Streaming is screwing up Hollywood’s pay system – that’s what Netflix stars deserve

Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Brad Pitt and Tom Hardy made millions of dollars last year. But that makes them the only leaders in the movie industry. The reality for most actresses and actors is different: they don’t make enough money on a project to pay the rent.

This is one of the main reasons for the strike actors since last week. You may not direct any films or promos, nor participate in award ceremonies.

Television actors have traditionally had a source of income from reruns and other forms of reuse of the shows they have appeared in.

At the top end of the scale, earnings can make a fortune; Each of the “Friends” cast members has reportedly made tens of millions of dollars from the distribution of the series. But streaming has shaken that model and threatened the livelihoods of working actors, writes The New Yorker.

A familiar face to Netflix fans is Kimiko Glenn. She plays the activist Brook in “Orange Is The New Black” (OITNB) – one of the very first Netflix series ever. Glenn stars in 44 of the 91 episodes of the hit series, which ran from 2013 to 2019 and gained many new Netflix subscribers.

In a recent social media video, she shared her paycheck for her work at OITNB: She earned $27.30 streaming on Netflix. About what period is not known.

In another video, she explains that Netflix’s original payment was also miserable. People who were also on the show and were more famous than they were had second jobs because otherwise they couldn’t pay the bills. Glenn made $900 a day shooting, which happened to be once a week for her. However, this money still had to pay very high taxes (sometimes more than half the wages) and 20 percent went to the manager or agent. In total, she earned about $1,800 a month.

“They were willing and able to pay us the bare minimum and there was really no room for negotiation,” says Glenn’s co-star Emma Myles, who plays Leanne on OITNB. “They say to us, ‘Oh, we can’t pay you that much because we have to save.’ But then Netflix tells its shareholders that they’re making more money than they’ve ever made before,” Lori Tan Chinn, another hit series actress, quoted as saying. The New Yorkers.

Glenn isn’t the only one who has spoken out publicly about her Netflix salary in recent days. Gilmore Girls star Sean Gunn has told The Hollywood Reporter that he no longer earns any money from his role as Kirk.

“I’ve been starring in a TV series called ‘Gilmore Girls’ for a long time, which has made huge profits for Netflix,” he explains. “It has been one of the most popular series for over a decade. It’s streamed over and over and I hardly see any of the revenue generated from it.”

“You really need to rethink how you do business and share the wealth with people,” says Gunn. “Otherwise it all collapses.”

Luke Cook (starring in series like “Dollface”, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and “Dynasty”) also shares his experiences on social media.

According to him, 95 percent of all people signed to SAG-AFTRA don’t make enough acting to survive. In all of his recent series projects, he has been one step below the main cast, playing a recurring role in each. Still, he could not afford to be an actor alone. In addition, he always had other jobs – usually several.

It’s not just Netflix. Kamil McFadden also shares how much he earns streaming the Disney Channel series KC Undercover. The shocking thing is that part of the negative amounts are charged to him. In the end, he is left with just under three dollars. Stephen Glickman gets even less from “Big Time Rush”. He writes on Twitter: “Want to know how much I received from Netflix and Paramount+ in balance payments? I’ll give you a hint. It’s $0».

Netflix reserves the right not to pay actors for the streams until five years after release. The cast members of OITNB currently only earn money from the last season. In addition, Netflix only pays its stars for streams after 90 days. While streaming numbers skyrocket in the first weeks after release, the stars don’t see a penny of it.

Netflix doesn’t share its streaming numbers with the public, which makes it very difficult for actors to negotiate their pay. Because they don’t know how often their series is viewed and thus have no basis for negotiation.

They all demand that the big movie studios share streaming revenue with the creators who created the content that makes the studios billions. Netflix’s revenue in 2022 was $4.5 billion, Disney’s $3.2 billion.