Jenna Ortega Reportedly Wanted a Lot More Money for SCREAM 7 and The Studio Probably Wouldn't Have Paid It

Not long after Melissa Barrera was fired from Scream 7, Jenna Ortega also dropped out of the movie. It was said that she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with her Wednesday Season 2 shooting schedule.

According to a report from THR, Ortega had actually exited the franchise months before Barrera was fired. Their sources tell them that Ortega asked for a much bigger payday for the seventh installment because of how popular she has become since Wednesday was released.

The report says: “Ortega had been paid in the six figures for her previous installments, but her team now wants projects with significant paydays, something that the Scream franchise is not known for. Sources say she was seeking high seven figures and anticipated that Spyglass would balk.”

According to inside sources, Spyglass head Gary Barber “is known for his shrewd business sense or for being cheap, depending on what side of the table you are on.” So it sounds like he wasn’t going to be willing to fork out the dough to get Ortega back in the franchise.

With the two leads now gone, director Christopher Landon and the writing team of James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, are developing a new story. There are reports that the studio wants Neve Campbell back as Sydney Prescott and Patrick Dempsey as Mark Kincaid from Scream 3.

While some fans aren’t sure if the franchise will continue to thrive after this behind the scenes drama, there’s a good chance that it will be fine as long as the creative team comes up with a good story to tell.