“The Umbrella Academy” writer Molly Nussbaum said that the streaming financial structure “doesn’t make any sense” while picketing outside Paramount on Wednesday, telling TheWrap that even after executive producing a streaming series, she was forced back into driving for Lyft.
“The money that you make on a job has to now last you six, 10, 12, 14 months — and when you don’t have residuals coming to help you get through that… I mean, I was an executive producer in April on a hit show for a streaming platform, and I was driving for Lyft in December. That doesn’t make any sense. It’s not good,” Nussbaum, who was acting as a WGA strike captain, told TheWrap.
The WGA member, who was most recently working on the “Daredevil” reboot for Disney and was previously executive producing on the Peacock series “One of Us Is Lying,” added, “I believe that what we’re asking for is fair. We want our fair share in the wealth that we create for these billion dollar companies. I care a lot about residuals and making sure that streaming residuals reflect the wealth we are generating.”
When asked if she thought entertainment CEOs should take a pay cut, as Barry Diller recently suggested, she replied, “When I look at the numbers, I feel like that’s where you can make some cuts and reallocate some funds. If we are creating this much profit, this much revenue for your companies, why is it all going to the people at the top? Why is it all going to the shareholders who have not been the people creating that wealth for you?”
She added, “We are not asking for money that’s not there. We are just asking for a reallocation of funds that reflects the value we bring to these companies.”
Nussbaum added, “We need to see real changes in our contract that addresses the changes that have happened in the streaming model: short-term work, mini rooms, not sending writers to set production. These are diminishing our work and diminishing our power. We need to address these problems now, because we won’t get a second chance.”
