I can only imagine how the people who made it feel knowing they basically worked for absolutely nothing
And honestly there isn't much of a difference of working on something that gets shelved, vs. something that gets released and is a total flop -- something that doesn't even make back 20% of its costs, and gets 17% of Rotten Tomatoes.
Anyone who works in any artistic field knows that probably 80% of your total effort never sees the light of day -- whether you're a band trying to record songs, a novelist throwing away chapters and subplots and whole half-finished books, or yes -- scriptwriters and animators and actors.
(Just think about how the majority of filmed TV pilots are never shown, because the majority of them don't get picked up. If you're an actor/writer/crew hired for a TV pilot, you know going into it that there's a better than 50% chance nobody will ever see it.)
It's strange to frame the situation as if the lower class workers are lucky compared to those in the owner class.
Not every product ships or is a commercial success, and not every effort makes the final cut. While it's nice when we have external validation for our contributions, that doesn't diminish the quality, aplomb, or professionalism of the work that went into it. Plus, it still goes on your CV, and you get a story to tell.
Note that all the crew and actors involved not only lose the joy of seeing their work on the screen: it’s a gap in their portfolio, too. The FX folks, animators, lower tier actors, all miss out on having a credit and work to show in order to build their careers.