kirstie Alley-led comedy lasted three seasons, from 1997 through 2000.
David and Marta both went on to have long and successful careers after Friends. David, 63, cocreated Friends star Matt LeBlanc‘s successful Emmy nominated BBC comedy Episodes, which ran for five seasons. It can currently be found streaming on Netflix.
Marta, 64, cocreated the Netflix series Grace and Frankie, starring the legendary Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. It aired for six seasons on the streaming service, beginning in 2015. Ever the creative, Marta penned 13 episodes of the show.
David and Marta came up with the simple premise of Friends from their real-life experiences together. “When David and I lived in New York, we had a group of six friends. We were all each other’s best friends. We hung out all the time; we were like a family,” Marta told The Cut in 2019.
She continued, “So later, when we were thinking of shows that could have an ensemble cast, it occurred to us to look back at that point in our lives. That was the birth of the idea for Friends — that time in your life when your friends are your family.”
Add in an incredible cast that included Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Matthew Perry and Matt in the six lead roles, smart and snappy writing and of course, romance between the “friends,” the show became one of the most successful sitcoms in TV history. It also helped make David and Marta very wealthy in the process!