A new batch of green envelopes arrive for writers of popular streaming series thanks to the 2023 MBA.
11/12/2024 • Evan Henerson
What We Gained : On-Set Contributions
Contract gain gives more WGAW writers valuable production experience.
Illustration by Jennifer Nguyen
When they reconvened for the fourth season of the Netflix series Bridgerton at the conclusion of the 2023 strike, the writers knew that they would experience benefits of the new contract.
Under the terms of the 2023 MBA, writers for HBSVOD series that reach a “performance metric” threshold are entitled to bonus payments. Given the series’ popularity, the third season of Bridgerton looked likely to qualify for streaming bonuses. A notification from the Guild’s Residuals Department confirmed it, and the performance bonus checks started arriving.
Daniel Robinson, who joined Bridgerton in season 2, was appreciative. Robinson was a longtime assistant on a previous Shondaland-produced series, How to Get Away with Murder, before writing a freelance episode and earning his Guild card. At the conclusion of Murder, he moved over to Bridgerton, a show with a strong fan base already in place from its first season.
Griselda staff writer Giovanna Sarquis
“It’s a significant increase [in the residual], and I’m deeply appreciative of it,” says Daniel Robinson, who wrote the “Into the Light” episode on the series’ third season. For qualifying projects, the bonus adds another 50% of the applicable fixed residual.
“Any increase in the pay for the work you’ve done and an acknowledgement too of the impact that the show you’re on is having, that a lot of people are watching it, enjoying it, finding some meaning in it, that’s a nice form of validation as well,” Robinson added.
Series showrunner Jess Bradford, who received a streaming bonus for writing a season 3 episode, cited the impact that the bonuses and streaming residuals overall can make for lower level writers. Lower level writers must often find ways to make ends meet during the hiatuses which can last up to a year or more, she said.
“Especially when you see the show doing so well, and there’s merch and all kinds of things that are certainly bringing in a profit, to reward the writers who have put months and months into creating the characters and plotlines, it’s very meaningful,” Bradford said.
Bridgerton writers are not the only beneficiaries. Writers on such 2024 series as Ted, Griselda, Fallout, Avatar: the Last Airbender, Monsters: The Lyle and Eric Menendez Story, Nobody Wants This, The Boys, The Perfect Couple, Tulsa King, and the films Descendants: The Rise of Red and Saving Bikini Bottom have received streaming bonus payments as well.
Giovanna Sarquis had recently become a WGAW member when she worked on Griselda. At the conclusion of the 2023 strike, she remembers receiving the notification of the contract gains including the script fee she would be eligible for if she repeated staff writer. Sarquis clocked the performance bonus fee, but didn’t necessarily think that Griselda would qualify.
We got lucky because the new contract stated that anything airing after January 1 of 2024 was eligible for this and our episode came out in February. I was like ‘Yes!’
- Hunter Ries
“And then the bonus check showed up, which was greatly needed,” she said, laughing.
For two-year WGAW member Chaz Hawkins, his work as an executive story editor on the second season of Fallout (he also wrote the episode “The Radio”) was his first experience seeing his work get to screen. The concept of earning a streaming bonus—or any type of residual payment—was a foreign concept.
Fallout executive story editor Chaz Hawkins. Photo: Fiori van Rijswijk.
“I’m super-new to this game, and I wasn’t making a living as a writer prior to that,” said Hawkins. “I didn’t really have any familiarity with what residuals were like in this business. So for me, getting this bonus was incredible because it was an opportunity for me to feel like, ‘This is not just a career I can have as a gig, but also something that I can make long-lasting and survive.’”
Timing was favorable to Hunter Ries, a longtime production assistant and writers’ assistant who earned his first writing credit on an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, followed by his first residuals including a streaming bonus.
A writers’ assistant and member of IATSE 871, Ries gained valuable experience and insight on Avatar and was hopeful that it would lead to his advancement as a writer. He appreciates the historic gains of the 2023 contract as well as the solidarity amongst union members.
“We got lucky because the new contract stated that anything airing after January 1 of 2024 was eligible for this and our episode came out in February,” Ries said. “I was like ‘Yes!’”
Performance Metric Streaming Bonuses
The bonus—equal to 50% of the applicable fixed residual—will be paid for made-for-HBSVOD features and all episodes of seasons of made-for-HBSVOD series that reach a ‘‘performance metric” of 20% or more on the domestic service within the first 90 days of exhibition, or the first 90 days of any subsequent year of exhibition. The performance metric is calculated based on the number of domestic views divided by number of domestic subscribers, and views are calculated as total aggregated domestic hours viewed for all episodes of a season, or for a feature, with hours calculated in increments of 6 minutes) divided by the total runtime of the program.
The bonus is calculated as 50% of the applicable fixed residual, including both the domestic and foreign payments if the service is available globally. The bonus applies to programs released on or after January 1, 2024, with the amount of the bonus determined by the date the literary material was written. Made-for-HBSVOD projects written under prior MBAs are eligible for the bonus as long as they were first released on or after January 1, 2024.