As streaming cuts costs, TV shows — and residuals — disappear | Entertainment News

Actor Diana-Maria Riva knows all too well the cancellation of one of her shows. For performers, this is a painful and unfortunate part of show business. But this time is different.

In December, Riva was stunned to find out her recently canceled family comedy, “Gordita Chronicles,” would be removed from HBO Max’s vast streaming library — a move HBO made for last year. One of dozens of episodes effectively deleted by American viewers. These include: “Westworld,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife,” “Minx,” “Mrs. Fletcher,” and numerous animated and live-action series.

For Riva, the turn of events was devastating. The critically acclaimed 10-episode series follows a big 12-year-old girl named Kuku and her Dominican family as they adjust to life in ’80s Miami.

“It’s like someone broke up with you and then comes back a few weeks later to remind you that we broke up,” says Riva, who plays Kuku’s mother. “It’s already heartbreaking. But to say, ‘Now we’re going to erase the evidence that you’ve been here’ is more of a punch.”

As streaming comes under increasing pressure to save money, some are following HBO’s lead. Removing original programming from their libraries could help streamers get tax deductions and, to a lesser extent, savings on remaining payments. But that has drawn criticism that they are crowding out already marginalized voices and squeezing ideas out of already meager salaries left over. The issues have heightened tensions between executives and writers amid union contract negotiations that began late last month and could lead to a major work stoppage this spring.

Streaming companies offer the defense that they never promised shows would last forever. In an ultra-competitive and ever-changing market, every streamer is struggling to balance a rich product with sheer survival, they said.

Anchor tightens his belt

Media analyst Dan Rayburn said streamers have been forced to cut spending and turn a profit instead of “growth at all costs” amid the tech and media downturn.

“These companies have had to change the way they spend on content because Wall Street is saying you have to get to profitability faster,” Rayburn said. He cited the example of Disney’s stock plunge in November after the company revealed that its direct-to-consumer division, which includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, lost nearly $1.5 billion in a single quarter.

HBO’s 2022 purge — which occurred when its parent company Warner Bros. merged with Discovery, realizing the possibility of a series of tax write-offs — is the most notable example. But its competitors soon followed suit. In January, Starz removed several shows including “Dangerous Liaisons,” a period drama that disappeared from its streaming app days after its finale aired. Some fans said they missed the final episode.

Then, a few weeks later, Showtime experienced its own demise. It knocked out the TV show “American Rust,” starring Jeff Daniels, among others. Paramount+ integrated Showtime into the service, and has done the same with some of its offerings, including Jordan Peele’s revival of The Twilight Zone.

Some of those shows have found new homes. For those who didn’t, including “The Gordetta Chronicles,” the impact of their disappearance is widespread. Potential viewers may never have the chance to discover it. Actors and writers no longer know if their work will ever be seen again. And the original anchor no longer needs to pay the residual.

How much the streamer is saving with these wipes is unclear. But Rayburn said the companies clearly concluded that the cut shows didn’t bring in enough new customers, nor did they significantly help retain them. Instead, the streamer has been buying programming from rivals, including free, ad-supported streaming TV channels like Tubi, which recently started hosting some HBO shows, including “Westworld.”

Rayburn said anchors have not been obliged to host shows for years. What’s more, customers have grown accustomed to bouncing between apps in search of titles that hop between them.

Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO of HBO and HBO Max, said on a recent episode of “The Watch” podcast that streamers are taking a closer look at their libraries to see how best to monetize them.

“Everything a company makes will always be in one place, and $15 a month will always be a relatively new concept,” Bloys said. “Can $15 a month pay for everything the rest of the time? Idea, but not feasible.”

drop in residuals

The changing landscape has shocked creatives, who have seen their residuals dwindle over the years.

Residuals were once the cornerstone of an actor’s or writer’s livelihood, and the big checks kept pouring in as episodes were syndicated and reruns. Now, creatives say their residual income has plummeted as streamers have grown. The streamer still pays the residual as part of the union-negotiated contract, but those back-end payments are barely the amount the cast and crew receive from the TV channel.

Reruns of the one-hour prime-time broadcast on ABC currently net its writers $24,558 under the Writers Guild of the West’s contract with the Union of Motion Picture and Television Producers. But if the show aired on Netflix, the writers would only earn a maximum of $20,018 in domestic residual episode earnings. If the show is on a smaller streamer like HBO Max, that can run up to $13,346 a year. The residual decreases with each additional year of the program. Provided, of course, that the show is still part of the library.

With the WGA’s contract expiring in May, followed by the directors’ and screen actors’ union contracts on June 30, the decline in residuals could become a pressing concern, industry sources say. Plus, in search of a better residual rate, writers want higher minimum wage rates and better financial security in an industry that’s more likely to order 10-episode seasons, rather than the standard 22 when broadcasters dominated the medium. season. The last writers’ strike, a 100-day lockout that ended in 2008, cost the California economy an estimated $2 billion.

“If you’re all wondering why a WGA strike might be imminent, the first remaining check I wrote for my radio show was $12,000. I just received my first remaining check for my streaming show… $4 ,” tweeted screenwriter Kayla Jones.

While residuals have fallen, Riva says they play a vital role in ensuring actors earn enough money in a given year (currently $26,470) to retain insurance eligibility through the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA.

“If you haven’t gotten a lot of work lately, but at least have enough residual to get you over the minimum threshold — that means you can insure your family,” Riva said.

Marginalized voices are sidelined

In a February press release, the Writers Guild of America West condemned HBO for canceling its show, saying it “illustrates how a merger increases the power of gatekeepers at the expense of marginalized voices.”

The guild cited HBO’s decision to cancel “The Gordetta Chronicles” and “Tuka and Bertie,” an animated series with voices by women of color. It also highlights the studio’s highly unusual move to ax “Batgirl” — a near-complete film starring Afro-Latino actor Leslie Grace — while HBO put tax write-offs on hold while Not issued. In January, Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels said the company had “completed” its content-related write-offs.

“We can’t just let shows disappear like this, especially ones that portray immigrant and Latino families in a positive light,” said Brigitte Munoz-Liebowitz, a producer on “The Gordita Chronicles.” . “Our community is humanized by comedy. Not having this show as part of our media lexicon is a step backwards for me.”

In a statement, HBO Max said it was a “very difficult decision” to cancel “The Gordetta Chronicles” as part of its move away from home entertainment. The streamer also confirmed that it has returned the rights to the show to Sony.

While other affected shows have found new homes through licensing deals, “Gordita Chronicles” remains in limbo and nearly impossible to find. For a while, some episodes were still streaming on American Airlines flights, but they too have recently disappeared from the in-flight viewing options.

Both Muñoz-Liebowitz and Juan Javier Cardenas, who plays Cucu’s father on the show, hope Sony will find him a new home. Cardenas said he takes comfort in the knowledge that “the work is here to stay” when his other shows have been cancelled. That’s not the case with “Gordita Chronicles” — at least not yet.

“To finally know,” Cardenas said, “that while we put our heart and soul into the show, people won’t be able to watch and enjoy it in the future — and that’s a very sad thing.”

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