Amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, 13 Reasons Why alum Tommy Dorfman, 31, took to Instagram’s Threads to disclose her salary for Season 1 of the series. “my earnings for the entire first season of 13 reasons why were $29,953.24 prior to agency and manager fees (20%) and taxes. 8 episodes over six months,” she began in the caption of a photo of the show’s poster. The 31-year-old went on to add that she had “KEY ART” for the show and had to travel back and forth from New York City to San Francisco to film the show.
“I did all of the promo and had KEY ART for this show, flew round trip from NYC to SF to shoot for every episode, was kept for days without pay/working. i barely qualified for insurance,” Tommy continued in the post. She concluded the message with a note about the SAG-AFTRA strike and her reasons to support the union. “Within the first 28 days of release, the show’s season 1 garnered a total of 476 million view hours. this is why we strike. @sagaftra,” she penned.
Tommy played the role of Ryan Shaver for three seasons of 13 Reasons Why, which notably lists Selena Gomez, as an executive producer. Soon after the Fluidity star shared her earnings from the show’s first season, many of her followers took to the comments in support of Tommy. “To those of us who just consume the shows/movies etc, we only see the headline figures on how much it makes, and what the big payments are, we’re never really shown the breakdown of what all the other actors who make the entirety of the project earn. It’s a real eye opener when we hear the real life experiences of those who provide us so much joy in our lives,” one admirer wrote.
Meanwhile, many other fans chimed in on their thoughts on the matter. “I love these explanations. I hope people acknowledge art is not free,” a separate Thread user penned, while a third added, “That is absolutely atrocious. And goes against what most people think being a working actor is like. How little everyone knows, but I’m glad we’re all being educated now.” As previously mentioned, Tommy’s Thread post about her earnings comes amid the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike in the acting industry. The union began negations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) over one month ago regarding a new contract.
Most recently, Tommy (who came out as a trans woman in 2021), took to Instagram on Jul. 21 to share a set of photos while on the picket line for the SAG-AFTRA strike. “@sagaftra @wgaeast #sagaftrastrong #wgastrong,” she captioned the post, along with a strike poster emoji. In the post, Tommy rocked a white SAG-AFTRA strike t-shirt with a Writers Guild of America hat. The WGA has been on strike since May 2.