Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos commented on the writers’ and actors’ strike currently crippling Hollywood, saying he’s sympathetic to organized labor’s demands.
“I was raised in a union household,” the executive said during a Netflix earnings call on Wednesday, per Deadline.
“My dad was a member of IBEW Local 640, he was a union electrician,” Sarandos said. “And I remember his local because that union was very much a part of our lives when I was growing up. And I also remember on more than one occasion, my Dad being out on strike. And I remember that because it takes an enormous toll on your family, financially and emotionally.”
“So you should know that nobody here nobody within AMPTP and I’m sure nobody at SAG or nobody at the WGA took any of this lightly,” the 58-year-old businessman went on. “We’re super committed to getting to an agreement as soon as possible, one that’s equitable, and one that enables the industry, and everybody in it to move forward into the future.”
One point of contention for SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) members is the drop in earnings from residuals, which pay actors every time their projects are played. Netflix and other major streaming platforms are at the center of that controversy.
While Sarandos outwardly expressed sympathy for the union members on strike, Disney CEO Bob Iger took a different tone. Prior to SAG-AFTRA joining the writers on the picket line, he said the months-long WGA strike was “disturbing” and that their demands were not “realistic.”
“It’s very disturbing to me. We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from COVID which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” Iger said of the situation last week.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP
“I understand any labor organization’s desire to work on behalf of its members to get the most compensation and be compensated fairly based on the value that they deliver. We managed, as an industry, to negotiate a very good deal with the directors guild that reflects the value that the directors contribute to this great business,” the Disney exec continued.
“We wanted to do the same thing with the writers, and we’d like to do the same thing with the actors. There’s a level of expectation that they have, that is just not realistic,” he said. “And they are adding to the set of the challenges that this business is already facing that is, quite frankly, very disruptive.”