Mandy Moore recently revealed that she earns literal pennies in streaming residuals for her wildly popular drama, This Is Us. Amid the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike, Moore has joined the picket line to protest for fairer wages. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, from the Disney picket line in Burbank, Moore said, “The residual issue is a huge issue.”
She added, “We’re in incredibly fortunate positions as working actors having been on shows that found tremendous success in one way or another … but many actors in our position for years before us were able to live off of residuals or at least pay their bills.” The actress then revealed that in the past she received “very tiny, like 81-cent checks” for This Is Us streaming residuals. “I was talking with my business manager who said he’s received a residual for a penny and two pennies,” she said.
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Scandal star Katie Lowes was also present, and stated that she hasn’t been paid any substantial residuals from Disney for Scandal streaming deals with Netflix and Hulu. “If you are someone who has been fortunate enough in our positions to do 120-plus episodes of a successful show in previous years – 10, 15, 20 years ago – that re-airing would be the thing that could sustain you on years where I did this smaller project or I wanted to go do a play or you have kids and you have a family to provide for,” Lowes said. “And that just not a reality anymore. The entire model has changed.”
The Writers Guild of America strike began on May 2. The organization represents more than 11,000 Hollywood TV and movie writers. The strike was the result of the WGA not reaching an acceptable agreement after six weeks of wage negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. “Though we negotiated intent on making a fair deal – and though your strike vote gave us the leverage to make some gains – the studios’ responses to our proposals have been wholly insufficient, given the existential crisis writers are facing,” the negotiating committee wrote in a letter to members, per VOX. “The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union workforce, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing.” The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) joined the strike on July 4. The strike currently has no end date.
