Netflix would not be where it is right now without Orange is the New Black. Before becoming a streaming giant with global hits like Stranger Things and Wednesday, the then-fledgling streaming service struck gold with the drama starring Taylor Schilling which centered on a typically law-abiding woman’s trip to prison. Hailed for its exploration of the prison system with an excellent, diverse cast of female inmates, it showed that Netflix was ready to compete with cable and established television networks. According to many of the cast members in a piece from The New Yorker, the Emmy-winning series was also an early example of the exploitative practices and unfair compensation that has plagued streaming over the past few years.
Across its seven-season run, Orange Is the New Black became, at the time, Netflix‘s most-watched series and longest-running series. Despite widespread popularity that turned its relatively-unknown female ensemble into near-overnight superstars, many of the series “recurring guest stars” were paid horribly. The stars who spoke out, including Kimiko Glenn, Emma Myles, Beth Dover, Alysia Reiner, Diane Guerrero, Taryn Manning, and Lea DeLaria, revealed that they were paid the SAG minimum day rate of under $900 per day with many having to stay on their day jobs to continue appearing in the series. “It actually COST me money to be in Season 3 and 4 since I was cast local hire and had to fly myself out, etc,” Dover added. “But I was so excited for the opportunity to be on a show I loved so I took the hit. It’s maddening.”
Glenn revealed just how little residuals for a streaming series paid. While reruns on network television can sustain some actors for years, as is the case with Friends, streaming offers next to none of that money for those who contributed. With Netflix going global, things have only gotten more complicated and less lucrative as the options for earning residuals on foreign networks dwindle. Glenn took to TikTok in 2020 to show the continued compensation she had received for her 44 episodes on the show as Brook Soso which amounted to only $27.30. Myles, who appeared on 54 episodes, made only around $20 on residuals this year for the show compared to around $600 a year for several Law & Order guest appearances. That pay disparity is a massive reason why SAG has gone on strike as residuals have been almost entirely erased from the pay of a streaming actor while salaries are staying at a minimum.
Netflix Took Advantage of Its Cast Despite Record Profits
The cast felt disillusioned as the success of the show made everyone believe they were beyond-rich megastars while still being forced to work day jobs which, as fellow actor Matt McGorry pointed out, often paid better than the show. “So many of my friends who have nearly a million followers, who are doing billion-dollar franchises, don’t know how to make rent,” Glenn added. It wasn’t all Netflix though. Lionsgate, which produced the series, decided upfront payment for the series and was committed to paying the bare minimum. Pay for the supporting actors would never eclipse $15,000 per episode throughout the life of the show. While some would eventually be upped to series regulars who received better compensation, Lori Tan Chin, one of many struggling to make ends meet, was considering going on food stamps because of how little she earned. Attending award shows was even becoming a burden on the cast because traveling and preparing for events was a cost they had major difficulty affording on their meager pay.
All the more galling for the OITNB cast was that Netflix was openly bragging about their profits while selling them a lie about a lack of money. “They’re telling us, ‘Oh, we can’t pay you this much, because we’re pinching pennies,'” Dover remembered. “But then Netflix is telling their shareholders that they’re making more than they’ve ever made. We have not been fairly compensated by any stretch of the imagination.” Although Netflix shares its hours streamed now, it made sure to keep any ratings metrics out of public knowledge for the show until it ended – though CEO Ted Sarandos barely kept that a secret, gloating that the series drew more eyes than Game of Thrones. Even creator Jenji Kohan didn’t know exactly what the show was pulling in, even if the popularity and Sarandos‘s boasting confirmed it was a metric ton. At the end of Season 5, many actors weren’t even sure of their status on the show as it split up the cast, leaving many to wait on Netflix for a call while sacrificing opportunities that came up in the meantime.
Orange Is the New Black‘s Problems Are Now Widespread Within Streaming
As SAG-AFTRA pickets for better conditions for actors, the accounts of the OITNB cast are proof of why actors are fighting. The whole reason the union is picketing alongside their WGA brethren is to secure better pay and compensation into pensions and healthcare from streaming companies that continue to pay less and take a greater piece of the pie for the executives at the top and the wealthy shareholders among other protections. Residuals are key to this. Considering how much viewership the biggest shows on a platform like Netflix draw, bringing residuals in line with theatrical and linear network releases will be a monumental step toward making the industry fair for everyone who works in it.
Read a full explanation of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike here on Collider to see what the unions are fighting for specifically from studios.
via Collider