‘I have to work forever’

Tom Arnold is on the phone to talk about his upcoming series — and about the ongoing labor strife in Hollywood.

Arnold plays a manipulative, sleazy producer in the mockumentary comedy “Underdeveloped,” premiering Sept. 8 on free streamer Tubi.

He is also a member of both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA, both of which remain on strike.

“On Friday [Aug. 18] I’m going to strike with the ‘Roseanne’ writers. We’re all meeting at the old studio,” said Arnold, 64, who not only wrote for and appeared on ABC’s “Roseanne,” which premiered in 1988, but was married to series star Roseanne Barr from 1990-94. “When I moved here [to LA] in 1988 to write for ‘Roseanne,’ as soon as I get here there was a writers strike so I really had to scramble because I wasn’t in the guild yet.

“I’m going to see a lot of buddies on the picket line [Friday] from the Midwest who I brought to ‘Roseanne’ to write.”

Arnold is allowed to speak freely and to publicize “Underdeveloped” under a special waiver granted to the independently produced series, created by star Brian A. Metcalf and co-starring Thomas Ian Nicholas (“American Pie”), who’s also an executive producer. The show was shot last December.

“It’s complicated,” he said. “I think the strategy of the union is that we’re going to show what these independent, small groups will pay and put more pressure, hopefully, on the bigger studios.

“We just want to figure out the streaming stuff [on the SAG-AFTRA side]; the studios have been reticent to tell us how many people are watching their shows,” he said. “Some of these studio heads, you go, ‘That guy’s the devil.’ The guy over at Discovery [David Zaslav] made $500 million the last few years and a guy like [ABC’s] Bob Iger, who I’ve known since he started — he used to come over and try to help me get Roseanne out of the house, like ‘What’s the game plan?’ — he’s known as a good guy but he sounds terrible when he’s on CNBC saying, ‘Well, this is the worst time they could have struck.’

“He makes $100 million a year [with an incentive bonus],” Arnold said. “We’re aware of that … and if things are so bad, why is he getting $100 million a year?

“I feel good that we have good people negotiating … and I’m also grateful with the bigger earners in our unions stepping up,” he said. “These are people that aren’t movie-studio-boss-wealthy but they don’t have to worry and that’s what we have to do — take care of the new people and people who are struggling and sometimes we have to sacrifice … hopefully this will all be resolved appropriately and we’ll all meet in the middle.

“I’m a single dad — my kids are 7 and 10 — and I have four ex-wives so I have to work forever.”

“Underdeveloped” is Arnold’s entree into the mockumentary format. He plays Ralph, a studio chief who grudgingly hires his brother-in-law, Stan (Metcalf) — who’s got zero experience but plenty of enthusiasm — to run one of the studio’s lesser divisions. Ralph pairs Stan with Joe (Anderson), who expected to get the job … and who harbors a big grudge.

The ensemble comedy’s cast also includes David Koechner, Mark Pellegrino, David Henrie, Kelly Arjen (also an executive producer), Samm Levine, Lulu Jovovich and Shelley Regner.

“Ralph is a big personality,” Arnold said. “He’s sort of like the big movie and TV studio heads in real life — very shady and a little greedy, and you see that within the structure of the show.

“Greed is a big thing [in ‘Underdeveloped’] and there are a couple of higher-ups who are nefarious people,” he said. “Ralph believes that getting credit for someone for their work is much better than paying them. It’s like, ‘You’ll be in charge; you won’t be paid like you’re in charge, but the prestige of being in charge.

“I think a lot of bosses in a lot of places try to sell that to people — ‘You won’t get the money or the title but you’ll be my guy.’”

Tom Arnold will also co-star in the upcoming (Aug. 31) Lifetime movie trilogy “As Luck Would Have It” opposite Jackèe Harry and Mea Wilkerson.