Even Snow White has bills to pay. Acting the role of princess isn’t always like the fantasyland equipped with singing birds and somehow cute rats that Disney might have you believe. Even the seemingly picture-perfect gigs in Hollywood are a lot a lot like too many jobs these days: a lot of work and not enough pay. It’s hard to, as they say, whistle while you work if you’re getting paid pennies, or not getting paid anything for something that will be streamed instead of broadcast.
Rachel Zegler, the star of Disney's upcoming live-action Snow White, recently unveiled as much, as she picketed with other striking writers and actors in a viral video. “If I’m gonna stand there 18 hours in a dress of an iconic Disney princess, I deserve to be paid for every hour that it’s streamed online,” Zegler said. She’s just one of the many stars who have touched on issues of fair pay this summer, increasingly doing so with the aid of the internet.
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA unions have made historic waves, as they're both currently on strike in response to studios' refusal to meet their demands for A.I. regulations and better compensation, particularly with regard to streaming residuals. What streaming residuals, you ask? Exactly.
The last time a joint strike hit Hollywood was decades ago, during the early 1960s, and its leaders ironically included Ronald Reagan and Charlton Heston: two men who would become conservative political figures in the 1980s and ’90s as the labor movement entered a historic decline. But Reagan and Heston bequeathed to the industry its modern setup, where actors would be paid out huge sums for syndicated rebroadcasts. In the ’90s, as Heston assumed the presidency of the NRA, their labor agreement paid off in historic fashion for the casts of Seinfeld and Friends, who still get massive checks every year for their work being in "reruns." It has brought Jerry Seinfeld himself close to billionaire status, Cosmopolitan estimated earlier this year.
That kind of deal isn't on offer from Netflix, though—or Disney+.
No syndication in streaming
The generic actor’s struggle to live comfortably while they try to make it big is a well-trod cliché, such that it has long merited the stereotype of “starving artist.” But streaming has led to a greater fast for these creatives, as even notable names have felt the sting of paltry or nonexistent streaming residuals, and it’s an issue that’s been simmering for some time now.
“They don’t pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals,” Sydney Sweeney, star of Euphoria, said to the Hollywood Reporter last summer. Adding that she needs brand deals to afford the cost of all the trappings of a star (like a team of publicists and lawyers), Sydney explained that acting alone no longer provides the same sense of financial security that breakout stars like her used to enjoy.
It’s partly because we’re no longer in the age where broadcast TV dominates, and along with the elimination of kooky live studio laugh tracks, that means a slimmer paycheck for writers and actors. As Netflix rewrote the rules of television, putting every show at the viewer's fingertips to binge as much as they wanted, whenever they wanted, it soon started rewriting the rules of movies, too. It dovetailed with the decline of the cable TV industry amid the "cord-cutting" phenomenon to kick-start an era called the "streaming wars," as every media firm raced to create its own streamer, losing billions of dollars in the process. But streamed shows weren't subject to the old syndication residuals that were collectively agreed to by Reagan, Heston, and company.
One of the early crown jewels of streaming, Netflix's Orange is the New Black, helped bring the issue of (lack of) streaming residuals to the public’s attention. Kimiko Glenn, whose portrayal of Brook Soso in the series earned her multiple ensemble Screen Actors Guild Awards, explained that while she had earned acclaim from the role, that was about it. And acclaim doesn’t pay the rent. Her viral TikTok from 2020 showed as much, as the check for foreign residuals for over 10 years only amounted to $27. “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 later told Michael Schulman of the New Yorker. Hollywood, a land often of smoke (Botox) and mirrors, has become uncharacteristically open, as writers and actors have spoken out on social media about the less exciting parts of their jobs.
Mandy Moore, star of the recent suburban mom smash This Is Us, explained recently that despite how big a hit her show was, she received residual checks worth pennies—specifically, one penny.
Iger hints TV is a bad business for Disney
Bob Iger, at the helm of Disney once again, has found himself in the unfamiliar role of villain after a legendary run as CEO last decade. His comments regarding what he deemed to be unrealistic expectations regarding writers’ pay earned swift backlash, but he's looking at the entertainment landscape totally differently now. In a wide-ranging interview recently, he hinted at dropping TV ventures saying “they might not be core to Disney.” And his ESPN asset, once a cash cow in the cable space, is also being actively reconsidered within the portfolio.
Issues of low pay and a hiking cost of living have been brewing across every sector, not just in La-La Land. Many workers find themselves taking on extra jobs simply to make ends meet. Younger generations feel the sting especially keenly, as they make less in their early careers and have been set back by recessions and student loans. If Gen Z and millennials have become the spokespeople for better pay, it’s simply because their money doesn’t seem to go as far, leading to struggles in wealth building, home ownership, and financial independence.
It seems as if our new Gen Z princess has (like the rest of her generation) had enough. As she posted on social media, apparently in response to some backlash over her comments, “fellas is it woke to wanna be fairly compensated,” adding “this barbie is still on strike and still a proud SAG-AFTRA member.”
Zegler did not respond to Fortune's request for comment.
