‘Liv and Maddie’ star Joey Bragg reveals the loophole Disney used to pay the actors less than minimum wage

Hollywood is currently in flux with both the Writers Guild and the Actors Guild (WGA and SAG-AFTRA respectively) on strike amid ongoing disputes over pay, residuals, and the use of artificial intelligence. Many writers and actors have stated that unless you’re a superstar like Julia Roberts or Tom Cruise, you don’t actually get the glitzy glamour. Instead, you have to settle for bad pay, no residuals, and being told to be grateful for a job in the first place.

The strike has seen many big names like Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, Olivia Wilde, Jason Sudeikis, Susan Sarandon, Rosario Dawson, Seth Green, and many others walking the picket line. Now, another voice is speaking up about the mistreatment by big name studios, and this time Disney Channel is under the microscope and their mistreatment of their writers and actors.

“Liv and Maddie” star Joey Bragg spoke on the “Cash Cuties” podcast about his time as a Disney star, and cleared up some confusion about Disney shows, and why they typically only last three seasons. It turns out that was a contract loophole the network used to only pay their writers and actors less than minimum wage.

“Cash Cuties” co-host Fumi Abe began the conversation by remarking, “You [told me] that they [Disney] have this rule where they don’t have to pay you 100% of the WGA rates for three seasons, so that’s why every three seasons they reboot it under different names or something?”

Joey then replied, “Yeah, like Hannah Montana Forever and Suite Life On Deck. They have a deal with, I don’t know if it’s the unions or the AMPTP, but they had a deal where the first three seasons of a show, you get paid 88% of scale. So it’s 88% of like minimum wage, pretty much, for the crew, and then the idea is, you work on a show, it becomes popular, you go four, five, six seasons, and you get 100%, or whatever that is.”

“But then, by the third season, even if the show’s popular, they reboot it as a brand new show,” he explained. “So, we were Liv and Maddie for the first three seasons, and the last season was Liv and Maddie: Cali Style.”

In the conversation, Fumi Abe remarked, “And it’s technically a ‘new show’ so they can go back to paying you s***.”

“Yeah, exactly. But, it’s in our contracts that we can’t renegotiate unless everybody decides to renegotiate.”

This, Joey stated, is the impetus for him joining the picket line. “That’s one of the things we’re striking about,” Joey said. “Because my show was like Netflix’s No 1 watched show, when it was on Netflix, then those streaming rights got bought by Disney for like millions upon millions upon millions of dollars, and the creators, nobody saw any of that money.”

This three-season rule is understood to be the reason why extremely popular fan favourite Disney shows like Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire were canceled after three seasons. It’s important to note that some Disney shows have survived past three seasons like That's So Raven and Wizards of Waverly Place.

The WGA strike began in May and SAG-AFTRA joined them in July. Under the rules of the strike, union members are not allowed to film movies or TV series, take part in any press or film premieres, or promote their projects. As such, many are without paycheques and struggling to make ends meet.

This isn’t the first time a former Disney star has spoken out about the network’s lack of fair residuals. Lizzie McGuire star Robert Carradine recently shared his $0 residual cheque from Disney Channel, writing on Instagram, “Why we’re striking.”

Elsewhere, singer and actress Mandy Moore said that she has received “pennies” as residuals for her work on the NBC drama “This Is Us.”

"The residual issue is a huge issue," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "We're in incredibly fortunate positions as working actors having been on shows that found tremendous success in one way or another… but many actors in our position for years before us were able to live off of residuals or at least pay their bills."