Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul revealed he hasn’t been paid any residuals from Netflix.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight Canada during a recent SAG-AFTRA picket, he confirmed that Netflix hasn’t paid him for Breaking Bad despite the show recently ‘trending’ on the service.
“I don’t get a piece from Netflix on Breaking Bad if we’re being totally honest, and that’s insane to me,” he confirmed.
“Shows live forever on these streamers, and it goes through waves,” he added. “I just saw the other day that Breaking Bad was trending on Netflix. I think a lot of these streamers, they know that they have been getting away with not paying people a fair wage, and now it’s time to pony up. And that’s just one of the things that we’re fighting for.”
Paul famously played Jesse Pinkman, cooking partner of Walter White (aka the infamous Heisenberg played by Bryan Cranston) and one of the show’s most iconic characters. Although Cranston didn’t comment on residuals, he did explain why it’s important to fight for better conditions.
“Broadcast is diminishing, year after year after year, and even if you do a broadcast show, your residual is going to be greatly cut,” he said. “When we first started coming up in this business, a long time ago, we relied on residuals to be able to pay our bills. I mean, part of the equation of working was residuals, international residuals, DVD sales, and things like that. But those are gone.”
Breaking Bad isn’t the only show that’s not generating residuals for its cast, indeed this is one of the big sticking points during SAG-AFTRA negotiations. In fact, Kimiko Glen, who starred in Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, recently revealed her residuals for the show: just $23.70.
The ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike began back in July and has already seen multiple projects suspended while Hollywood grapples with the plight of its actors. The Writers Guild of America is also on strike after negotiations to renew its contract with the AMPTP failed.
Warner Bros. yesterday revealed that it will likely lose up to $500 million as a result of the current strike action.
IGN’s Breaking Bad final season review gave it 10/10 and said: “Whether you call it a ‘half-season’ or consider these final eight episodes its own season, this final batch of Breaking Bad is one of the best runs of episodes TV has ever offered.”
Want to read more about Breaking Bad? Check out why Vince Gilligan feels bad for Skyler as well as his idea for a GTA-style Breaking Bad game.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
