Dang! #Socialites, get into this! It is reported that the creator of the super successful Netflix series ‘Squid Game,’ receives NO residuals or royalties, despite the major streaming platform grossing nearly $1 billion for the show.
According to The Los Angeles Times, ‘Squid Game‘ creator Hwang Dong-hyuk reportedly “forfeited all intellectual property rights and received no residuals” as Netflix pulled in almost $1 billion from the groundbreaking series.
The publication wrote an explosive article about how successful the series became and how its creator is reportedly seeing no residual profit from his hit series. In their article, the publication also explored how South Korean creators are being exploited in this age of digital streaming.
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The author of the article, Max Kim, said that the reason why he decided to publish his exposé is to show “why and how [Netflix has] been able to buy so much high-performing content for so cheap.”
Apparently, in October 2021, when reporters with the Guardian asked Hwang if he had become as rich as the $38 million winner in his fictional series did after surviving a brutal competition. Hwang responded, “I’m not that rich. But I do have enough. I have enough to put food on the table. And it’s not like Netflix is paying me a bonus. Netflix paid me according to the original contract.”
Following the debut of the super successful series, Netflix would go on to turn a huge profit from the debut season. While it cost the streaming giant about $2.4 million to produce each episode, they would see an increase in their brand’s value, with an estimate of $900 million.
Furthermore, it should also be noted that Kim’s article is surfacing during a current stall in TV and film production, as there is a writer’s strike ongoing. Members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are currently protesting for better pay, conditions, and benefits, including residuals in the era of streaming.
In April, WGA West assistant executive director Charles Slocum told Deadline, “In streaming, the companies have not agreed to pay residuals at the same level as broadcast, or the same reward-for-success as they have traditionally paid in broadcast. If you write for a streamer, you get two residuals payments—one for domestic streaming and one for foreign streaming. It’s a set amount of money. If it’s a big hit, you do not get paid more residuals in streaming, whereas in the broadcast model, you do because of its success.”
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