Earlier this week, it marked ten years sinceOrange Is the New Blackpremiered onNetflix, quickly becoming one of the most popular and acclaimed series on the streaming service. After seven very well-received seasons, the show created by Jenji Kohan came to an end in 2019 and to this day remains one of the best on the streaming platform.
Based on the bookOrange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prisonby Piper Kerman, which recounts her own experiences in federal prison, the series follows the story of Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling), who must face sentence after having helped her ex-girlfriend Alex Vause (Laura Prepon) to move illegal money to different countries as part of a drug trafficking network.
However, the main attraction of the show was not exactly Piper’s story, except for her romance with Alex, but the past and present of all the inmates. Nearly every woman inside the prison had the opportunity to tell her story and take center stage at some point in the series, thrilling the audience with their tragedies and triumphs.
Despite the huge popularity achieved byOrange Is the New Black, it seems that only the biggest stars of the show managed to see the results of the series' reach.
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Orange is the New Black Cast Slams at Netflix for their Low Payments
In the midst of the writers' strike and with the actors beginning theirs to demand better working conditions and fair pay,The New Yorker publishedan article in which various supporting stars ofOrange Is the New Blackconfessed an unjust treatment from Netflix when it came to payment.
Alysia Reiner, who played one of the prison administrators, Natalie Figueroa, said that she could see the popularity of the series reflected in the people who recognized her on the street, something that was not reflected in her salary:
“I can go anywhere in the world and I’m recognised, and I’m so deeply grateful for that recognition. Many people say they’ve watched the series multiple times, and they quote me my lines. But was I paid in a commensurate way? I don’t think so.”
Beth Dover, who played the administrator of the company behind the prison, Linda Ferguson, talked about how the company claimed that they couldn’t pay more:
“They’re telling us, ‘Oh, we can’t pay you this much, because we’re pinching pennies.’ But then Netflix is telling their shareholders that they’re making more than they’ve ever made.”
Doom Patrolstar Diane Guerrero, who played Maritza Ramos in the Netflix series, revealed that she had to take another job while participating inOrange is the New Blackbecause she could not survive on her salary and felt shame when being recognized because she was unable to explain why she needed an extra job:
“How could you tell this complete stranger how much you’re getting paid for being on a television show? Because everyone’s reaction would be, like, ‘Oh, my God, I love you on that show! But also, what are you doing here?’ It was this incredulity that was teetering on offensive.”
Lea DeLaria, Big Boo on the show, talked about how the fact thatOrange is the New Blackwas a series starring a cast almost entirely made up of women could have made the payment problem even bigger:
“I think some of this was because we were a female-centric show. I don’t think there’s anybody out there who doesn’t know that women are paid unequally to men. We can point at this show and really see it.”
