A face sells and sure it does when it's popular. Today is the trend for actors getting quick bucks for non committal work which requires less work pressure what with the news of actors fainting due to the killing work schedules. An actor's popularity and the amount of work he will have in the episodic decides his remuneration for the show. The actors are footloose and fancy free as its quick money and less commitment and bridges the time gap when they are on the look out for greener pastures and new work.

Mona:Episodics for killing time!

For Mona Vasu who worked in Shh Koi Hai recently it's the free time she gets in hand while trying her luck in films that she likes to shoot for such episodics.
" I can't take up a daily which requires thirty days a month while episodics keep me busy for four to five days a month and fetches in quick money which we are able to negotiate as well. The stories are nice, crispy and get to play varied interesting characters. As it is there are no weeklies left so its dailies and short horror stories which are far from being mundane work."

And so is the case with Shweta Gulati who is out of the work circuit and was seen in Ek Chabbi Hai Padoss Mein. "I wasn't ready to commit to a daily soap and I got to play a different character for a short while. For me money has never been an issue to sign up the episodics but yes the money is definitely better than dailies."

Shweta:Non-commital episodics!

Anupam Khalidar, the producer of Ek Chabbi Hai Padoss Mein points out that it's a combined effort on the channel and production house's side to pin down on the popular face.
"If I take a popular actor and cut a promo around her, it immediately builds in a curiosity factor and creates a buzz for my episodes. Our area of concern is the budget and the dates of the actors and for these actors it's basically less commitment and easy money. It's almost like working in a small film. It's a combined effort as far as finalizing on the actors for the characters in the episodes." The producer has worked with Sonia Kapoor, Shweta Gulati and Ashish Kaul in his shows.

Tina Parakh worked in Man Mein Hai Vishwas with for the sheer love for the

Tina:Episodics for creative satisfaction!

storyline of the episode.
"I get to perform a varied range of emotions in a short span of time which looks like a short story. A television star gets into such episodics for good money and if it's an interesting story and post the show one can easily get back to doing what he was doing."

Yash Patnaik, ex-supervising producer at Fireworks thinks the new actors add freshness to the show.
"In episodics when we make the promos it's essentially face centric and the ability to tell a story well which adds value to the show. For these actors its work outside their routine job besides some quick money and some actor friends call us up when they have a few days off from their dailies to work on episodics. At times the channels give us a story or a character to work on and accordingly we weave our episode." The producer has worked with faces like Abhijeet Sawant, Mandira Bedi, Aman Verma, Kapil Dev, Amar Upadhyay and Kashmira Shah to name a few.