Sydney Sweeney said that despite the success of ‘Euphoria’ and subsequent Emmy nominations, if she were to stop working right now she wouldn’t have the income to afford a six-month break.
via Complex:
“I want to have a family, I’ve always wanted to be a young mom, and I’m worried about how this industry puts stigmas on young women who have children and looks at them in a different light,” Sweeney told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was worried that, if I don’t work, there is no money and no support for kids I would have.”
She went on to say that she long felt pressure to overpack her work schedule out of financial insecurities, and told THR that HBO frankly doesn’t pay its stars as much as they used to.
“If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that,” she said. “I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help…They don’t pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals. The established stars still get paid, but I have to give 5 percent to my lawyer, 10 percent to my agents, 3 percent or something like that to my business manager. I have to pay my publicist every month, and that’s more than my mortgage.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Sweeney continued to criticize the industry, and said in her short time as a TV star she’s learned Hollywood doesn’t facilitate loyalty.
“It’s built to try to make you backstab people,” she said. “It’s insane. My agent is my best teammate, and I’ll have her forever.” But, she adds, “I see how people are like, ‘We support each other’ — and I’m like, ‘No. You fucking don’t.’ ”
When asked whether she has been able to bond with the other girls from Euphoria, Sweeney said, “We don’t really talk about that kind of stuff.”
That’s unfortunate. These streaming services need to do a better job of supporting the actors that make the content that supports them. It’s like the music industry all over again.
