On the fringes of the Hollywood strike, Paul spoke out about the unfair payment of the streaming service.
Actor Aaron Paul, best known as Jesse Pinkman in the crime series Breaking Bad, has sharply criticized Netflix. The currently largest streaming service in the world does not pay him anything for the further broadcast of the series. The payout from Netflix, Disney+ and other streaming services is the topic of the ongoing writer and actor strike in Hollywood.
Aaron Paul: “I get absolutely nothing from Netflix for ‘Breaking Bad'”
Like so many of his colleagues, Aaron Paul also takes part in the demonstrations in the US entertainment industry. The Writers Guild of America (WGA), the union of screenwriters, has been on strike since spring. The reason is unexplained bonus payments from the streaming services and fairer working conditions. In the summer, the Hollywood actors’ union, the Screen Actors Guilt (SAG), also showed solidarity with the WGA. Since then, all filming has come to a standstill in the former dream factory of Los Angeles.
In an interview with The Independent, Aaron Paul spoke about the current situation, which not only needs to change from his point of view: “I get absolutely nothing from Netflix for ‘Breaking Bad’, to be honest, and this is just crazy for me”, Paul described the situation. “I think a lot of streaming services know that they’ve gotten away with not paying their people properly and now it’s time to take responsibility.”
Streaming disrupted the entertainment industry’s financial ecosystem
The rise of streaming has completely changed the royalty model. For example, since Netflix doesn’t release viewership numbers that measure the success of a series or film, the service can bypass paying out to the creative minds behind the content. In the past, cable television stations in particular ensured that everyone involved received their financial share of broadcasts. Ratings on television are much more transparent than with streaming due to the legal situation.
Aaron Paul’s “Breaking Bad” colleague Jesse Plemons (“The Power of the Dog”) is also critical of the current model: “The way things were structured ten years ago made a lot more sense and gave aspiring actors: inside who worked hard or harder, more opportunities.”
The Hollywood strike is now in its fifth month. There is no end in sight for the time being, because a first attempt at negotiations between the unions and representatives of the studios failed. Experts even suspect that the work stoppage could drag on until early 2024.