In December, 2020, in the depths of pandemic winter, the actress Kimiko Glenn got a foreign-royalty statement in the mail from the screen actors’ union, SAG-AFTRA. Glenn is best known for playing the motormouthed, idealistic inmate Brook Soso on the women’s-prison series “Orange Is the New Black,” which ran from 2013 to 2019, on Netflix. The orchid-pink paper listed episodes of the show that she’d appeared on (“A Whole Other Hole,” “Trust No Bitch”) alongside tiny amounts of income (four cents, two cents) culled from overseas levies—a thin slice of pie from the show that had thrust her to prominence. “I was, like, Oh, my God, it’s just so sad,” Glenn recalled. With many television and movie sets shuttered, she was supporting herself with voice-over jobs, and she’d been messing around with TikTok. She posted a video in which she scans the statement—“I’m about to be so riiich!”—then reaches the grand total of $27.30 and shrieks, “WHAT?”
The post got more than four hundred thousand likes and nearly two thousand comments, many from disbelieving fans: “Wait how is that even legal??” “how is this even real you were on one of the biggest netflix shows.” This past May, with screenwriters on strike and labor unrest sweeping Hollywood, Glenn reposted the video on Instagram, where she has almost a million followers. This time, not only fans but castmates weighed in. Matt McGorry, who played a corrections officer: “Exaccctttlllyyy. I kept my day job the entire time I was on the show because it paid better than the mega-hit TV show we were on.” Beth Dover, who played a manager at the company taking over the prison: “It actually COST me money to be in season 3 and 4 since I was cast local hire and had to fly myself out, etc. But I was so excited for the opportunity to be on a show I loved so I took the hit. Its maddening.”
Television actors have traditionally had a base of income from residuals, which come from reruns and other forms of reuse of the shows in which they’ve appeared. At the highest end, residuals can yield a fortune; reportedly, the cast of “Friends” has each made tens of millions of dollars from syndication. But streaming has scrambled that model, endangering the ability of working actors to make a living. “So many of my friends who have nearly a million followers, who are doing billion-dollar franchises, don’t know how to make rent.”
Despite the Beatlemania-like fame, many cast members had to keep their day jobs for multiple seasons. They were waiting tables, bartending. DeLaria continued doing live gigs to keep up with her rent. Diane Guerrero, who played the fashionable inmate Maritza Ramos, worked at a bar, where patrons would recognize her.
These are just some highlights, but the entire article is worth a read, especially if someone you know is (or you are) so deep into watching celebrity culture that you’re having a hard time understanding why actors could possibly want more than they’re getting now.
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Accepted Shorts List
This list will be updated as shorts are selected, and will become a masterdoc for entries.
Piper, dir. Alan Barillaro (Available on Disney+)
Dissolve, dir. Carina Heller
Sharp Teeth, dir. David James Armsby
Tar Boy, dir. James Lee
Moses of Prosthesis, dir. Gagame
Quasi at the Quackadero, dir. Sally Cruikshank
Welcome to Hell, dir. Erica Wester
Friendly Shadow, dir. David James Armsby
The Acorn Princess, dir. Kris Yim
Drawn to You, dir. Eleanor Davitt
Scattershot, dir. Jade Smania
Ramshackle, dir. Zi Chen
Paperman, dir. John Kahrs (Available on Disney+, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play)
Loop, dir. Erica Milsom (Available on Disney+)
Jinxy Jenkins & Lucky Lou, dir. Michael Bidinger and Michelle Kwon
Kitbull, dir. Rosana Sullivan
Out, dir. Steven Clay Hunter
In a Heartbeat, dir. Beth David and Esteban Bravo
Ice Merchants, dir. João Gonzalez
Diamond Jack, dir. Rachel Kim
Lackadaisy (Pilot), dir. Fable Siegel
The Cat Came Back, dir. Cordell Barker
Fuelled, dir. Michelle Hao and Fawn Chan
The Man Who Planted Trees, dir. Frédéric Back
My Friends Take the Night Bus, dir. Sofi
Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers, dir. Nick Park
