“The Bear” staff writer Alex O’Keefe is calling out predatory streaming platforms during the WGA strike.
O’Keefe, who has spoken out about the alleged mistreatment of writers across Hollywood, shared that his salary is $43,000 for writing the original FX series on Hulu. O’Keefe is one of seven writers behind the Emmy-nominated series and receives no streaming residuals.
“As a staff writer, you’re writing and editing for everyone, but there’s no residue on Hulu because it’s streaming,” O’Keefe said. The New York Post. “This is a huge injustice.”
He added regarding the ongoing work stoppage, “We need to come together and co-determine the future of our industry, but what they (the studio execs) are saying is ‘get out of our office.’ I want to go back to work. I wish it (the strike) would end this week.”
However, O’Keefe has stated that “the studio executives’ strategy is to make me homeless” as a union writer.
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“They publicly say it’s a necessary evil. They publicly say they are evil, so what do you think they say privately at the negotiating table? O’Keefe spoke about the failed union negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. “He IS sick and vile and disgusting.”
Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger recently called the simultaneous WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes “disruptive” for Hollywood, to which O’Keefe has now responded: “Strikes are supposed to be disruptive. Capitalists love interruptions when they make money. Netflix and Disney Plus have disrupted the market. Bob Iger earns a salary. I’m not.”
O’Keefe previously shared in a Discussion on Twitter as of April 2023 who was “still broke” while working on “The Bear”.
“The studio wouldn’t take me to the writers’ room in Los Angeles, so I worked from my Brooklyn apartment. My heat was off that pandemic winter, my stove turned off the lights. I worked on episode 8 from a library,” he tweeted. “All I can say about Hollywood is this: all that glitters is not gold. became a national sensation. ‘The Bear; it was a gift, but in the end ‘The Bear’ was a concert. And between concerts I barely survive.
O’Keefe explained, “98 percent of the writers on the staff work for the minimum. We receive no residuals based on the success of our streaming shows. We have no way to stay afloat between concerts, and every concert feels like a miracle. Without a strong union, we have no safety net. The professional writer is dying out. Newspapers are dying, provocative new media has been replaced by sponsored content, and artificial intelligence seeks to sterilize all creativity. Will the script be a gig or will it be a career?
He also said The New Yorker that from “The Bear,” he “learned from these masters that if you’re given a shitty sandwich, you can season it and make it a Michelin-star dish. And they were consistently getting shitty sandwich after shitty sandwich.
Actors Kimiko Glen, Sean Gunn, Mara Wilson and Jana Schmieding recently spoke about low wages and the need to hire additional jobs despite starring in hit TV shows.
