The Actor’s Guide to the End of the World

Hollywood's Obsession Pay Problem? This Indie Film Already Solved It

June 23, 2026·22 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

Welcome to the Actor's Guide to the End of the World Podcast, Episode 86! This is not a typical episode, but incredibly timely. Last week, E-Kan and Rían dove into the viral story of the art director of "Obsession", a massive success that has taken over Hollywood. Sally Choi blows the whistle on low film crew rates and opens a very important conversation on the financial stability of the indie film industry. She made $300 a day, "Obsession" makes over $250 million. Is this fair? (Links to all the episodes below.) So we wanted to bring back some previous segments that are more relevant to this conversation than ever.  First, the Oscar-nominated Colman Domingo led "Sing Sing" that paid everyone, cast and crew the same and gave them shares of equity. And "Obsession" is also about how YouTube filmmakers can gain acceptance and credibility outside the studio system. We discuss YouTube giant Markiplier who self-distributed his own feature "Iron Lung" in theaters to massive success. On the studio scale, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck struck a Netflix deal for their feature "The Rip" and offered performance bonuses to the crew if they had success on the streamer. Will this be a sign of the times? E-Kan was skeptical, but you're going to have to hear it for yourself. Did you know we're in Season 2 of the show? And we have new ways to support the podcast! Support the Podcast: https://www.patreon.com/cw/ActorsGuidePod New episodes every week! Follow @actorsguidepodcast wherever you find your podcasts. Please like, follow, review, and rate if you can. @ekansoong @ríansheehykelly LINKS: Obsession’s Hollywood Pay Problem (Episode 85) - Sing Sing’s new pay model (Episode 21) - Markiplier’s Self Distributes - (Episode 70)-youtube.com/watch?v=ssD0nQCEb_c&feature=youtu.be Affleck Damon Netflix Deal (Episode 64) -   Time Stamps:  (00:00) Intro (01:18) "Sing Sing" reinvents the indie film model (06:09) YouTuber Markiplier self-distributes massive film release (17:09) Affleck and Damon get performance bonus for crew (21:28) Update on Affleck Damon deal

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