Seth Rogen Voices Solidarity With Striking Hollywood Writers, Blasts Streaming Services Over High Executive Salaries And Lack Of Public Viewership Numbers
As numerous productions have begun to shut down in support of the ongoing writers’ strike, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem producer Seth Rogen has expressed solidarity with the striking writers, recently asserting that he is “personally distressed” by both the high salaries of streaming service CEOs and their lack of transparency regarding viewership numbers.
As numerous productions have begun to shut down in solidarity with the strike, Apple TV+ has rolled out the red carpet for their latest rom-com, Platonic.
Starring Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne, Platonic follows a couple of former best friends Will and Sylvia. As they are approaching middle-age, the duo plans to close the rift that broke them apart – but along the way, their rekindled friendship ends up destablizing their lives in hilarious ways.
Broaching the topic of the strike while speaking with Variety at the red carpet premiere of the series, Rogen opined, “I’m personally distressed by not having any sense of how successful these shows and movies we make for streaming services are.”
“The secretiveness only makes me think that they’re making way more money off of all of us than they want to share with anybody,” he added. “These executives are making insane salaries that you would only make if you are running an incredibly profitable business.”
Despite the fact that his show’s success would benefit one such ‘greedy streaming platform’, Rogen concluded his thoughts on the topic by exclaiming, “Thank God for these labor unions and their ability to force these gigantic corporations who banded together to drive down the wages of workers to actually do something every once in a while and act fairly and equitably.”
Adding to her co-star’s thoughts, Byrne told the entertainment news outlet, “It’s long overdue to reevaluate and restructure these contracts that we’re under.”
“The [Director’s Guild of America] is obviously up, but it starts with and ends with the writers,” said the X-Men: Apocalypse actress.
“Without the writing, there’s no directing, there’s no acting, there’s no catering, there’s no transpo, there’s no electric,” she concluded. “The way that they’ve been treated and what needs to be changed is overdue and I stand in solidarity with them. The way that the contract is structured and what they demand of the writers is untenable.”
Platonic premieres on Apple TV+ on May 24th.
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