Olivia Colman: "if I was Oliver Colman, I’d be earning a fuck of a lot more"

[pink_disco]

Olivia Colman on Pay Disparity in Hollywood: "If I Was Oliver Colman, I’d Be Earning a F*** of a Lot More" https://t.co/vBqzFWXryh
- The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 24, 2024

Comments

[bigirons]

i wish we could have pay disparity conversations in the mainstream without it always being about actors lol all these people are getting paid way too much to play pretend

[screamingintune]

I think it's easy for people to use actors to talk about it because it's easy to perceive actors as doing about the same amount of work as each other. Like, for a lot of people, their inherent biases want to excuse pay disparities in other fields as a result of work ethic or if they're less awful, maybe education, but with acting people can perceive it as a raw talent that one cultivates fairly independently (whether or not that's actually true is up for debate)

tl;dr, I agree with your sentiment but I also think it's an easy shorthand way for people to understand the problem, even if it undermines it somewhat because the ones we hear about are usually way wealthier than any of us

however it's worthwhile to consider actors like the Orange Is the New Black cast who weren't even paid enough to cover their expenses. That was a cast of almost entirely women and a LOT of minorities.

[daijouboo]

The OINTB example is particularly galling when you consider how much a mulitbillion dollar corporation like netflix makes off their labor and how challenging many of the things they had to do were. Like there were so many scenes of people getting abused or assaulted or being put in situations that looked really unsafe. I hope that was all tv magic, but who can be sure?

[screamingintune]

for real, and Netflix was more than happy to allow the media and fans to heap praise on it for years for telling stories and featuring people that don't usually get featured. We didn't know they weren't being paid enough to pay rent and buy food! We didn't know they'd get fucking nothing for residuals! It was a HUGE show that built the platform and we all assumed these people were getting the career big break that would set them for life!

I mean sure, Danielle Brooks has done very well for herself, and so has Samira Wiley, and Kate Mulgrew will be fine because she's got Star Trek money, but the rest? The big opportunity WAS OITNB.

[mhfromnh]

she didn't lie

[misoras]

There’s still a hierarchy of pay/conditions lol. Olivia is privileged in many ways and still speaking on her own situation. Whereas Taraji is speaking on a systemic issue that she’s exhausted by. The two situations are not the same.

What’s that statistic, white women get a percentage of a dollar compared to white men but latin folk/certain asian groups/black women/indigenous folk get way less. Meh, Mrs Colman.

[sarahvma]

I think it would’ve been nice if she’d acknowledged that she still gets paid more than WoC, but I’m not sure saying “who cares?” is helpful. The point she’s making is that wage gaps are illogical and rooted in unfairness. Which is true no matter how narrow the gap.

[goldenhera]

Olivia is also talking about a systematic issue, female actors being paid less than male actors. Taraji was talking about disparity from a race and gender lens, obviously Olivia can only personally speak to one of those issues. Both are systematic.

[johnjie]

You’ve said this beautifully- I am so sorry to nitpick like this, but the word you’re looking for is systemic. Systemic means something inherent to or embedded in a system, systematic means going through things according to a defined agenda, method, or plan.

[screamingintune]

she is not wrong

I do wonder what the comparison is between black men/white women in Hollywood?

[misoras]

It depends… idk what dramatic black male actors get (tbh has one spoken on it?) but comedians like Chappelle, Rock and Tucker got obscene amounts. Though Chris Rock had that joke about how he lives around white doctors but he has to earn millions blah blah. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a “as long as I get mine” attitude.

[misoras]

I deliberately didn’t mention black men in my comment above lol.

Also, there’s sth in “black famous” circles that i’m sure the pay disparity seems more stark in but idk enough to comment. I think… Terence Howard spoke about pay right?

[sarahvma]

Howard walked from Iron Man because he was the highest pair star on the first, was promised a raise for 2, but then they suddenly cut his agreed salary to pay RDJ significantly more after the first was a hit.

RDJ made less because he was so expensive to insure and a big chunk of what would’ve been his salary went to insuring him.

But it still didn’t make sense that they’d suddenly have to pay Howard less.

[lovelylaura23]

Since I shit on Amy Pascal in the Glazer post not long ago, I'm gonna shit on her again here.

“I run a business. People want to work for less money, I’ll pay them less money. I don’t call them up and go, can I give you some more?” she said at a Women in the World event. She laid the blame on the women themselves for not refusing to work for less pay. “They have to walk away. People shouldn’t be so grateful for jobs.”

[thereinventions]

She walked - and was punished - so Kim K could fly.

[januarysix]

sometimes women who ask for more money don't get the job. yikes. fuck her.

[thethingiswhat]

And often they get branded as “difficult” for it.