Diane Guerrero, who played Maritza Ramos on the Netflix hit “Orange is the New Black,” worked at a bar where patrons would recognize her. “How could you tell this complete stranger how much you’re getting paid for being on a television show?” she asked. “Because everyone’s reaction would be, like, ‘Oh, my God, I love you on that show! But also, what are you doing here?’ It was this incredulity that was teetering on offensive.”
That confrontation was typical for certain cast members on that show and other streaming hits, according to a story this week in The New Yorker. While the cast achieved hugh worldwide fame and fan adoration, the amounts of money they made from their performances didn’t allow them the financial freedom to give up their day or night gigs. That often led to the type of situation Guerrero describes.
Such struggles are at the heart of the current Hollywood strikes, which pit the talent and writers against the studio vehicles that financially back them and want to carve out more in the streaming age.
Actress Kimiko Glenn has a story that echoes Guerrero’s situation. Glenn received a foreign-royalty statement in the mail from SAG-AFTRA for her work as motormouthed, idealistic inmate Brook Soso. The paper listed tiny amounts of income (four cents, two cents) culled from overseas levies.
“I was, like, Oh, my God, it’s just so sad,” Glenn said. She posted a video in which she scans the statement—“I’m about to be so riiich!”—then reaches the grand total of twenty-seven dollars and thirty cents and shrieks, “WHAT?”
Ten actors from the show, many of whom spent several seasons as “recurring guest stars,” were talked to for the New Yorker piece. “The first thing we say to each other when we see each other, is, like, ‘Yeah, it’s really fucked up—all my residuals are gone.”
“Orange” was distributed by Netflix but produced by Lionsgate, which determined the cast’s up-front payments.
When Glenn joined the cast in Season 2, the show didn’t pay for her transportation unless her call time was before 6 a.m. She had to take the subway to the studio in Astoria or pay for a taxi herself. “The cab rides wouldn’t have been such a big thing if we were paid enough that it didn’t feel like we were spending our paychecks on it.”
The day after the final season’s première party, writer and EP Tara Herrmann said, “Jenji (show co-creator Kohan) and I were brought to a conference room, and they finally shared the numbers with us: a hundred million users had seen at least one episode, and I want to say at least half had completed all six seasons. From an artistic standpoint, those numbers are breathtaking. And, from a business perspective, absolutely staggering. After revealing the numbers, the executive asked us, ‘How does hearing this make you feel?’ Jenji was silent and looks to me, and I said, ‘Like I want to renegotiate my contract.’ ”