Aaron Paul says he doesn’t “get a piece” in connection with Breaking Bad’s continued streaming success on Netflix, citing this as an example of how the film and TV industries must change moving forward.
Joining fellow striking artists (and other Breaking Bad universe alumni) outside Sony last week, Paul spoke with Entertainment Tonight Canada about how the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has been screwing everyone on residuals in the streaming age.
“I don’t get a piece from Netflix on Breaking Bad, to be totally honest,” Paul said, as seen in the video below. “That’s insane to me, you know what I mean? Shows live forever on these streamers and it goes through waves. I just saw just the other day that Breaking Bad was trending on Netflix.”
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As Paul pointed out, fixing this problem is “such common sense.” Major studios, however, aren’t keen on bringing the unfair practice to an end.
"I think a lot of these streamers, they know that they have been getting away with not paying people just fair wage and now it’s time to pony up," Paul said, adding that this is "just one of the things" SAG-AFTRA and WGA artists have been fighting for in their dual strikes.
Among those who joined Paul on the picket line was his Breaking Bad co-star Bryan Cranston, who previously made headlines after directly addressing widely criticized remarks made by Disney CEO Bob Iger.
"We don’t expect you to understand who we are but we asking you to hear us, and beyond that to listen to us when we tell you we will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots," Cranston said at SAG-AFTRA's Rock the City for a Fair Contract rally in New York in July.
The union's ongoing fight is likely to continue to grow. At the top of this month, SAG-AFTRA's National Board announced its unanimous decision to send a strike authorization vote to members ahead of bargaining dates with video game companies including Activision, Epic Games, and more.
