Net Worth Ranker
What Is Matt Williams Net Worth?
Matt Williams is an American television producer and writer who has accumulated a substantial fortune over his career. Matt Williams net worth is estimated to be $200 million. This wealth stems primarily from his successful career in television, where he created and executive produced hit shows. His work includes creating and executive producing, along with Carmen Finestra and David McFadzean, the TV series Home Improvement. Williams has also earned credits as a writer and producer for shows like The Cosby Show and A Different World. His career began as an actor, making appearances in commercials and theater productions before transitioning to writing and producing.
Early Career and Key Milestones Contributing to Matt Williams Net Worth
Matt Williams was born Mark Williams on April 18, 1951, in Evansville, Indiana. Before achieving success as a writer and producer, he explored acting, including a role on the CBN soap opera *Another Life* in the early 1980s. In October 1976, he moved to New York to launch his career. His early career involved writing one-act plays, some of which caught the attention of Jay Sandrich, a director known for his work on *Rhoda*, *Phyllis*, and *The Mary Tyler Moore Show*. Sandrich’s interest in Williams’s plays led to an interview with *The Cosby Show*, which hired him for a six-week contract, marking his entry into television. He eventually became a writer/producer for *The Cosby Show* from 1984 to 1988, earning Emmy and Humanitas nominations, and sharing a Peabody Award for outstanding achievement in television writing.
In 1989, Williams, along with Carmen Finestra and David McFadzean, established Wind Dancer Production Group. Under this banner, he co-created and executive produced *Home Improvement*, a series that became one of television’s most successful programs. In 1992, Matt Williams’s exclusive deal to develop shows for Disney studios was reportedly “in the $10-million range.” The success of *Home Improvement* also led to legal disputes with Disney over profit sharing, with Williams and his partners claiming they were owed a larger share of the show’s revenue. Specifically, from agreements dating back to 1992, the producers said they should receive 75 percent of net profits from the series, which ended in 1999. In 2013, Williams, Finestra, and McFadzean sued Walt Disney Pictures, accusing the company of using accounting tricks to avoid paying them their share of millions of dollars in revenue from *Home Improvement*. While a judge initially sided with Disney in 2015, an appeals court reversed the judgment in 2017, finding that the producers had created “triable issues of material fact”.
Significant Television and Film Projects Affecting Matt Williams Net Worth
Matt Williams’s creation of *Roseanne* significantly boosted his career and contributed to his net worth. He created the TV series Roseanne, starring comedian Roseanne Barr. Barr became upset learning that he was credited as the creator. Williams left *Roseanne* in the middle of Season 1 after Roseanne essentially gave the network and the producers an ultimatum of “Either he goes or I go.” Despite leaving the show early in its run due to creative differences with Roseanne Barr, he retained the “created by” credit, ensuring he received residuals for the series and its spin-off, *The Conners*. Matt Williams’s involvement in *Roseanne* also led to conflicts over creative control and crediting, with Barr expressing dissatisfaction over his role as the creator. He also created the TV series Thunder Alley which aired from 1994 to 1995 and Buddies which aired in 1996. He also created and executive produced the television series Soul Man which aired form 1997 to 1998. Williams created the TV series Saint George which aired in 2014.
He also wrote or produced several films, including *Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken*, *Firelight*, *Where the Heart Is* (which he also directed), *Company Man*, *What Women Want*, *Closure*, *Bernie*, *Walker Payne*, and *As Cool as I Am*. In 2016, Matt Williams co-created the Kevin James comedy series *Kevin Can Wait* which aired 48 episodes before being canceled by CBS in May 2018. The cancellation of the *Roseanne* reboot potentially cost Williams around $100 million in future syndication royalties. The tweet also caused the old episodes to be removed from TV Land, CMT and Hulu.
