One of the demands that actors and screenwriters are making in trying to renegotiate their contracts with Hollywood studios is greater residual payments, and several people in the entertainment industry have come forward to share what those residual checks look like.
Mandy Moore, who starred as matriarch Rebecca Pearson in NBC's This Is Us, said she received streaming residual checks for a penny once and 81 cents another time.
"So you have to, like, let them add up for a while before you go deposit them at the bank," she said in an interview while on the picket line.
Residuals are payments made over the long term to actors and other theatrical workers when a TV show or movie is rerun or aired after its original release.
Kamil McFadden, who starred on three seasons of Disney's K.C. Undercover, tweeted a screen recording of his residuals, several of which had negative dollar amounts. He said his net income from the list was $2.77.
In an Instagram video, William Stanford Davis, who plays Mr. Johnson on the ABC sitcom Abbott Elementary, showed a residual check for 5 cents.
"That's what they think of us as actors," he said. "This is why we're on strike."
Jana Schmieding, who played Bev on FX's Reservation Dogs, said she gets a 3-cent residual every quarter for the show being streamed on Hulu.
"Listen, I'm an actor. I don't want a yacht. But I'd love to be able to save for retirement," she tweeted.
The Writers Guild of America is currently on the 13th week of its strike, while actors with the union SAG-AFTRA are on their second week. Both are striking against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). (Note: Many NPR employees are members of SAG-AFTRA, though journalists work under a different contract than the Hollywood actors.)
Writers and actors are demanding better wages, fair use of artificial intelligence and better contributions to health care and retirement.
The AMPTP did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but in a document titled "What SAG-AFTRA Failed to Mention," issued last week, it said that in its negotiations with SAG-AFTRA, it offered a more than $1 billion increase in wages, residuals and pension and health care contributions over a three-year period.
In the document, the AMPTP says it offered a 22% increase in residuals for high-budget SVOD (subscription video on demand) programs from Hulu, Disney+, Netflix and Amazon Prime. It said it also presented a 76% increase in foreign residuals.
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July 27, 20235:00 AM ET
By Ayana Archie
Photo Credit:
- Mandy Moore, who starred in NBC's This Is Us, said she has received streaming residual payments of less than a dollar. She has been on the picket line as part of the actors strike.
- Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Source : NPR
Link to original : Actors take to the internet to show their residual checks, with some in the negative
Amit Bansalpro
Commented 27 Jul, 2023
It would be good to know how much said actors have already been paid when shows were originally aired. And aren't actors paid even if the shows are not actually aired? So one could argue that if they have already been handsomely paid, this is not as big a deal as being made out. OTOH, why would anyone forego decent royalties forever if they can get them?
HivedMusicpro
Replied 27 Jul, 2023
Excellent points. What is the total compensation comprised of (up front pay, residuals, etc.)? How much do they get paid? When do they get paid?
In the world of music, musicians and songwriters frequently do not get paid to create their content. Compensation comes from music sales and streaming fees. How many people purchase music anymore? Music streaming fees are so small as to be almost non-existent.
HivedMusic is driving a positive change to the economic and financial model for musicians and songwriters.