{"id":9661,"date":"2025-11-06T07:33:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=9661"},"modified":"2025-11-06T07:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T07:33:15","slug":"actors-dont-see-a-penny-elizabeth-olsen-slams-streaming-revealing-10-years-of-marvel-residuals-now-cant-sustain-working-actors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/?p=9661","title":{"rendered":"\u201cActors don’t see a penny\u201d: Elizabeth Olsen slams streaming, revealing 10+ years of Marvel residuals now can’t sustain working actors."},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth Olsen, the actress best known for her role as <\/span>Wanda Maximoff\/Scarlet Witch<\/span><\/b> in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), has become a leading voice in criticizing the business model of major streaming platforms. She has publicly denounced the lack of fair royalties (residuals), arguing that this is “robbing” actors and crews of their hard work and leading to a long-term decline in the quality of films.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

The Core Issue: Financial Imbalance<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Olsen emphasizes that traditional royalties are <\/span>an important financial safety net<\/span><\/b> for actors to sustain their lives and careers between projects. The old model (theatrical and physical releases) ensured creators received a recurring portion of revenue when their work was reused.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Conversely, streaming\u2014especially projects produced <\/span>solely<\/span><\/i> for online release (\u201cend-all\u201d)\u2014has severely reduced or eliminated this post-production payment.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • “The actors don’t see a penny”:<\/span><\/b> This strong statement points to the reality of almost zero income from reusing content on streaming, even for globally popular works like her Marvel projects.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  • \u201cWorking for free\u201d:<\/span><\/b> Olsen argues that having valuable content broadcast globally without a system of proportional recurring revenue sharing is a \u201crobbery\u201d of labor, forcing creators to accept a one-time deal.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    \ud83d\udce2 <\/span>Bottom line:<\/span><\/b> The massive viewership and longevity of content on platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and Max isn’t accurately reflected in royalties paid to actors and filmmakers.<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \n

     <\/p>\n

    Long-Term Consequences: Declining Quality of Cinema<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Beyond the personal financial impact, Olsen believes that systematically low wages undermine the entire industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Loss of Creative Motivation:<\/span><\/b> When top talent isn’t compensated fairly for the success and longevity of their work, they lose the motivation to participate in streaming projects.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
    2. Limiting non-franchise projects:<\/span><\/b> Prioritizing the low-royalty streaming model reduces the budget and scope for independent, non-franchise projects, which are the source of diversity and cinematic quality.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      This perspective is entirely consistent with the central issues raised during the <\/span>2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike<\/span><\/b> , where streaming royalties were one of the main points of contention.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

      \n

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      Action Statement: Return to the Big Screen<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/h3>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Elizabeth Olsen has made a clear stance by prioritizing projects that have a committed theatrical window.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

      <\/div>\n
        \n
      • Personal preference:<\/span><\/b> “If a film is made independently and only sold to streamers, that’s fine. But I don’t want to make something where [streaming] is the ultimate destination.”<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      • Upcoming projects:<\/span><\/b> Films like the fantasy romantic comedy <\/span>‘Eternity’<\/span><\/b> (with Miles Teller and Callum Turner) slated for release <\/span>in November 2025<\/span><\/b> and the vampire film <\/span>‘Flesh of the Gods’<\/span><\/b> (with Oscar Isaac) are both slated for theatrical release.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
      • Cultural Reasons:<\/span><\/span><\/b> Aside from the financial factor, Olsen also highlighted the cultural value of cinema, emphasizing the importance of the communal viewing experience: “I think it’s important for people to come together as a community, to see other people, to be together in one space.”<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n
        <\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        By supporting the theatrical model, Olsen not only protected the financial stability of her colleagues, but also fought for the preservation of cinema as a community art form, rejecting a system that devalued creative labor.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Elizabeth Olsen, the actress best known for her role as Wanda Maximoff\/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), has become a leading voice in criticizing the business model of major streaming platforms. She has publicly denounced the lack of fair royalties (residuals), arguing that this is “robbing” actors and crews of their hard work…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cnews.topnewsource.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}