Ellen Pompeo Takes a Stand: Netflix and Residuals Issue Spark SAG-AFTRA Controversy

Ellen Pompeo Takes a Stand: Ellen Pompeo has criticised Netflix for neglecting to pay residual payments as the SAG-AFTRA strike paralyses Hollywood.

Last week, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, and the actors’ union voted to join the strike by joining the picket lines. The Screen Actors Guild has not been on strike in 43 years.

Ellen Pompeo Takes a Stand: Netflix and Residuals Issue Spark SAG-AFTRA Controversy

In addition to higher base pay, improved working conditions, and assurances that artificial intelligence won’t displace them, actors are on strike over alterations to residual payment calculations. When their programmes or forms are rebroadcast on terrestrial television, actors receive additional residual compensation.

Principally due to residuals, the cast members of long-running terrestrial sitcoms like Friends or The Big Bang Theory are among the highest-paid actors in the history of television.

Despite the fact that performers are now rarely paid residuals in the streaming era, the actors of multiple Netflix series claim to have received inadequate compensation for their individual projects.

Tuesday (18 July), Grey’s Anatomy star Pompeo appeared to support striking actors when she criticised Netflix’s residual compensation methods.

The 53-year-old actor, who left Grey’s Anatomy in 2023 after 18 years, reposted a screenshot of the streamer’s TikTok post on Instagram Stories. The initial post featured a scene from the second season of Grey’s Anatomy in which a juvenile Meredith Grey (Pompeo) stood with her arms crossed.

While Grey’s Anatomy is not a Netflix original, it has aired on ABC since 2005 and is available on Netflix in the United States. Actors and screenwriters have recently spoken out about their “appalling” pay situations in Hollywood, prompting Pompeo’s remarks.

Several cast members of Orange is the New Black have spoken out on social media and in an article for The New Yorker.

In 2020, Kimiko Glenn, who portrayed Brooke Soso, reported earning only $27.30 (£20) in streaming residuals.