When the Eras Tour shattered international music records, grossing more than $2 billion in ticket sales, Taylor Swift decided to increase bonuses for the hardworking crew who helped make her shows a reality.
In Swift's new six-episode docuseries "The End of an Era," which dropped Friday on Disney+, the singer peels back the curtain on the development, impact, and inner workings of the phenomenon that spanned five continents over 149 dates.
Everyone who played a part in pulling off the Eras Tour -- from truck drivers and sound technicians to production staff and choreographers -- received a handwritten thank-you note and a hefty bonus from Swift.
"A bonus day is so important, because setting a precedent with the Eras Tour is really important to me -- because people who work on the road, if the tour grosses more, they get more of a bonus," Swift says in the docuseries' second episode. "These people just work so hard, and they are the best at what they do."
As seen in the docuseries and confirmed by People, Swift paid out $197 million in bonuses over the course of the tour to her expansive team.
"So every single person on the crew, I've handwritten them a note. It took me a couple weeks, but it's fun to write the notes," Swift says in the episode. "It's, like, fun to think about everybody's lives that they're going to go back to, and the time off they're going to have, and, you know, the kids they haven't seen because they've been away for months."
Swift, 35, added that "making that worthwhile for them feels like Christmas morning, when you finally get to say, 'thank you.'"
In the episode, some of the performers and crew who hit the road and shared the stage with Swift recall the moment they received the bonus, which Swift says she did individually by hand, complete with a wax seal on each envelope.
"Everybody has the same message on their card. So I was hoping you could open it, but before you look at yours, I just wanted to say, guys, this leg of this tour has been harder than anything I've ever done in a live setting," Swift is seen telling the crew. "You guys have taken this on with such excitement and such curiosity, the endurance you've shown -- but the spirit you've shown, how much you've given to these crowds, that gives to me every single night."
After adding that "the tour's done really well," she asks that they all "kindly read" her message.
Kameron Saunders, one of Swift's dancers, then reads the message aloud in front of Swift.
"Dearest Kam: We've traveled the world like we set out to do. We've dazzled the crowds, but we've missed family too. My full gratitude doesn't come from a bank, but here's [bleeped] dollars just to say thanks. Love Taylor," he reads, as other crew members react with shock and surprise, some of them becoming visibly emotional.
Mike Scherkenbach, CEO of Shomotion Trucking Company, which served as the logistics partner on the Eras Tour, transporting the various stage structures, says in the episode that Swift's father, Scott Swift, "was the one that presented the checks to our drivers."
"And he presented handwritten letters from Taylor. It's incredible," he says.
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