Hollywood Strikes Amplify Criticism of Lavish Media CEO Pay Packages
variety.comBrent Lang Executive Editor Hit any picket line in Hollywood these days, and there’s a good chance you’ll see signs slamming the lavish paydays for entertainment chiefs like Disney’s Bob Iger and Warner Bros.
Discovery’s David Zaslav. For the striking actors and writers who are holding out for a better deal from the major studios, these bloated compensation packages have become a very effective cudgel.
It’s particularly notable when someone like Iger, who is set to earn up to $27 million this year, gripes on CNBC that the two unions aren’t being “realistic” about the struggles the business is facing. “It’s sort of like someone’s just tossing you an easy layup,” says Adam Conover, a member of the Writers Guild of America negotiating committee. “Well, you’re gonna take it when they do that.” Conover and the writers and actors who are on strike argue that they’ve been left behind by the industry’s embrace of streaming — a transition that’s put more debt on companies’ books, with less profits to show for it.
Writers and actors say that the royalties they make when their movies or shows are licensed to Netflix or Disney+ are a fraction of what they were when they would show up on cable TV or in syndication.
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