Patricia Arquette didn't make much money from her Oscar-winning role in 'Boyhood'

Patricia Arquette took home a best supporting actress Oscar Sunday night for her role in "Boyhood."

During her acceptance speech, Arquette rallied the A-list audience (specifically Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez) by demanding wage equality, saying:

To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else's equal rights. It's our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America.

Arquette has been vocal about the little pay she received for her years of intermittent work on director Richard Linklater's "Boyhood," the first movie to ever be shot over 12 years, filming the same actors as they aged.

"Boyhood"/UniversalPatricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane in "Boyhood."Since the movie's July 11 release, it has earned over $44 million worldwide on just a $4 million production budget.

But despite the film's box office and critical success, the stars of the movie aren't necessarily raking it in.

Following her Golden Globes win, Patricia Arquette revealed that "Boyhood" was more of a passion project than a lucrative gig.

"It's important to me as an actor to be able to make a living, but I'm going to tell you something - I paid more money to my babysitter and my dog walker than I made on 'Boyhood,' and to be in 'Boyhood!'" the actress told WENN.

Arquette, who recently appeared on "Boardwalk Empire" and can currently be seen on "CSI," says that TV - not film - is often more lucrative.

"Television actually allows you to make a living, feed your children, send them to college. And to have the luxury to make the choices of doing what it is you think that matters," the actress told WENN.

"It blows my mind (we won) because we didn't even know if people would even accept this movie and then to find that people were moved by the movie," Arquette continued. "Winning totally blew our minds. I'm so happy for Rick (Linklater) and so happy for the producers, because they gave $4 million dollars. They gambled on a movie with no safety net, no contracts past seven years… You could've ended up with nothing."

For "Boyhood," 54-year-old director Richard Linklater insisted that financier IFC Films give him part ownership of the movie's copyright.

The Hollywood Reporter explains of the rare deal:

Unlike a typical deal that offers a percentage of profits - or "points" - so a director shares in the success but has no control over the movie's future, Linklater's pact gave him a say in where and how the film is released.

... As an owner, he can join in marketing decisions, touch each part of the revenue stream and eventually sell his stake to a library (by contrast, many directors still are paid for home video on a "royalties" basis that is much lower than theatrical gross).

While exact financial details have not been released, Linklater's ownership is apparently "substantial," his lawyer told THR in June.

But most directors don't take this kind of deal because it forces them to give up a big part of an upfront fee, which is usually estimated to be in the low-seven figures.

"And that's precisely why most directors haven't taken this route," notes THR. "They stick to Hollywood's oldest adage: Take the money and run."

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