According to Denman the streaming model is set up to benefit the studios that sell the content to streaming services, effectively cutting actors out of the equation.
“Netflix, they created a model that everyone else followed, which is, ‘We’re gonna buy you out, we’re gonna pay for your services for a cycle, which could be three months,'” Denman said.Mandy Moore Reveals She’s Received ‘This Is Us’ Residual Cheques For Just A Penny Amid SAG-AFTRA Strike “And it doesn’t matter if you watch that show once or you watch it 100 times, you’re not gonna get any more money because more people watch it,” he continued.
As a result, he explained, if a show becomes a huge hit for a streaming service, actors don’t share in that success, because “the only person that makes more money is the person who licensed that to Netflix.” That was particularly true of “The Office”, which has been even more successful on streaming that it was when it originally aired on NBC. “And when it was the No. 1 show on Netflix, they’re able to make a significant profit off of that,” Denman added. “But that doesn’t trickle down to a blue-collar actor like me. I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t. And so, the model has to change.”