Dick Wolf's net worth makes him one of the richest people in TV thanks largely to the Law & Orderand One Chicagofranchises (and, let's be real, everyone's obsession with #Bensler).
Wolf has worked exclusively with NBCUniversal since 1990, a deal he credits to hard work, good hiring and basic bookkeeping.
"I've survived six owners and 10 administrations," he told The Los Angeles Timesin 2012. "At some point, it's a bit of the devil you know.
I'm not really a high risk. I've never missed an air date or gone over budget. It's a business relationship and that's why I've survived. We all have the same aim. But the real secret to my success is that I hire obsessive people. For the senior producers, a 60-hour week is the norm. You can't put out a quality product on half days. I have people who are firing on all cylinders."
While working for him certainly sounds exhausting, it's also famously lucrative.
Find out how Dick Wolf became famous and how much money he rakes in from all of his shows and their spinoffs.
Dick Wolf was born in New York City. Early in his career, he worked as an advertising executive (his father's field), coming up with slogans for everything from airlines to toothpaste.
Dick Wolf and wife Christine split in 2003. In their divorce settlement, Wolf was ordered to pay Christine a one-time payout of $17.5 million, plus $2 million annually for eight years for a total of $33.5 million. She was also given their estate in Maine and other material possessions, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Law & Order as a franchise was valued at $4 million at the time of their divorce settlement, and Christine later learned from reading The Los Angeles Timesthat Wolf signed that famous billion-dollar deal with NBC—only after she'd signed off on the divorce agreement.
She alleged in court filings afterward that Wolf had been concealing assets from her in the divorce, suing him for fraud and appealing decisions for another 15 years to no avail: The original settlement stuck.
