What is a Residual? - Kid's Top Hollywood Acting Coach (2024)

FAQs

What is a residual check for actors? ›

“Residuals are compensation paid to performers for use of a theatrical motion picture or television program beyond the use covered by initial compensation,” according to SAG-AFTRA.

Residual compensation is really where commercial actors make most of their money. If a National SAG Commercial is shown often, actors will earn anywhere from $5,000 to $60,000 for their one day of work in a commercial!

Process. Residuals are administered by the unions—SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild of America (DGA), and the Writers Guild of America (WGA)—for their members, who are paid between one and four months after the air date. According to SAG-AFTRA, it processes around 1.5 million residual checks a year.

While the exact amount isn't actually known, cast members have revealed that the reruns pay them 6% of their original salaries. If a star made a mere $150,000 per episode across all 20 seasons, that would come in around $200,000 per year in royalties.

We lived a very middle-class life.” The Happy People Are Annoying author added that there are “no residuals on kids' television,” so he doesn't earn any money from the show's reruns today. “It was like we had 18 months of runway,” he recalled. “It's as though someone had lost their job.”

Residuals are based on formulas that take into account such things as the contract in place during the specific year, time spent on the production, the production type and the market where the product appears (TV, video/DVD, pay television, basic cable, new media).

Basic Cable •Primetime •Network non-primetime, syndication • Theatrical Exhibition Commission is payable only when employment contract provides for overscale residual payment. If residual is at scale, commission is payable for first and second reruns. If residual is overscale, commissionable on every rerun.

Your residuals will be disbursed pursuant to the terms of your will (or trust document) or under intestacy law if you do not have a will, as well as under the terms of community property as may apply.

Residuals/royalties received as compensation for services performed within the City by a person paid on a 1099 are taxable if the person is still engaged in business. If you performed services both in and outside the City, the residuals/royalties is subject to apportionment.

The history of residuals starts back at the mid-20th century. By the mid-1950s, both SAG and AFTRA had been successful in negotiating residuals for TV programs re-runs.

Do actors always get residuals? ›

According to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, some do, and some don't. For principal performers, royalties can lead to long-term payoffs that trump the original salary. Background actors, on the other hand, won't be getting any residual checks in the mail.

“If you're doing a show and you're not an executive producer and own it, then you get residuals which can amount to checks from $2 to $2,000.”

In personal finance, residual income is synonymous with monthly disposable income. It is the total income that remains after paying all monthly debts.

Most often non-union projects do not pay residuals, as there is no regulated system in place to track someone down decades later (much less years) and compensate them. However, SAG-AFTRA performers hired under (or upgraded to) a principal performer whose performance remains in the final product require residual pay.

Children go through auditions the same way as adult actors. This shows in the way their wages get calculated as well. For one 30-60 minutes long episode in a TV show, the child actor can get paid about $1,000. A weekly rate is usually around over $3,500.

The first thing to get straight is what the law makes clear: in the state of California, 100% of every dollar a child actor makes belongs legally to THEM—and them alone.

Shirley Temple might be the best-known child star of all time. She began acting in movies at the age of 3 and had risen to superstardom by age 5.

If you get a line of dialogue in a show or have a scripted physical interaction with a character (called “special business”), you qualify for residuals. Everyone from day players to stunt performers to the main cast of a show, otherwise known as “featured players,” gets residuals.

Both royalties and residuals are generated when content is screened on TV, a streaming service, in a theater or as digital or physical media, but only residuals are mandated by unions. “The main difference between residual income and royalties is that royalties are outside of the guild realm," said Green.

How do you calculate residuals? ›

Definition. The residual for each observation is the difference between predicted values of y (dependent variable) and observed values of y . Residual=actual y value−predicted y value,ri=yi−^yi.

Commercial residuals are usually sent to your agent, then forwarded to a manager (if have one). They each take their percentage and send you the rest. TV/Film project residuals are usually sent to the union.

Do child actors pay taxes? Yes, child actors are required to pay taxes if they earned more than a certain amount during the year. (This is true of any actor, regardless of age.) Your child will either be paid as an employee and receive a W-2 or as a self-employed independent contractor and receive a 1099-MISC.

Residuals are subject to the 10 percent commission only if they are "over scale." Therefore, minor amounts will not result in fees to agents. When the residuals are subject to agent fees, the commission is paid to the agent who obtained the work, not the agent at the time of the payment.

Residual income is a form of passive income because entities may earn it without any effort. But it may mean different things depending on the context, whether in the world of personal finance, corporate finance, or equity valuation.

1 The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang Theory is one of the biggest syndication deals of all time to this day. CBS was paid a hefty paycheck of $1.5 million per episode by TBS to get the show syndicated on their network.

According to Parade, the cast members of Friends earn nearly $20 million as residuals from syndicated reruns every year, which is 2% of the $1 billion in revenue received by Warner Bros. Television. After the show's 2004 finale, the cast began to receive residuals from syndication.

Culkin doesn't make royalties from Home Alone.

Who is the number one richest actor in the world? Currently, Jami Gertz is the richest actor in the world with a net worth of $3 billion.

So, do all actors get paid for reruns? According to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, some do, and some don't. For principal performers, royalties can lead to long-term payoffs that trump the original salary.

Do all actors in a movie get residuals? ›

In the end, it was agreed that actors would forgo all residuals for movies made prior to 1960, but receive residuals for all films made in 1960 and beyond. Not all actors are paid residuals. Non-union actors, for example, are typically not paid residuals.

Residuals for Deceased Members

As a result, even after your death, you will continue to receive residual compensation if your material is reused.

Residuals are considered the property of the performer and are payable for as long as their work is exhibited somewhere in the world. As property, residuals can be inherited by the performer's benefactor(s) though a last Will and Testament and/or living Trust.

Definition. The residual for each observation is the difference between predicted values of y (dependent variable) and observed values of y . Residual=actual y value−predicted y value,ri=yi−^yi.

Residual pay is income that one continues to receive after the completion of the income-producing work. Some common examples of residual pay include royalties, rental/real estate income, interest and dividend income, and income from the ongoing sale of consumer goods (e.g., music, digital art, or books), among others.

For TV programs, residual pay to SAG-AFTRA are due: Network prime time - 30 days after the air date. Non-prime time network - 30 days after the air date. Syndication - four months after the air date.

Only one successor member can be appointed to receive the royalties for the deceased writer's musical works. Generally, this is the beneficiary (or one of the beneficiaries) entitled to those Royalties under the will or intestacy rules applicable to the Estate.

Members and non-members earn residuals through their work on SAG-AFTRA contracts. Learn more about these payments, how to track them and their unique history and terminology below.

The residuary beneficiaries in a trust are entitled to the benefit of any asset not specifically assigned in the trust documents. That residuary clause can designate that the remaining assets pass to one or more persons, a charity, or even another trust (such as the surviving spouse's revocable living trust).

A residual payment is also a royalty, usually paid to any above the line talent – the principals any time that a film product is distributed anywhere in the world. If your television show goes into syndication or reruns, the talent responsible for making it (and starring in it) get paid.

What happens if a main actor of a TV show dies? ›

In many cases, a show will handle the death of an actor by killing off their character or otherwise writing them out of the show. In other cases, the show may recast the part with another actor. In extreme cases, the show may be cancelled outright.