Acting residuals: who gets them, how they are calculated and how they are paid

Residuals in acting are payments a union performer earns when a film, TV episode or streaming show they worked on is reused after its first release: a rerun, a sale to syndication, a move to a streaming service, a foreign broadcast. They are set by the SAG-AFTRA contracts with producers, not negotiated from scratch on each job, which is why a day player can get a check years after a one-day booking.

Your day rate pays for the first use. The Television Agreement says the salary for a TV picture is payment in full for showing it once in each US and Canadian city; for more runs, each performer's contract must provide extra pay at no less than the contract's rerun minimums (Television Agreement, Section 18.pdf)). Everything else in this guide follows from that idea: each new market triggers a new payment, and the formula depends on the market.

The current film and TV contract, the 2026 SAG-AFTRA Codified Basic Agreement and Television Agreement, runs from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2030 (2026 MOA). The rules below are from that contract and the earlier agreements it amends, as published by the producers' bargaining group, the AMPTP.

• Principal performers on union jobs. Actors hired as principals, or upgraded to one, whose performance stays in the final cut. Wrapbook's producer guide also lists professional singers, stunt performers, stunt coordinators, pilots, Schedule J dancers and puppeteers (Wrapbook).
• Not background actors, unless they are upgraded to a principal (Wrapbook). The 2026 contract extends that rule to digital replicas: if a producer uses a background actor's digital replica as a principal and it stays in the picture, the background actor is treated as upgraded and gets residuals, counted as a day performer (2026 MOA). The background actor guide covers how upgrades happen on set.
• Usually not non-union work. Wrapbook says most non-union projects do not pay residuals, because no union system tracks performers down years later (Wrapbook). If a non-union contract promises reuse payments, that promise is only as good as the contract.
• Off-camera stunt performers: not yet. The 2026 deal only sets up a committee to discuss a residual for them in future bargaining (2026 MOA).

There is no single residuals rate. The formula changes with where the work is shown. The main ones an actor will meet:

1. Network prime time reruns. For each rerun in network prime time, the performer is paid 100% of their "total actual compensation", up to a ceiling per episode that depends on the program length (Television Agreement.pdf)). The 2026 deal raises minimums 3% a year but leaves those ceilings where they are (2026 MOA).
2. Syndication and other reruns. The classic schedule pays a falling percentage of the performer's "total applicable minimum salary" (roughly, scale for the days or weeks worked): 40% for the second run, 30% for the third, 25% for the fourth to sixth, 15% for the seventh to tenth, 10% for the eleventh and twelfth, and 5% for every run after that. Second and third runs on a network outside prime time and late night pay 50% and 40% (Television Agreement, Section 18(b)(2).pdf)). Some programs follow sideletters with different terms, and broadcast syndication licenses signed since July 1, 2020 have their own rules (2026 MOA).
3. Films and TV shows licensed to a subscription streamer. When a theatrical film or a TV show made for other media is licensed to a subscription service, producers pay a pool of 3.6% of the "distributor's gross" (broadly, what the distributor is paid for the license). Under the 2026 contract that pool includes health and pension contributions of 13.5%, and the rest is shared among the cast (2026 MOA). The new terms cover films and seasons that start shooting on or after July 1, 2026, and new licenses from September 1, 2026 for pictures that started shooting from July 1, 2020.
4. Streaming originals (high-budget SVOD). Shows made for a subscription streamer pay a fixed residual for each exhibition year, with a foreign part scaled by the service's foreign subscribers: for services with 75 million or more, the factor rises from 90% to 95% from July 2026. The ceilings used in these residuals rise 2.5% on July 1, 2027 and another 2.5% on July 1, 2029 (2026 MOA). On top of that sits the success bonus, below.
5. Commercials. Ads do not use residuals formulas. They pay use fees for each airing or each cycle of use, from a separate contract. See the commercials section.

For the percentage-based formulas, the producer pays one pool per picture or episode and it is divided among the cast "based on the existing allocation methodology, e.g. time and salary units or 3, 2, 1 rateable distribution" (2026 MOA). The contract itself gives a worked example, which is the clearest picture of how a check is built:

• A network prime time episode has three performers: a day player, a weekly performer and a series regular.
• The distributor's gross for the episode is $3,152.78. 3.6% of that is $113.50.
• $13.50 goes to the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan and pension plan. That leaves a $100 residuals pool.
• The day player gets $16.67, the weekly performer $33.33 and the series regular $50 (one, two and three shares).

The same example shows a detail that matters for health coverage: the day player's and the weekly performer's residuals are reported to the plans and count toward eligibility, but the series regular, who is already over the contribution cap, still gets paid and the earnings do not count again that period (2026 MOA).

Under the rerun schedules instead, your own pay sets the size of the check. Take a day performer booked for one day in the current year at scale, $1,283 from July 1, 2026 (AMPTP 2026-30 rates). If the classic syndication schedule applied, a second run would be 40% of that, about $513, and a thirteenth run 5%, about $64. Treat it as an illustration of the shape, not a promise: the exact base, the sideletters and the licenses all affect the real number.

The 2023 contract added a bonus for hit streaming originals. A season or film qualifies when its "domestic views" reach 20% of the service's domestic subscribers in the first 90 days. Domestic views are the hours streamed in the US divided by the total runtime (2023 MOA).

