‘It’s a fake industry’: Kitu Gidwani slams Bollywood over royalties, roles for older women

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She further added, “Intellectual property rights and creative rights are zero in India. You don’t have rights over your work. The producer gives you and the director a one-time fee, and then he can do what he wants with the property. It’s not like that anywhere in the world.”

Beyond the question of royalties, Kitu also took aim at the industry’s approach to writing roles for older women. “My grouse against the industry is that older women are not getting powerful roles. We don’t want to play the generic mother or maasi. We want to play good, enduring roles with sex, love, power, comedy, and action. In daily soaps, once a woman hits 30, she becomes a daadi. She has no signs of aging on her face, but she gets such roles. This industry is very bizarre.”

The system of royalties in the West

While Kitu Gidwani pointed to a harsh reality that exists in India, the situation in the West is markedly different. Actors are represented by unions such as SAG-AFTRA, while writers and directors have the WGA and DGA, respectively. These unions have helped establish systems under which residual payments are made when a show is re-aired after its initial broadcast. If a show’s rerun is sold to a local TV channel, payouts are calculated using a fixed-percentage formula. For shows licensed to major OTT platforms, residuals are typically determined by the terms of the deal.

Back in 2021, Forbes reported that the Friends actors earned $22,500 per episode early in the show’s run. During its final two seasons, the six cast members, negotiating as a united front, managed to secure $1 million per episode. According to a 2015 USA Today report, in 2000, when Friends was at the peak of its success, all six actors negotiated a percentage of the show’s syndication profits. They eventually secured 2% of the profits generated by Warner Bros. from the show. A 2016 Fortune report said the show generated more than $1 billion annually for Warner Bros. Based on the 2% deal, the six actors collectively received about $20 million a year, or roughly $3.3 million each. In April this year, Lisa Kudrow reportedly confirmed the deal during an interview with The Times.

Friends is not the only example. Actors from Seinfeld and The Big Bang Theory also negotiated lucrative backend deals. Last year, The Hollywood Reporter reported that, during contract renewals after season eight, the principal cast of The Big Bang Theory increased their backend percentage from 0.25% to 1.25%. That equity translated into an estimated $10 million a year for each of the three leads. Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, meanwhile, continue to own a percentage of the profits from Seinfeld.