Netflix’s Ted Sarandos Says He Knows Pain A Strike Can Bring; “Super Committed” To A Deal With WGA & SAG-ACTRA, Co-CEO Claims

deadline.com:

Ted Sarandos wants striking writers and actors to know he is a union man through and through, and he feels their pain – even as Netflix and other studios and streamers have no plans to restart talks with either the WGA or SAG-AFTRA anytime soon. “I was raised in a union household,” the Netflix co-CEO said today at the top of the streamer’s last earnings call this afternoon. “My dad was a member of IBW Local 640, he was a union electrician,” Sarandos said. “And I remember his local because that union was very much a part of our lives when I was growing up.

And I also remember on more than one occasion, my Dad being out on strike. And I remember that because it takes an enormous toll on your family, financially and emotionally.” “So you should know that nobody here nobody within AMPTP and I’m sure nobody at SAG or nobody at the WGA took any of this lightly,” he added. “We’re super committed to getting to an agreement as soon as possible, one that’s equitable, and one that enables the industry, and everybody in it to move forward into the future,” Sarandos went on to say on the shorter than usual video call On a day of earnings from Tesla, United Airlines and others, Wednesday saw the Dow Jones surging.

The streamer beat announced it had added 5.9 million subscribers in Q2. Still, with expectation correction and missed revenue targets in today’s earnings letter, Netflix stock took an almost 4% hit in early after-hours trading.

Despite his usual upbeat tone today pitchman supreme Sarandos has to know that he and the company has been at the center of a lot of the ire that guild members have about the tightening economics of the industry.