Marvel's Daredevil Showrunner Reveals He's Part of Royalties Audit After Series Went to Disney+

By Jamie Jirak

At the beginning of May, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. This week, the actor's guild SAG-AFTRA also went on strike. Now, tensions are high between studios and creatives, and people are revealing some surprising truths about the industry. A big point of contention for writers and actors is residuals, which have become nearly nonexistent in the age of streaming. Recently, writer Cody Zigler took to Twitter to reveal that the residual check he got for writing one episode of She-Hulk: Attorney At Law was only $396. Zigler was a staff writer on the show who was credited for writing "Ribbit and Rip It," otherwise known as the Daredevil episode. Zigler's tweet prompted a response from Steven DeKnight, who served as the showrunner of Netflix's Daredevil series. 

"So speaking of Daredevil, as showrunner of S1, part of my deal includes a little sliver of the backend. Never expected to see any on Netflix. But then Marvel/Disney pulled it and it ended up on Disney +. Now I'm part of an audit to try to get the money they owe me and others," DeKnight wrote. "And here's the thing about auditing to get what's owed to you: YOU have to pay for it (divided up among the backend participants). The last time I had to do this, it cost me alone 17K and took over two years."

He added, "Entertainment Corporations will do ANYTHING to keep from paying you what you're contractually owed." You can check out the tweet thread below:

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher Slams Disney CEO Bob Iger: 

The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger recently said that the strike is "not realistic," calling it "disturbing" and claiming it will have a "very, very damaging effect on the whole business." Yesterday, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher spoke out against Iger during an interview with Variety while on the strike picket lines. 

"I found them terribly repugnant and out of touch. Positively tone deaf," Drescher said of Iger's comments. "I don't think it served him well. If I were that company, I would lock him behind doors and never let him talk to anybody about this, because it's so obvious that he has no clue as to what is really happening on the ground with hard-working people that don't make anywhere near the salary he is making. High seven figures, eight figures, this is crazy money that they make, and they don't care if they're land barons of a medieval time."

What are your thoughts on the SAG and WGA strikes? Tell us in the comments. 

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