The 31-year-old star, who portrayed Ryan Shaver on the Netflix series, reveals she 'barely qualified' for insurance benefits because the money she made was so low.
- Jul 27, 2023
AceShowbiz - Tommy Dorfman earned less than $30,000 for the first season of "13 Reasons Why". The 31-year-old star portrayed Ryan Shaver on the drama series but revealed she "barely qualified" for insurance benefits because the money she made was so low.
Tommy, who had a starring role in the first two seasons before being shifted to a guest in seasons three and four, broke down her pay details to highlight one of the reasons why she is striking as a member of acting union SAG-AFTRA. She wrote on Threads, "my earnings for the entire first season of 13 reasons why were $29,953.24 prior to agency and manager fees (20%) and taxes. 8 episodes over six months. i did all of the promo and had KEY ART for this show, flew round trip from NYC to SF to shoot for every episode, was kept for days without pay/working. i barely qualified for insurance. within the first 28 days of release, the show's season 1 garnered a total of 476 million view hours. this is why we strike. @sagaftra (sic)"
Last week, Tommy shared a photo of herself on the picket line in New York City. She wrote on Instagram, "@sagaftra @wgaeast #sagaftrastrong #wgastrong". The "Jane the Virgin' star's revelation comes days after Mandy Moore revealed she had earned "around 81 cents" from streaming residuals since Hulu bought the rights to "This Is Us" from NBC in 2017.
She told The Hollywood Reporter, "The residual issue is a huge issue. We're in incredibly fortunate positions as working actors having been on shows that found tremendous success in one way or another … but many actors in our position for years before us were able to live off of residuals or at least pay their bills. I was talking with my business manager who said he's received a residual for a penny and two pennies."
"Scandal" star Katie Lowes has also received mere pennies for the streams from her Netflix series and insists it's impossible to live off residual payments.
She said, "If you are someone who has been fortunate enough in our positions to do 120-plus episodes of a successful show in previous years - 10, 15, 20 years ago - that re-airing would be the thing that could sustain you on years where I did this smaller project or I wanted to go do a play or you have kids and you have a family to provide for. And that just not a reality anymore. The entire model has changed."
The Screen Actors Guild union ordered a strike across TV, theatrical, and streaming productions earlier this month amid concerns over wages for actors and creators in the industry alike, AI technology, and how the profits of digital streaming on services such as Netflix and Disney+ can be divided.