The contract's example: a 10-episode season with a total runtime of 5.8 hours draws 70 million domestic hours in 90 days on a service with 50 million domestic subscribers. 70 million ÷ 5.8 is about 12.1 million views, which is 24.1% of subscribers, so the bonus is due (2023 MOA).

• Shows first released from January 1, 2024 to June 30, 2027: the bonus equals 100% of the fixed streaming residual for that year. 75% goes to the performers on the show and 25% to the SAG-AFTRA–Producers Success Bonus Distribution Fund (2023 MOA).
• Shows first released from July 1, 2027: the bonus rises to 110% of the fixed residual, and the fund's share rises from 25% to 35% (2026 MOA). Performers who got their share of the bonus have no claim on the fund's money unless the fund decides otherwise.
• No advance payment. For contracts signed from the 2026 effective date, the producer cannot pay the success bonus in advance by folding it into your fee (2026 MOA).

Actors often call commercial money "residuals", but under the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract it is a session fee for the shoot plus use fees for where and how long the ad runs. Rates from April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 for an on-camera principal (Joint Policy Committee):

• Session fee: $855.20 ($643.00 off camera).
• Class A network program use: $783.10 for the first use, $158.21 for the second, $125.51 for the third and each of uses 4 to 13, then $60.17 for each use from the 14th. The 13-use guarantee is $1,936.67.
• Streaming platforms and other digital use: $1,300 for 4 weeks, $3,000 for 13 weeks, $10,000 for 52 weeks.
• National cable: $1,500 for 4 weeks, $4,100 for 13 weeks, $13,500 for 52 weeks.

So a national spot that keeps getting renewed can pay many times its session fee. For auditions, holding fees and conflicts, see commercial acting; for how commercial pay compares with film and TV, see how much actors make; for voice-only spots, how much voice actors make.

Residuals for film and TV do not come straight from the studio. A payroll company calculates them from usage and distribution data at the contract rates, the studio approves the amounts, and the payroll company sends the money to the union, which pays the performers. Entertainment Partners, a payroll company, describes the process and says this routing through the unions "is a condition of the collective bargaining agreements" (Entertainment Partners).

• Keep your address current with SAG-AFTRA. Paper checks go to the address the union has on file, not the one printed by the payroll company, and the two can differ (Entertainment Partners).
• Check the union's portal first. Payment status lives on the union and guild portals; a payroll company's own site may show a residual only after you cash or deposit it (Entertainment Partners).
• Know the rough timing. Wrapbook's producer guide lists TV network reruns as due 30 days after the air date, syndication four months after, basic cable quarterly as the producer receives revenue, and foreign free TV no later than six months after the first foreign telecast (Wrapbook).
• Chasing a missing check. Entertainment Partners says to ask your union whether a check was logged and released if it was sent to the union more than 90 business days ago, and to request a stop-pay and reissue for a mailed check that has not arrived ten business days after mailing (Entertainment Partners).
• If a performer dies, the family contacts the union for its requirements, and the payroll company sets up a beneficiary record once the union approves (Entertainment Partners).

Residuals are wages, not investment income. Entertainment Partners treats them as supplemental wages and includes them on your year-end tax forms (Entertainment Partners). The IRS federal withholding rate on supplemental wages is 22% for 2026, and 37% on supplemental wages above $1 million in a year (IRS Publication 15). Withholding is not the same as what you finally owe; your return settles that. Keep every stub, because small checks from several payroll companies are easy to miss at tax time.

Residuals also help you qualify for union health insurance. Residual earnings up to the contribution cap are reported to the plans for eligibility (2026 MOA). To earn coverage, the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan requires $28,090 in covered earnings for 2026 benefit periods (rising to $28,933 in 2027), or 108 eligibility days, measured over a four-quarter base period (SAG-AFTRA Health Plan).

Some deals pay part of your residuals up front, folded into a higher fee. The Television Agreement limits that:

• Day performers cannot be paid in advance for reruns or foreign telecasts (2026 MOA).
• Other performers can agree to advance payment only above a salary floor. For network prime time reruns on contracts since December 8, 2024, that floor is $9,500 per week or episode for half-hour shows and $12,500 for an hour or longer, and the 2026 deal raises it with each general wage increase (2026 MOA).
• A 15% cap. For performers guaranteed under $75,000 per week or episode, a producer can treat no more than 15% of initial pay as advance residuals; the line moves to $80,000 for contracts from July 1, 2027 (2026 MOA).

The parties also confirmed that it is best practice to tell the performer or their representative about prepaid residuals before the long-form contract arrives (2026 MOA). If your offer mentions "residuals prepaid" or "advance against residuals", ask your agent or the union what it covers before you sign.

The words get used interchangeably, but they are different deals. Residuals come from union contracts: the formula is the same for everyone at that level, the union collects and distributes the money, and you do not need to own anything. A royalty is whatever share of sales or revenue a contract you sign gives you, for example on an audiobook or a song, and it is paid by whoever signed that contract.

Residuals start with a principal role on a union job. Practical steps:

• Be ready for on-camera auditions. Learn to record a strong self-tape, and practice in an on-camera or self-tape class.
• Get representation for TV and commercials. Agents submit you for co-star, guest star and commercial roles; see how to get an acting agent.
• Check where a job will air before you price it. A commercial's usage and a show's platform decide the reuse money, not just the day rate.
• Prepare material. For audition monologues and scenes, use Offbook; for training costs in LA, Arlo's Price Index shows what classes cost.