Hollywood's top executives' pay soared to $1.43 BILLION during the pandemic - ... trends now

While millions of Americans were trapped inside as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on, Hollywood executives were cashing in. 

Over $1.4 billion was raked in by West Coast bigwigs in 2021, up a startling 50 percent from 2018. 

And with the Writer's Guild of America (WGA) strike continuing this month, fueled by accusations of low pay and poor benefits, the chasm between Hollywood's working class and their bosses has never been greater. 

'If they don’t have any money to give us raises, then how did they — the executives in the C-suite — amass such record salaries,' said Mike Royce, a studio executive who spoke to The LA Times on the WGA picket line. 

At the same time writers and studio runners slammed their lack of financial opportunities, high-powered executives reaped record profits.  

Topping the list of those who took home the biggest salaries was Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav, who made over $498 million from 2018 to 2022. 

Unsurprisingly, his most lucrative year was in 2021, when he raked in a titanic $246 million. This windfall also came before his landmark merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery, in a deal worth in excess of $40 billion.  

Zaslav's haul that year was only beaten by Ari Emanuel, the CEO and director of expansive media conglomorate Endeavor Group Holdings, at $308 million. 

Emanuel's salary topped $346 million over the same five-year timeframe of 2018 to 2022, through his company's ownership of Hollywood's largest talent agency alongside a slew of sports media companies including the NFL, NHL, UFC. 

Data on the Hollywood rich list came from an LA Times analysis of research compiled by Equilar Inc. The research center also found Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has made $209 million since 2018, closely followed by embattled Disney chief Bob Iger at $195 million.