Kevin Smith Slams Netflix Even Though He Takes Their Money For Projects
With the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, there are tons of actors that weren’t promoting their projects at San Diego Comic-Con this year. However, some creators could still promote their projects, which is why Kevin Smith was able to show up for his panel for his Masters of the Universe: Revolution Netflix series. As reported by Deadline, Smith made sure to use the opportunity to take a shot at Netflix, saying, “Let’s give it up for unions,” adding, “We hope that they crush their overlords, like Netflix.”
Kevin Smith tore into Netflix during a Masters of the Universe: Revolution panel at San Diego Comic-Con.
Kevin Smith is an indie filmmaker at heart, with many of his early films being made on shoestring budgets. He’s since garnered enough acclaim to get studios to fund his projects, including Netflix, with his Masters of the Universe: Revolution. Of course, this just shows how pervasive the Hollywood studio system is, with creators being snapped up by it as soon as they get popular.
Just because Kevin Smith has to participate in the studio system doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve to take some shots at them — especially because Netflix’s streaming residual model is such a big crux of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.
One of the biggest points of contention between the unions and the studios represented by AMPTP is streaming residuals. Companies like Netflix often refuse to share their streaming numbers, which prevents actors, writers, and creators from understanding how much value they’re bringing to the streaming service.
Even the release date for Masters of the Universe: Revolution is up in the air at this point. While Kevin Smith said it would be sometime in 2024, that’s a fairly broad window.
If SAG-AFTRA and WGA are able to get AMPTP to come close to their terms, there will be more streaming residuals for the ones who make the show, along with AI regulation and other key issues.
Until they reach agreeable terms, it certainly doesn’t hurt for creators like Kevin Smith to take some jabs at the streamers who aren’t negotiating down. It shows that pretty much everyone on the creative side of the industry is in solidarity with the writers and actors.
As for Kevin Smith’s Masters of the Universe: Revolution series, it’s expected to come out on Netflix sometime in 2024. The series will feature Mark Hamill voicing Skeletor, Melissa Benoist voicing Teela, and Chris Wood voicing He-Man. Teela will be teaming up with He-Man and the other Masters to fight for Eternia and save it from darkness.
Smith has several other projects in the work, but since he’s a writer on many of them, it’s likely that he won’t be working on them in the near future.
“Let’s give it up for unions. We hope that they crush their overlords, like Netflix.”
-Kevin Smith at San Diego Comic-Con
With the ongoing WGA strike, the stipulations of the union say that writers can’t work on upcoming productions in the studio system until the strike is over. While there have been waivers granted to productions to continue filming, these have been granted to productions that are fully independent and not connected to the studio represented by the AMPTP.
While Smith could very well be taking the indie route for some of these productions, there aren’t any official release dates for them at the time.
Even the release date for Masters of the Universe: Revolution is up in the air at this point. While Kevin Smith said it would be sometime in 2024, that’s a fairly broad window. We’ll keep you updated here, regardless.
