stopthatgirl7'Suits' Was Streamed For 3 Billion Minutes on Netflix and the Writers Were Collectively Paid $3,000
The sorry state of streaming residuals shows why SAG and the WGA are striking.
MxM111Warning: unpopular opinion here.
From the article:
That means that despite the show being a resurgent hit, there were no big secondary payouts.
So, I am an engineer/scientist. Products that I have developed/contributed to development are used by billions of people. Most likely you, the reader of this comment are using it right now, because some of the products I worked on are telecom products, that are widely used to transfer information.
The amount of secondary payouts I receive is EXACTLY ZERO.
My honest question is, why those writers should be any different? They should be paid when they make their products, according to the contract they signed. But why many think they entitled to something more?
And no, I do not think that argument "but it is difficult work, it is not constant" works here. There are lots of difficult, non-constant, seasonal, whatever jobs there that pay even less.
ShazbotFormer photographer here, let me fill in the gaps.
As an employee your on-boarding documents include a clause that says: any work created during your time at Company is property of Company. Without which your work would be in your ownership, and would be eligible for compensation.
Artists differ as they are sole proprietors; independent businesses that work for themselves, and license that work to others. If I shoot an ad campaign, I own those images regardless of who hires me. In our contract there will be usage rights stipulating in detail how that work is used and what fair compensation will be. Residuals are included because the work may outperform the initial terms of fair compensation. If they don’t want to pay residuals, they can do a rights buyout for a massive lump sum based on what I believe the worth is. Then its up to them to make their money back.
This is the crux: Writers are not employees, studios must pay these sole proprietors licensing fees and residuals for their works. Studios could hire teams of writers, yet there is no guarantee that they will create the return on investment because the process is long and complex. Nor do they want spend excessively and take on more risk.
Traditional media paid artists fees that reflected the usage and profits made from traditional outlets, a practice as old as the business. Now contracts are being updated to reflect streaming as the primary revenue stream as traditional media dies out. Studios are naturally upset because to investors they look less profitable despite this being the norm.