Residuals Explained for Actors: What They Are and When You Get Them

You shot two days on a TV episode last spring. The day rate was fine, you framed the call sheet, and you moved on. Then, months later, an envelope arrives with a small check for the same job. Nobody asked you to do anything. The show simply aired again.

That check is a residual, and it’s one of the least explained parts of an acting career. Actors hear the word on set, in union meetings, and in strike coverage, but few people sit down and tell them how it actually works, who gets one, and who doesn’t.

The short version: a residual is money paid to you when work you already did is used again, such as a rerun, a streaming license, or a home video release. Union contracts set the rules, producers do the math, and the union usually sends you the money. Extras and most non-union jobs don’t get them. Commercials work differently, and that difference is worth knowing before you sign anything.

What a residual is, in one paragraph

When you work on a union film or TV show, your session fee covers a set first use of your work. Wrapbook’s guide to SAG-AFTRA residual pay explains that for a film, it covers your work during production plus the theatrical run. Later uses earn you more. Wikipedia’s overview of residuals lists the usual triggers: cable reruns, syndication, DVD release, and licensing to streaming services.

Think of it as rent on your performance. The producer bought the right to use it once, in one place. Every time they use it somewhere new, the contract says you get paid again.

This is why actors talk about “the residual” of a show long after it wraps. A guest spot on a series that sells well in syndication can keep paying for years. A lead role on a film that never leaves its first release may pay nothing more after the day rate.

Who gets residuals, and who doesn’t

Not everyone on set is in line for a check. The same Wikipedia entry notes that extras are generally not eligible, while stunt performers, puppeteers, singers, and day players with lines are. The production payroll company Wrapbook puts it plainly in the same guide: background actors don’t get residuals.

Union status matters too. Wrapbook’s guide also says most non-union projects do not pay residuals, because there is no regulated system to track the reuse and pay performers later. A non-union short, web series, or indie feature usually pays you once, and that’s it.

• A principal performer or day player with lines on a union production is usually covered.
• A stunt performer or singer on a union production is usually covered.
• A background actor is generally not covered, even on a union set.
• A performer on a non-union project is usually not covered, unless the contract you sign says otherwise.

If you’re not sure which group you’re in, read your contract before the first day. The deal memo or union paperwork will say what kind of performer you were hired as, and that category is what decides it.

How the money gets from the producer to you

You don’t invoice anyone for a residual. According to the same overview, producers and studios calculate the amount and the unions administer the payments for their members. It gives a typical range of one to four months after the air date for payment, though the exact schedule depends on the medium.

The amount isn’t a fixed number either. It depends on what you were paid at first, the type of production (network TV, cable, home video, streaming), and whether the reuse is in the domestic or a foreign market. The rates also change with each new union contract, which is why this article doesn’t quote any. A figure you read online may be several contracts out of date.

Timing differs by medium as well. Wrapbook’s guide says that for streaming, residuals begin after the first 90 days of a program going live. Network reruns, syndication, and basic cable each have their own schedules, so two checks from the same job can arrive months apart.

Outside the United States

Other countries do it their own way. A guide from the payroll firm Entertainment Partners explains that in the UK, producers pay the union directly in a lump sum and the union charges an administration fee, while in Canada residuals are more often a share of gross receipts or profits.

In Canada, ACTRA’s Performers’ Rights Society collects and pays out use fees, residuals, and royalties owed under ACTRA agreements. It takes a service charge when it distributes the money, and that charge is lower for full members in good standing than for non-members and apprentices.

Commercials: holding fees, use cycles, and buyouts

Commercials are where residuals confuse actors most, because the money comes in a different shape. A union commercial pays in cycles of use. A joint FAQ on the 2022 SAG-AFTRA commercials contracts, posted by the Joint Policy Committee, says an advertiser must be paying holding fees or a use payment to keep the rights to a commercial during its maximum period of use.

A holding fee is money paid to keep your commercial available even when it isn’t airing. It’s the advertiser saying, “we might run this again, so we’re keeping you.” For you, it’s income for a spot that may be sitting on a shelf.

Union commercials also come with a catch. The standard SAG-AFTRA commercials contract, reproduced in this 2022 contract exhibit, has the performer agree not to work in ads for any competing product or service during the term of permissible use. Book a car commercial, and you may have to turn down the other car brand next month. Some performers (off-camera solo or duo singers, group performers, and people in seasonal or digital-only spots) aren’t bound unless they agree to it and the producer pays an exclusivity fee.

