The Netflix show Daredevil remains one of Marvel‘s most popular TV spinoffs. But in a sadly familiar scenario for the industry, Daredevil‘s original showrunner is struggling to get paid for his work.
As the Screen Actors Guild joins the WGA in striking for better pay, more people are coming forward with horror stories about working for streamers like Netflix. Steven DeKnight—who served as Daredevil showrunner in season 1—is particularly outspoken.
Starting out on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2000, DeKnight’s career spans both traditional TV and streaming, working as a director, writer, and showrunner. He also doesn’t come from a wealthy background, tweeting this weekend about his journey to achieving a steady income in the industry.
DeKnight’s tweets about career and financial status paint a very different picture from mainstream assumptions about wealth and privilege in Hollywood. And when it comes to his most famous project, the news isn’t good.
Apparently, after Disney removed Daredevil from Netflix and placed it on Disney+, the show’s creative team didn’t receive any residual payments—the income that many working actors and writers rely on to stay afloat between jobs.
Now, DeKnight says that he is “part of an audit to try to get the money they owe me and others.”
In a later tweet, he revealed that he’d participated in a similar audit on another project, eventually costing him $17,000 over two years. He added, “Entertainment Corporations will do ANYTHING to keep from paying you what you’re contractually owed.”
