Thanks to his prominent position on the picket lines during the writers’ and actors’ strikes, Sean Gunn has been in the headlines almost as much as brother James recently, which is no small feat when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been tearing it up at the box office and on-demand at the same time the pieces for Superman: Legacy fall into place.
The source of the younger sibling’s ire is aimed squarely at Netflix, though, particularly Gilmore Girls. The series has ranked as one of the platform’s most popular legacy titles ever since it first landed on the library and exploded in popularity, but the cast haven’t exactly been fairly compensated for their work.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Gunn admitted that as much as he’s appreciative of Gilmore Girls finding more fans than ever before, it would be preferable were the cast and crew remunerated in a fashion befitting its status as a major draw.
“I think Gilmore Girls was sort of the perfect example of the type of show that has been disrespected by the new model. We had a show that was a modest hit when it was on the air but certainly was not thought of as one of the bigger shows on television. It had a pretty decent life in DVD sales and we were pretty well compensated for that, but when it started streaming in 2014 it really became a massive hit.
They pay this small fee to lots of shows and throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. Gilmore became this runaway hit for them and we don’t share in any of that success. It’s cool that there are new fans and I’m glad that they’re seeing work that I’m proud of but we’re not getting any of the monetary benefit from that.”
With no signs of the strikes abating anytime soon, it remains to be seen if Netflix and the other companies at the center of the storm will blink, but for the sake of the industry it would be highly preferable if they did.
Published: Aug 8, 2023 01:25 am