Disney Scamming Marvel Creators With New MCU Series?
The ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have made great strides in revealing to the public just how insidious the business side of the filmmaking industry can be. According to a thread of posts on X (formerly Twitter) from an IATSE grip who worked on both the Netflix Daredevil series and the upcoming Disney+ Daredevil: Born Again, studios such as Disney routinely cancel and reboot shows strictly as a means of restricting pay and benefits from the behind-the-scenes staff and crew. Netflix’s Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight also weighed in on the issue, referring to the tactic as a known scam within the industry.
Daredevil showrunner Steven DeKnight took to social media to pull back the curtain for fans regarding Disney’s method of retooling shows to deny increased pay for the cast and crew.
According to the poster, who goes by the handle @t_NYC, the crew would be given better pay, benefits, and contract bargaining power if the newfound Born Again series simply continued under the previous banner as a fourth season of Daredevil. By renaming the show and making a few strategic changes in casting and lore, the studio behind the series is given the legal ability to consider all employees on the series as new hires, preventing them from accessing their previous benefits.
For a corporate comparison, this would be like your own job firing you once per year only to immediately rehire you while resetting your pay and benefits to those offered to a brand new employee. As Steven DeKnight notes in his social media posts, this is just one of many loopholes provided to AMPTP studios that desperately need to be addressed and closed. This is especially egregious in the interconnected world of Marvel, as each of their series counts as short individual outings instead of being one multi-season series.
According to the posts from @t_NYC, IATSE contracts only provide vacation pay and raises to crew members who work on shows beyond a third season. This means that if Marvel were to consolidate all of their Disney+ original series within the MCU canon, such as WandaVision, Loki, What if, and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, into one single “Marvel” series with half a dozen seasons, the crew would have better pay, better benefits, and access to better healthcare and sick day options.
While DeKnight maintains a great deal of respect and support for the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again series and the entire cast and crew working on bringing the show to life, he has doubled down on X regarding Disney’s poor treatment of workers…
Instead, mini-series such as WandaVision run for only one season before concluding and contributing to the larger Marvel canon in future appearances, leaving the crew to be technically fired and rehired, only to reset their positions and bargaining power back to that of day-one employees. Steven DeKnight replied to the ongoing thread regarding the poor treatment of union workers with resounding praise for the frontline workers, calling out Disney executives for their harmful business practices.
While DeKnight maintains a great deal of respect and support for the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again series and the entire cast and crew working on bringing the show to life, he has doubled down on X regarding Disney’s poor treatment of workers, demanding a serious adjustment to the contract negotiation process once the AMPTP and union leaders finally sit back down to reach an agreement.
In addition to Daredevil, Steven DeKnight has been the showrunner for some other fan favorites, including Spartacus and the underrated Jupiter’s Legacy.
With the strike now lasting for over 140 days, there seems to be no end in sight. Of course, the WGA and SAG-AFTRA union reps have been holding strong for the studios to return to the table to iron out the details of a fair deal, ensuring solidarity on the front lines during this difficult and tumultuous time. As frontline workers within the Hollywood industry continue to publicly shed light on horror stories they’ve faced within their careers, it continues to open the eyes of the average media consumer to the unfair treatment these workers have faced, which must be rectified.
