SCOOP: The First Shows Where Writers Scored Streaming BonusesYes, ‘Bridgerton’ is one, but others may surprise as I analyze the post-strike wins, what it means for scribes and the unusual benefit of a smaller streamer
Elaine Low reports on the TV business from L.A. She recently reported on how Gen Z is learning Hollywood swagger, wrote about the new art of the virtual pitch and reported on industry workers who’ve decided to leave L.A. after the wildfires.Hello, Series Business fam! If you’re still catching up from “springing forward” the clocks on Sunday, I’ve got some intel that’s as eye-opening as your favorite cold brew. When thousands of writers and performers picketed for months outside the studios in the dual strikes of 2023, they were seeking a range of changes from the studios — including higher minimum rates, foreign residual hikes and new rules for writers room sizes and employment periods. But all of these negotiation points tied back to one essential demand: giving WGA and SAG-AFTRA members fair participation in the streaming boom amid a rapidly changing ecosystem that they felt had left them behind. (“Mama needs a paycheck,” read a typical picket sign.) By the end of those many weeks marching under the sun, the unions won, among other concessions, a new source of revenue in the form of a success-based residual for streaming shows and films. The new performance bonuses would give writers, actors and directors a chance to finally get in on some of the upside of hit projects. The post-strike WGA agreement inked in the fall of 2023 promises bonuses of 50 percent on top of the standard residual to be doled out to credited writers of a streaming series that is viewed by 20 percent or more of a platform’s domestic subscribers in the first 90 days after it premieres. That’s $9,031 for each credited writer on a half-hour episode, $16,415 for a one-hour episode and $40,500 for streaming features with budgets of more than $30 million. For the actors, that residual bonus is 75 percent, with another 25 percent going into a fund that is to be divvied up among other streaming series’ casts. While it wasn’t what SAG-AFTRA had initially fought for, the union said the bonus would be worth up to $40 million annually. Shows and films that were released on Jan. 1, 2024 or later are eligible for these bonuses. But one year later, it’s been a bit of a mystery just which series have qualified, which is especially surprising given that platforms have to pay out the bonus within 60 days from the end of the quarter in which a show’s 90-day qualifying period ends. (Translation: There’s a lag — but the results should be in, good or ill, for any series that premiered in the first three quarters of last year.) So exactly which shows have gotten that payday? It turns out that in the first half of 2024, at least five series have qualified. Yes, Bridgerton made the cut (Netflix phenom Squid Game isn’t eligible since it’s a South Korean show and thus not covered by the WGA contract), but some of the other series that scored the bonus — and even the platforms where they found success — may surprise you. Let’s take a look at what they are in this week’s Series Business, which will also get into:
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SCOOP: The First Shows Where Writers Scored Streaming Bonuses
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