The price tag for Hollywood’s upper echelon has skyrocketed as competition for A-list stars scales new heights.

The chase for networks and streaming companies to get in on TV’s current golden age is causing pay cheques for big names to soar, with acting royalty Meryl Streep’s latest effort raising eyebrows.

In September, it was reported that the three-time Oscar winner would be joining J.J. Abrams’ Warner Bros TV mini-series adaption of the novel The Nix.

Ms Streep is set to make $US825,000 ($A1.1 million) per episode, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

And she’s not the only film actor migrating to the small screen to cash in.

Robert De Niro will receive $US750,000 ($A1 million) for 20 episodes in an upcoming Amazon series by filmmaker David O. Russell, the magazine noted

Meanwhile, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is raking in $US450,000 ($A606,000) per episode for the hit HBO show, Ballers.

However, it’s the trio Kaley Cuoco, Jim Parsons, and Johnny Galecki from The Big Bang Theory that top the list, earning $US1 million ($A1.35 million) per episode.

That seven-figure salary started in season 8 and will run through to season 10, for a total of 72 episodes.

The Big Bang Theory trio will earn $US1 million for each of their 72 episodes. Photo: Getty

The Game of Thrones cast of Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau are a close second  after recently renegotiating $US1.1 million ($A1.48 million) per episode for seven episodes of season seven and six episodes of season eight.

The overheated market for stars and the resulting enormous paycheques are down to the growing war between streaming companies and networks, and their ever-growing budgets to compete.

Netflix is expected to spend upward of $US6 billion ($A8.09 billion) on original content this year, The Hollywood Reporter noted, while in 2013 it spent $US100 million ($A148 million) for two seasons of Kevin Spacey’s House of Cards.

Netflix has this year launched, The Crown, believed to be its most expensive series to date, reportedly costing more than £100 million ($A167 million).

Amazon is another who has spent millions in bidding wars for shows, committing $US70 million ($A94.4 million) for an eight-episode series of Mad Men.