Gilmore Girls star ‘has seen almost no money’ from Netflix reboot

Gilmore Girls star Sean Gunn joined the Screen Actors Guild picket lines outside of Netflix today in direct response to his lack of payment for his time on the show.

The young adult drama, which initially ran from 2000 to 2007, centers on a mother and daughter and their close bond as they navigate life in small town Connecticut.

Initially starting life on what is now The CW, Gilmore Girls was given a new home – and a new season – with the move to Netflix.

Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life was a four-episode continuation of the series in 2017, tracking Rory and Lorelai Gilmore across the period of a year, nearly a decade since we last saw them.

Sean Gunn became beloved on the show as Kirk – the odd-job and consummate hustler around the fictional town of Stars Hollow.

Appearing in 137 episodes of the main series, plus all four episodes of A Year In The Life, Gunn was a prominently billed member of the cast, getting a title card in the main credits and a continuing – if in the background – storyline.

But despite his position on the show, Gunn explained to Hollywood Reporter today on the picket line he has received “next to no residual money” in the time the show has been on Netflix.

“[Gilmore Girls] has been one of their most popular shows for a very long time – over a decade,” he explained, adding it gets streamed ‘over and over again’ by fans who consider it a comfort show.

“I see almost none of the revenue that comes into that,” he added.

“The CEOs of Netflix, Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos, give each other bonuses in the 10s of millions of dollars.

“Ted Sarandos made $40 million with the bonuses that they made with their corporate profits. I don’t understand why they can’t lessen those bonuses to share the wealth more with the people who have created the content that has gotten them rich.”

“It really is a travesty, and if the answer is ‘well this is just how business is done, this is just how corporate business works’, that sucks,” Gunn continued.

“That makes you a bad person, and you really need to rethink how you do business and share the wealth with people. Otherwise, this is all going to come crashing down.”

The Screen Actors Guild – which Gunn has proudly been a member of for 25 years – boasts more than 160,000 members, including some of the most significant names in Hollywood today.

In the historic strike, which came after weeks of negotiations stalling, the SAG joined the WGA (Writers Guild of America), which have been on strike since the beginning of May.

As part of the conditions of the strike, both are fighting for fairer pay and job security in the face of increased use of Artificial Intelligence.

It is currently not known when the strike will end, as it will require more negotiations to get things to a more secure level.

Both writers and actors striking has effectively shut down Hollywood.