Squid Game, the smash-hit satire about the exploitation of poverty in South Korea as viewed through the lens of a death game, reportedly raised Netflix’s internal value by $900 million. Meanwhile, Hwang Dong-hyuk, the show’s creator, saw a one-time lump sum for the show. However, he accepted it as he had been trying to sell for a decade. Signing away his rights to the property and any potential residuals made him enough to get by on, but not rich. Now, his show about the exploitation of financial desperation has been turned into a reality show based on exploiting financial desperation.
An investigation by the LA Times found that this is a common trend with Korean creatives. “K-Content” has been an area that Netflix has been aggressively expanding into in recent years. However, Netflix does not have a bargaining agreement with the Korea Television and Radio Writers Association. This means that Korean writers working with Netflix are not eligible for residuals. Instead, they receive a lump sum fee ($30,000 – $150,000) at the start of production. This is all they will have to live on during the 2-3 years it can take to create the show they’ve been paid for.
Hollywood Has Reached Its Creative Breaking Point, Squid Game Is Just The Latest Example
The WGA, the union that represents Hollywood’s writers, is in its eighth week of strike action. SAG-AFTRA, the primary union for actors, could join them if their contract is allowed to expire on June 30. While the DGA, the directors guild, settled with studios on a new deal. However, the people who actually make Hollywood what it is, are tired of being exploited. Residuals are a big part of the demands held by the WGA and SAG. Before the advent of streaming, writing or acting in a show or movie earned you a monthly check based on that property being rebroadcast. Streaming all but killed that. Similarly, with the property owners now simply removing shows and films from their services, that passive income can simply disappear.
The exploitation of international creatives is just the tip of a looming iceberg. Hollywood has been skirting around it for years. But every time they do, it gets a little bigger, a little more dangerous. These current strikes are the scrapes along the side of the Titanic. No amount of AI can fix that. No amount of one-time contracts with desperate creatives can stop the industry from sinking. Every time a story like this breaks, the whole system sinks a little deeper. And yet, the band continues to play on, pretending that the icy depths aren’t lapping at their feet.
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