A writer on Hulu’s hit show “The Bear” who “lived below the poverty line” while working on the show slammed “multi-millionaire CEO” Bob Iger for saying that writers and actors participating in Hollywood’s “damaging” mega-strike have “unrealistic” expectations.
“I wrote for a very big show called ‘The Bear.’ I made very little money. I saw no profits in it,” Alex O’Keefe told CNN Business.
“I lived below the poverty line working on this show that has made millions of dollars for FX and Disney at large.”
“There is enough wealth in this industry alone for us all to have success,” he told CNN, noting that he went into the career with the “expectation that this would be a good union, middle-class career — not for the big actors, but for everyone who makes the machine run.”
Iger warned last week while at Sun Valley’s Allen & Co. annual conference — also known as “summer camp for billionaires” — that the movement is disastrous.
“This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption,” the Mouse House boss said, adding that the walkout could have a “very damaging effect on the whole industry.”
“There’s a level of expectation that (SAG-AFTRA and the WGA) have that is just not realistic.”
In response, O’Keefe sarcastically noted: “It’s very funny that this multi-millionaire CEO says that we’re not being realistic. You pan out, there’s a beautiful Sun Valley background there. And if you pan out even more, you’d see a fleet of private jets.”
Iger, 72, rakes in an annual salary of about $27 million, according to Fortune. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Walt Disney’s board extended the chief executive’s contract through the end of 2026.
O’Keefe, meanwhile, says he brings in a salary below the federal poverty line which, for individuals in the US, is $14,580.
“Now we’re not even allowed to be in the middle class. We’re told just to be grateful to be there. No, we’re mad as hell, we’re not going to take it anymore,” he added, referencing the writers strike that kicked off on May 2 and grew immensely on Thursday when 160,000 actors joined the picket line.
On O’Keefe’s website, he procalims that he’s working to “shift the balance of power in Hollywood,” and “am AMPTP’s worst nightmare.”
The ATMPTP (Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) represents streamers like Disney, Netflix and Amazon, among others.
Writers Guild of America (WGA) workers went on strike in May, demanding higher-paying contracts that better protect workers in the entertainment industry from changes brought on by streaming and emerging tech.
The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists (SAG-AFTRA) have since unanimously voted to stop working after their contract expired and talks broke off with the AMPTP.
The studios, however, are reportedly digging in for a long fight. One executive told Deadline they will “allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”
The bigwigs believe that by October, most writers will be running out of money after five months on the picket lines and no work, the outlet reported.
“Not Halloween precisely, but late October, for sure, is the intention,” a top-tier producer close to AMPTP told Deadline.
By that time, studios and streamers believe they’ll be able to close the deal they want as cash-strapped workers will be desperate to begin getting paychecks again.