Jake Johnson has mixed feelings about not getting streaming residuals from New Girl

One of the key issues for actors (and writers) during the strike was residuals from streaming, or the lack thereof. Before streaming, actors could work on a TV show and rely on payments for any re-airings of episodes they featured on. This income source enabled most of the jobbing guild members to make an actual living. Residual payments allowed many artists to stay afloat during dry spells. But until this year, the contracts had never been updated to account for streaming, which left most actors high and dry. Actors like Jake Johnson, who broke through with his role of Nick Miller on New Girl. Jake is on the promo trail for his new movie Self Reliance (more on that later), and had a somewhat perplexing answer when Rolling Stone asked if he received streaming residuals for his work on the hit show:

Though the SAG-AFTRA strike may be over, the conversation around actors being compensated for their old shows airing on streaming platforms has not gone away.

On Tuesday, Jake Johnson shared his thoughts on the topic during an interview with Rolling Stone. Jake, who was promoting his new film Self Reliance that he directed, was asked by the publication if the cast of New Girl received streaming residuals.

“No. No, we’re not,” the actor said before explaining his “mixed” feelings about residuals and acting opportunities after starring on a hit TV show, like New Girl.

New Girl ended a successful seven-season run in 2018. The show received five Emmy and five Golden Globe nominations and has been heralded as a bingeable staple in the years following its run. For awhile, old seasons of the show were streaming on Netflix. Currently, the show is no longer on Netflix but available to stream on Peacock and Hulu.

Jake noted to Rolling Stone that “the game has so fundamentally changed” regarding the finances of coming off starring in a hit TV show.

“Back in the day, if you did a big TV show and everyone knew you from it, it was really hard to get other roles. Now, if you haven’t done a big show that people know you from, it’s really hard to get roles,” he said, noting that New Girl’s success influenced his pay on his follow-up TV show, the short-lived series Stumptown.

“So, I can do a show called Stumptown for two seasons — we only filmed one, but we got paid for two because it was a pandemic killer — but because of New Girl, they’re willing to pay me a huge fee to be on it to try to connect to that show. Without New Girl I’m not getting that,” he said.

“We don’t get the residuals the way we used to, but there are so many other opportunities now,” he continued. “I feel really kind of mixed. I wish we still got those old checks, but they don’t advertise on those shows the way they used to. It’s not the clean line that old TV and syndication used to be, and I hope the new deal helps with that.”

[From BuzzFeed]

I do not follow his logic here. It sounds like he has mixed feelings about casting — or more accurately, typecasting — more than about residuals. He talks about the struggle to diversify your roles once the public starts to see you a certain way. Many (successful) actors have ruminated on this conundrum. But how is it affected by, you know, getting paid for your work?! Then he continues with “but I wouldn’t get work if they didn’t know me from a hit show, and in fact they paid me more for my next gig because of my hit show.” You’re confusing me, Jake!

The film Jake is out promoting, Self Reliance, is his directorial debut, and he wrote and stars in it as well. This movie sounds bonkers in a potentially winning way. The premise is, Jake’s character gets tapped to be on a reality show for the dark web where everyone tries to kill him, but they can’t if he’s with other people. If he survives, he wins $1 million. Anna Kendrick is in it, too, along with Andy Samberg as “himself.” Self Reliance will be on Hulu in January, and I imagine Jake would like to be paid for his acting, writing, and directing efforts based on how well it streams.

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photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon and via Instagram

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