The Naked King -What a Beautiful Life-, dir. rapparu
Coming Out, dir. Cressa Maeve Beer
Dear Girl, dir. Choi Ji-eun
Jibaro, dir. Alberto Mielgo (Available on Netflix, Love Death + Robots S3E9)
The Witness, dir. Alberto Mielgo (Available on Netflix, Love Death + Robots S1E3)
The Legend of Pipi, dir. Julia Schoel and Birgit Uhlig
The Cameraman's Revenge, dir. Wladyslaw Starewicz
What's Opera, Doc? dir. Chuck Jones
The Dover Boys at Pimento University; or, The Rivals of Roquefort Hall, dir. Chuck Jones
Kitty Kornered, dir. Bob Clampett
A Wild Hare, dir. Tex Avery
Everything Will Be OK, dir. Don Hertzfeldt
Yankee Doodle Daffy, dir. Friz Freleng
Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century, dir. Chuck Jones
Long Gone Gulch, dir. Tara Billenger and Zach Bellissimo
I Love to Singa, dir. Tex Avery
Opal, dir. Jack Stauber
Scaredy Cat, dir. Chuck Jones
I Should Leave This Mall I Think, dir. Noodle
Porky's Duck Hunt, dir. Tex Avery
Bambi Meets Godzilla, dir. Marv Newland
Porky in Wackyland, dir. Bob Clampett
Rabbit Seasoning, dir. Chuck Jones
One Froggy Evening, dir. Chuck Jones
Don vs. Raph, dir. Jhonen Vasquez
Cat City, dir. Victoria Vincent
Roller Coaster Rabbit, dir. Rob Minkoff
Tummy Trouble, dir. Rob Minkoff
Trail Mix-Up, dir. Barry Cook
Blood Bound, dir. Lyly Hoang
Ciao, Alberto, dir. McKenna Harris (Available on Disney+)
Blackfly, dir. Christopher Hinton
Charlie the Unicorn: The Grand Finale, dir. Jason Steele
Free Apple, dir. Ian Worthington
Bigtop Burger Season 1, dir. Ian Worthington
There's a Man in the Woods, dir. Jacob Streilein
Llamas with Hats: The Series, dir. Jason Steele
Welcome to my Life, dir. Elizabeth Ito
Duck Amuck, dir. Chuck Jones
We Can't Live Without Cosmos, dir. Konstantin Bronzit
Geri's Game, dir. Jan Pinkava
Have to change the format cause tumblr has a limit to text in a single list
68. Snow-White, dir. Dave Fleischer
69. DAICON IV Opening Animation, dir. Hiroyuki Yamaga
70. Rooty Toot Toot, dir. John Hubley
71. SHOP: A Pop Opera, dir. Jack Stauber
72. Rabbit of Seville, dir. Chuck Jones
73. The Cat Concerto, dir. Joseph Barbera and William Hanna
74. My Little Goat, dir. Tomoki Misato
75. Asparagus, dir. Suzan Pitt (Available on the Criterion Channel)
76. Puparia, dir. Shingo Tamagawa
77. The Cybernetic Grandma, dir. Jiří Trnka
78. Captain Yajima, dir. Ian Worthington
79. Agoraphobia, dir. Victoria Vincent
80. Donald in Mathmagic Land, dir. Hamilton Luske, Wolfgang Reitherman, Les Clark and Joshua Meador
81. Joy Street, dir. Suzan Pitt (Available on the Criterion Channel)
82. The Old Man and The Sea, dir. Aleksandr Petrov
83. The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, dir. Aleksandr Petrov
84. Vincent, dir. Tim Burton
85. World of Tomorrow, dir. Don Hertzfeldt
86. World of Tomorrow Episode 2: The Burden of Other People's Thoughts, dir. Don Hertzfeldt (pay per view of Vimeo)
87. The Magic Portal, dir. Lindsay Fleay
88. The Golden Chain, dir. Adebukola Bodunrin and Ezra Claytan Daniels (available on the Criterion Channel)
89. Black Soul, dir. Martine Chartrand
90. Hedgehog in the Fog, dir. Yuri Norstein
91. Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend: The Flying House, dir. Windsor McCay
92. Around is Around, dir. Evelyn Lambart and Norman McLaren
93. Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor, dir. Dave Fleischer
94. Historia Naturae (Suita), dir. Jan Svankmajer
95. Still Lost I Guess, Here's a Tunnel, dir. Dario Alva
96. Kapaemahu, dir. Joe Wilson, Dean Hamer and Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu
97. Long-Haired Hare, dir. Chuck Jones
98. Muto, dir. Blu
99. Windy Day, dir. John and Faith Hubley
100. Bully for Bugs, dir. Chuck Jones
101. The Haunted Hotel, dir. J. Stuart Blackton
102. Destino, dir. Dominique Monfery (Available on Disney+)
103. Fantasy, dir. Vince Collins
104. To Beep or Not To Beep, dir. Chuck Jones
105. Pixillation, dir. Lillian Schwartz
106. Goodbye Jerome!, dir. Chloé Farr, Gabrielle Selnet and Adam Sillard (Available on the Criterion Channel)
107. Betty Boop's Halloween Party, dir. Dave Fleischer
108. Jumping, dir. Osamu Tezuka
109. Baby Fingers, dir. Adrian Dalen
110. On Your Mark, dir. Hayao Miyazaki
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