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It’s no secret that Netflix is willing to write some big paychecks for its big comedy specials. However, according to a new piece by Variety, the streaming service paid Amy Schumer a big paycheck and then a little more in the interest of equality.
A while ago, Netflix made headlines for the $20 million per special sum the company was paying Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle for exclusive comedy specials. According to Variety, when Schumer’s team heard about these figures, they went back to Netflix and “flatly,” as the piece describes, asked for more money. Schumer received a “significantly more compensation” after the issue of economic equality relative to Rock and Chappelle were raised. Reportedly, Netflix originally paid Schumer $11 million for Amy Schumer: The Leather Special.
Whether or not Schumer needed the extra cash from Netflix is besides the point. It’s still painfully common in Hollywood for women to make significantly less than their male counterparts. This public report of Schumer demanding more money and, perhaps more importantly, Netflix’s willingness to agree to a pay increase, is a step in the right direction. Schumer was the only female comedian on Forbes’ Highest-Paid Comedians List 2017. Hopefully that will change in 2018.
However, Schumer’s Netflix re-negotiation is just one part of David Holloway’s larger piece on the lack of pay equality in Hollywood. From Robin Wright‘s public pay negotiations on House of Cards to Yvette Nicole Brown‘s painfully honest criticisms of pay inequality connected to sexism and racism, the piece acts as a long-form check-in about a problem that sadly still haunts film and television.
