‘Suits’ Writers Slam Netflix for ‘Pretty Sad’ Residual Checks

Suits lately grew to become a massive hit on streaming services — however its writers declare that success hasn’t trickled right down to their paychecks.

Sisters Lilla and Nora Zuckerman, who labored as writers and producers on season 4 and 5 of the USA Community present, broke down their current residual earnings to assist clarify why Hollywood’s writers and actors are at present on strike.

Lilla informed Decider that she “acquired $12,568.57 in residuals” in 2016 for the season 5 episode “Blowback,” which premiered in January of that 12 months. “I think about it was most likely being bought internationally and re-airing on USA,” she mentioned in an interview printed on Thursday, August 10. “This 12 months, 2023, the place Fits has been considered for billions and billions of hours on Netflix, I acquired the grand complete of $414.26 on that episode.”

Fits aired its ninth and final season in 2019, however the authorized drama has seen an enormous resurgence in recognition since shifting in June from Prime Video to Netflix, which hosts the present’s first eight seasons. Peacock, in the meantime, presents the complete sequence. For the week of June 29, Fits racked up greater than 3 billion minutes of viewing on the 2 platforms, marking a Nielsen streaming chart report for an acquired title.

The numbers are definitely spectacular, however Nora and Lilla say they haven’t seen a lot of a rise of their residual funds. “It’s actually laborious to type by way of all these checks, since you get dozens of them which can be, like, $7 right here, $30 there and so forth,” Lilla defined. “However that’s with Fits airing on two completely different main streaming platforms. It’s this blockbuster hit, and I acquired a grand complete of $414 for it.”

Nora, for her half, added, “You hope that perhaps some magical examine will arrive, but it surely doesn’t seem. … It’s been fairly unhappy.”

Low residual funds are one of the main reasons why two Hollywood unions — the Writers Guild of America and the Display screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Tv and Radio Artists — are in a standoff with the Alliance of Movement Image and Tv Producers. Earlier than streaming grew to become a major technique of watching TV, actors and behind-the-camera crew relied on residual funds to carry them over between initiatives. These funds have dwindled through the streaming period, so WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikers are hoping to renegotiate a greater contract with AMPTP.

The Zuckermans are simply two of many within the leisure trade who have spoken out about their miniscule residual funds. Final month, Mandy Moore revealed that she’s acquired “very tiny, like, 81-cent checks” for This Is Us, which was a significant hit when it initially aired on NBC.

“The residual problem is a large problem,” Moore, 39, told The Hollywood Reporter whereas joining a SAG-AFTRA picket line in Los Angeles. “We’re in extremely lucky positions as working actors having been on reveals that discovered super success in a method or one other … however many actors in our place for years earlier than us had been capable of dwell off of residuals or at the very least pay their payments.”