Sean Gunn says Netflix "trying to screw people over," as SAG-AFTRA strike continues

someone is joining us who wants to help bring Hollywood back to life now turning to some of those big issues behind the Dual strikes that have shut down most of Hollywood actors and writers are now on the picket lines including Guardians of the Galaxy Star Sean Gunn who you may also remember from the Gilmore Girls and other projects both the actors and writers say the shift to streaming has gutted their ability to make a living and both want better protections against the use of AI which they say cannot replace human creativity on the other side of the dispute the alliance of motion picture and television producers claim they've quote offered they offered quote a historic pay and residual increases including protections a quote note a quick note I'm sorry some of CBS News staff are Sac after members but we work under a different contract than actors and are not affected by the strike only on CBS mornings Sean Gunn joins us right now good morning Sean how are you doing hi good morning it's it's good to be here um so so let's jump right into it you and many actors are asking for fair residuals and that's from the streaming platform specifically why is that aspect important to you well you know there was an old bargaining agreement where the the you know you would get paid for every time that if if you did a television show every time it aired you would get paid based on the old agreement well streaming came along and changed everything and all of a sudden they started paying a licensing fee to own the product that you made in perpetuity and they don't they don't pay based on how many times people watch it they don't pay based on anything they just pay based on uh you know they they make some some kind of a of a deal with the production company they buy the product for whatever amount of money and then they can run it as many times as they want and this is absolutely unfair they uh you know we we need to know if we're participating in the success of a program and if we are we should participate in that it's just it's it's uh it's common sense yeah so Sean I mean you what you bring up is a good point it's been reported that for example the actors on Friends over the years with all the replays on TV because of their Deals they made millions and millions and millions of dollars each whereas there are stories of actors on streaming shows like Orange is the New Black they're they're in lots of episodes it gets viewed millions of times but they're making pennies if anything for those additional views happens to writers as well there are stories there and so the question becomes though from the streamer's perspective if we had an executive on I'm sure they would say hey look we're not making any money either so we can't pay you if we're not making any money what's your response to that well first of all we're asking for a percentage of the profits so if you're not making any money okay we'll participate in that but they're that's that's disingenuous on their part if they're saying hey we're not making any money because they won't reveal their numbers why not yeah why won't Netflix tell us how much money that they're making you know uh on their shows why won't they let us know how much each show streams in a given day they won't tell you any of that stuff and I can I can I can promise you that when a streamer like neck like Netflix says we're not going to release our numbers it's because they're screwing someone over somewhere that's why they do it that's why by the way this is making money uh what the numbers are yeah yeah exactly and and and we just want transparency I mean you know tell us tell us what you're making and if if you're making less okay we'll share in your pain just like we share in your profit but they're not they're not offering any of that they're not offering us to to share in in their profits they're saying hey we're going to be uh we're gonna shut you out not tell you anything about how much money we're making and then we'll we'll say hey we're we're poor it's it's you know we're not making enough money it's ridiculous we should note that we reached out to Netflix uh for comment they declined the comment same thing with Warner Brothers the makers of the guild girls that they don't respond to comments they don't they don't want to like you guys as journalists ask them if you ever get them on the on the phone ask them why won't you release your numbers why won't you let people know how much money you're making they won't do it um it's because they're trying to screw people over and and I'd be very uh I I I'd be very worried if I was a shareholder in Netflix like oh wait a minute this company won't tell me how much money they're making why Sean there's another concern here and it deals with AI and and certainly likeness and the work that you're putting out um what's most concerning about the ability for for you know essentially what a lot of actors sag after members are saying could could be stolen from them yeah I uh you know AI is a big massive can of worms that everyone is just uh opened up and we're all looking at these worms um first of all I would say it seems very very clear that nobody should own your likeness and perpetuity that seems obvious like anybody out there you don't you don't have to be a a Hollywood Insider to know that it's not fair for somebody to own your likeness forever um so we should make sure that that's not okay but also I think AI changes all the time um and I I think that let's let's look at it every year let's not sign an agreement where we yeah you know where we decide how actors are gonna are gonna be related to AI for five years plus into the future because we don't know where that technology is going so I think it would be much better to yeah yeah I'm sorry to to keep that short and yeah yeah go ahead go ahead I know I can talk all day sorry guys I was gonna say tell us what you really think but you really have I appreciate your candor this morning I do I did want to mention to our viewers Before We Say Goodbye just that if any executive from any of the big streamers wants to come on we'd be happy to to have that interview and ask some of these questions uh and they are publicly traded companies in many cases I think all actually so the overall earnings are known but your point about the breakout for streaming is is well taken and the number of views individual shows gets that is often shrouded Sean gun thank you for your candor once again appreciate you being on thanks guys

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 219,097

Keywords: video, cbs, news, actors, strike, sag aftra union, pay, money, entertainment, sean gunn, gilmore girls

Id: lbRoKTd8now

Length: 7min 13sec (433 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 18 2023