Clarity Or Confusion: New SAG-AFTRA Advance Residual Payment Procedure Rattles Talent Reps
deadline.comThe hard fought SAG-AFTRA agreement with the studios is threatening to open a rift between actors and their representatives as a new provision designed to provide more clarity for actors on residual payments has created “an additional layer of confusion” among agents and managers, as one of them put it, stoking fears that the new rules could wipe out smaller agencies and make it harder for up-and-coming actors to find representation.
At the heart of the problem are the so-called advance paid residuals. That is a portion of a performer’s per-episode fee check, which counts towards future residual payments. For as long as anyone can remember, pre-paid residuals have been part of an actor’s initial compensation, which is negotiated by the actor’s agents; they were part of the performer’s “quote” before the salary history ban law was adopted in California in 2018.
How it works is, the actor’s episodic fee check is sent by the studio to their reps who process it, withholding their standard commission (typically 10% for agents), and then send the payment to the client.
That will change when the SAG-AFTRA tentative agreement with the AMPTP is ratified. According to the summary of the deal released by the guild, starting 60 days after ratification, “all advance paid residuals shall be delivered to the union for processing and forwarding to performers.” The tentative agreement with AMPTP caps advance residual pay at not more than 15% of a performer’s guaranteed compensation for those earning less than $75,000 per week or per episode.
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