We’re still only in the formative stages of writers and actors striking together for the first time in decades, but Netflix and Disney are already emerging as the de facto bad guys for a number of reasons.
Streaming services and the way the respective companies handle royalties has been a major bone of contention that both guilds want rectified as soon as possible, while Bob Iger’s dismissive comments of the ongoing action being “unrealistic” has irritated a lot of creatives.
Step forward Sean Gunn, then, who has a foot in both camps and decided to take each one of them to task when speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, with Netflix’s distribution deal to beam Gilmore Girls into homes everywhere first on his agenda.
“I was on a television show called Gilmore Girls for a long time that has brought in massive profits for Netflix. It has been one of their most popular shows for a very long time, over a decade. It gets streamed over and over and over again, and I see almost none of the revenue that comes into that. I don’t understand why they can’t lessen those bonuses to share the wealth more with the people who have created the content that has gotten them rich.
It really is a travesty. And if the answer is, ‘Well, this is just how business is done, this is just how corporate business works,’ that sucks. That makes you a bad person. And you really need to rethink how you do business and share the wealth with people. Otherwise, this is all going to come crashing down.”
Following that, the Guardians of the Galaxy veteran and brother of the DC Studios co-CEO then railed against Iger laughing at the peasants from his ivory tower, and he wasn’t in the mood for holding back.
“In 1980, CEOs made 30 times what the lowest worker was making, now Bob Iger makes 400 times what his lowest worker is making. I think that’s a f*cking shame Bob, and maybe you should look in the mirror and ask why is that? Is it morally okay?”
Sean Gunn emerging as a hero of the people probably wasn’t on the bingo card, but if he keeps telling it like it is, then he could swiftly emerge as one of the strike’s most pivotal faces.
