Criminal Minds: Paget Brewster Claims Netflix Pays Pennies For Residuals

A major point of contention within the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes comes down to fairer residuals for shows and movies on streaming platforms. With syndication and reruns on regular cable, actors and writers could make a decent amount of money if they were on a hit show from residuals alone. However, streaming services hiding much of their data means a lot of people have received fractions of what they would typically get from viewers going back to watch old episodes of their favorite TV shows.

Paget Brewster, who's credited with over 200 episodes of "Criminal Minds," is the latest actor to speak out about this injustice. Brewster took to Twitter to respond to a fan who misses behind-the-scenes photos from "Criminal Minds: Evolution," stating, "Being paid pennies by Netflix and $990 a year TOTAL for all 70+ Foreign Countries hurts us. Some of us lost our health insurance from no residuals. We had to strike. And I pray the [AMPTP] won't starve us all out."

Getting just under $1,000 a year for "Criminal Minds" residuals from Netflix is shocking. There are hundreds of episodes of the show that stream all over the globe, and the series was popular enough to have a 16th season, subtitled "Evolution." The studios and streaming services continue to profit from other people's work while leaving the actors and writers, who are the people fans tune in to see, out to dry. And it's another reminder of how essential the strikes are and why SAG-AFTRA and WGA should hold out for the best deal possible. 

Until both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are resolved, fans shouldn't expect development on a new season of "Criminal Minds: Evolution." Several cast members have been seen on the picket lines the past few weeks, and they've been incredibly vocal about their support for what the unions are fighting for. Numerous actors have been outspoken about how unfairly they're treated by streaming services, especially Netflix. 

Luke Cook, an actor on "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina," a Netflix original, took to TikTok to make an impassioned case for how a majority of actors aren't millionaires and are barely scraping by with what streamers offer. Sean Gunn made a similar case to Paget Brewster. He had a recurring part on "Gilmore Girls," another show that did well on cable and got a ton of viewership on Netflix. But he mentioned how he's barely gotten anything despite the show being a hit for the platform. 

There's obviously some misinformation out there that most actors are well off, but many struggle to even qualify for health insurance under SAG-AFTRA. Numerous people commented under Brewster's tweet voicing their support for the strike, and many were shocked to hear of how much she really makes from a show that ran for 15 seasons. The future of the entertainment industry is at stake. Actors and writers are striking not only for themselves but for anyone who may want to join the unions in the future to make even a middle-class living in this line of work. 

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. To learn more about why writers and actors are currently on strike, click here for an up-to-date explainer from our Looper team.