Even before the writers’ strike, it was becoming clear that Netflix doesn’t compensate its creatives to anywhere near the level they deserve.
Eric Andre spent a decade developing Bad Trip but didn’t see a penny when it was eventually purchased by the streaming service, while the architects behind The Night Agent and Squid Game – each of which ranks as one of the platform’s most-watched original TV shows of all-time – barely saw anything despite delivering global success on a record-breaking scale.
As it turns out, though, it’s hardly a new phenomenon. A deep dive by The New Yorker reveals that things have been going on this way for a decade, with Orange is the New Black hardly shelling out fair remuneration for what was effectively the project that helped usher in the entire company’s boom period.
Star Lea DeLaria recalled when the cast were at a party before a Screen Actors Guild ceremony, where CEO Ted Sarandos bragged that more people had watched Orange is the New Black than Game of Thrones.
“I remember all of us thinking, ‘Give us the money!’ But we were always saying, ‘Give us the money.’ We were keenly aware that we weren’t being paid. I get 20 dollars! I would love to know: How much money did Ted make last year?”
The answer is that Sarandos makes a base salary of at least $20 million per year plus stock options that drive his pay packet up to eye-watering levels, but these are still the people who don’t understand why actors and writers are on the picket lines demanding more.