It's no mystery that the SAG-AFTRA strike has had a huge impact on an industry that was already in dire straits due to the WGA writers strike that began months prior, and there is still no end in sight for either strike. As the picket lines continue to form and grow on a daily basis, more and more guild members are speaking up about why it is so important to be striking over pay at this point. It's shined a light on the fact that just because a streaming show or star is popular, it doesn’t mean all involved are suddenly free from money struggles, with one Umbrella Academy writer sharing just how quickly things can change for the worse.
While picketing near the Paramount lot, acting WGA strike captain and The Umbrella Academy writer Molly Nussbaum opened up to The Wrap about how being an executive producer on a big streaming series wasn't enough to keep her from immediately needing to find more work in the aftermath to make ends meet. With a major point of contention for both guilds centering on a fairer payment and residuals structure for streaming projects, Nussbaum addressed having to fall back on a Lyft sidegig in lieu of landing another series:
The money that you make on a job has to now last you six, 10, 12, 14 months — and when you don’t have residuals coming to help you get through that… I mean, I was an executive producer in April on a hit show for a streaming platform, and I was driving for Lyft in December. That doesn’t make any sense. It’s not good.
One would think that bringing a streaming series to life as a writer and executive producer would lead to a lot of money, but that is definitely not the case for many working in Hollywood. With multiple streaming shows under her belt, including the upcoming Disney+ superhero drama Daredevil: Born Again, Molly Nussbaum is staying pretty busy, at least when strikes aren't in play, but even so, it’s clear that doesn’t mean that she's bringing in a proper living wage for L.A. living. Hearing that she had to resort to the non-creative work of driving for Lyft is frustrating, but here's hoping all of the efforts being made by writers, actors and beyond will lead to huge changes in the industry at large.
Nussbaum didn’t say exactly what streaming series she was working on ahead of joining Lyft, but if she was talking specifically about 2022 timing, she served as co-executive producer on the now-canceled Peacock series One Of Us Is Lying, which aired for two seasons from 2021 to 2022. So it’s possible that could be the series she’s talking about. Either way, regardless of what show it is, those working on it and others should be able to find consistent and lucrative work in their fields, rather than needing to take on part-time jobs to bridge the gap until the next writing job. It’s sad that it even came to that for Nussbaum, but hopefully, things will change.
Many WGA strikers are demanding fair pay, which includes higher residuals for past projects, with several TV faves sharing how small some of those checks have been. An Abbott Elementary fan-favorite recently showed off his residual check, which was only five cents, and not worth what it took the print the paper. There’s also the fact that many studios are eager to start incorporating A.I. technology across various levels of the creative process, from writing to actors' likenesses. So hopefully, things come to a resolution soon, so that Molly Nussbaum and others can land industry jobs that pay back as much as what they put into them.
Meanwhile, as the strike continues, fans can still support Nussbaum’s projects new and old, including the final season of The Umbrella Academy. The first cast picture from the final season got people emotional, but thanks to the hair game, that viewers can definitely look forward to in Season 4, it made it a little easier to cope with. A premiere date for the fourth and final season hasn’t been announced yet, but fans can sign up for a Netflix subscription and watch the first three seasons in preparation.
