All nine seasons had already been available on Peacock, but the Netflix effect rapidly proved itself once again.
The streamer unexpectedly struck gold.
Suitsisnt the first series to find new life on Netflix, and it certainly will not be the last.
Gabriel Macht & Patrick J Adams in ‘Suits’Getty/USA Network / Courtesy Everett Collection
Put simply, the answer is not much, but not nothing.
What are residuals?
They are just one of several ways that creatives are paid for their work.
In streaming, there are two common types of residuals.
TheWGA formula can be viewed here.
TheSAG-AFTRA formula is broken down here.
In this case, NBCUniversal has licensedSuitsboth to its own service, Peacock, and to Netflix.
Since Netflix only licensed the first eight seasons, that equates to 124 episodes.
Lets cut the difference and assume Netflix paid $37.5M to license the show.
A similar equation applies for actors.
Each principal performer would receive a pro rata share of 3.6% of the fee paid for each episode.
These same equations apply for Peacock, which is technically licensingSuitsfrom Universal Content Productions.
When calculated individually, those residuals might not have amounted to much.
That is no longer the case.
But those are gone.
Is a big payday even possible anymore?
Sometimes, principal performers are also able to negotiate profit participation.
Besides, those paydays seem to be fewer and farther between.
As streaming becomes the norm, there is less opportunity for shows to become as ubiquitous asFriends.
I just dont see how somebody makes aFriendsnow and becomes uber wealthy, the attorney said.
I dont think thats ever going to come back.
Thats partly because series are gatekept on one platform.
Lack of transparency isnt exactly new.
But still, third parties like Nielsen were able to shed some light on how shows were performing.
The last strike allowed writers ownership over content created for and distributed on new media platforms.
Right now, were in an era where far more shows are made for the streamers.
So now the specific residuals for shows that are made for streamers are much more important, he continued.
Thats more of what were going after in this strike.
Thats not to say that I dont think we could do better in residuals for all shows.
I think we could and we will.
What is the solution?
We need minimums that reflect the actual value.
We just need to find the number thats commensurate with the value.
I think they should have, he told Deadline.
Had they done that, the amount of money Netflix would be paying NBCUniversal would go way up.