What a buyout means

A buyout is the alternative. The casting director Ramani Leah, writing at The Casting Director’s Cut, defines it as a flat fee paid in place of residuals, which lets the client air the spot as often as it likes within the contracted time. She notes buyouts are mostly used for low-budget or non-union commercials, while most union commercials pay on a residual scale.

A buyout isn’t automatically a bad deal. A larger fee upfront can beat a small spot that runs once. What matters is the term and the territory: how long they can use it, where, and in what media. Ask your agent, or ask the casting office, before you accept.

What changed for streaming in 2023

Streaming was a central issue in the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, and the deal that ended it added something new. A summary from the law firm DLA Piper explains the bonus. A high-budget, made-for-streaming program that is viewed by 20 percent or more of a service’s domestic subscribers in its first 90 days triggers a payment equal to the fixed streaming residual.

That bonus is split. Per the same summary, 75 percent goes to the union performers on the program, and 25 percent goes into a fund run jointly by SAG-AFTRA and the studios’ bargaining group.

The Denver Gazette reported in 2025 that the fund is called the Producers Success Distribution Fund, and that for now it is limited to people who worked on streaming projects first aired on or after Jan. 1, 2024. If you work in streaming, it’s worth knowing the name so you recognize it when the union announces how it pays out.

What about theater?

Residuals are built around recorded work that gets reused. A live performance isn’t a recording, so the residual system described above doesn’t apply to it in the same way.

One related deal covers how shows are developed. Nonprofit Quarterly reported in 2019 that, after an Equity action over developmental “lab” productions, Actors’ Equity and the Broadway League agreed that actors and stage managers in a show’s lab stage share 1 percent of its profits, including tours, for 10 years. That’s a profit share for helping build a show, not a residual for performing it.

If a stage show is going to be filmed for broadcast or streaming, ask the company manager or your union rep what terms apply before you’re on camera.

How to make sure you’re getting what you’re owed

Residuals depend on paperwork, and paperwork gets lost. A 2024 survey by CREATe at the University of Glasgow, commissioned by the British Equity Collecting Society, found that 64 percent of UK audiovisual performers were not confident they receive all the fees, royalties, and residuals due to them.

Money also goes unclaimed. A 2020 report described SAG-AFTRA holding tens of millions of dollars in unclaimed residuals for actors and heirs it could not locate, often because of old contact details. That report pointed actors to an unclaimed residuals page on the union’s website, and it’s worth checking your name there once a year.

1. Keep a list of every union job: the title, dates, your role category, and the production company.
2. Keep your address, email, and payment details current with your union, especially after a move.
3. Keep copies of your contracts and any commercial use or holding fee notices.
4. When a show you were in turns up on a new platform, note the date and watch for a payment a few months later.
5. Check your union’s unclaimed residuals page once a year, and include any older names you’ve worked under.
6. If something looks missing, contact your union’s residuals department with the details from your list.

Don’t forget taxes

A residual is income. A guide from a US tax firm that works with performers notes that a residual is taxable in the calendar year you receive it, not the year you shot the job, and that most SAG-AFTRA residual checks arrive on a W-2. Ask your own tax preparer how it applies to you, especially if a payment comes on a 1099.

Why this matters for the jobs you take

Residuals are one reason union work is worth chasing. If you’re weighing whether to join, our guides on becoming SAG-AFTRA eligible and Equity versus non-Equity theater walk through what it takes.

They also change how you read an offer. A non-union day with a higher rate and a union day with a lower rate are not the same deal once reuse is counted. Neither is a commercial buyout and a spot paid in cycles. You don’t need to be a lawyer to see the difference, just to ask three questions: is this union, what does it cover, and for how long.

Questions actors ask

Do non-union actors get residuals?

Usually not. Without a union agreement there is no system that tracks reuse and pays performers later, so most non-union jobs pay a single fee. Read your contract, because a producer can agree to more, but don’t count on it.

Do background actors get residuals?

Generally no, even on union productions. Principal performers, day players with lines, stunt performers, and singers usually do.

How long do residuals last?

As long as the work keeps being reused under the contract’s terms. A show that keeps getting licensed can pay for many years, while one that is never reused pays nothing more after the first fee. Commercials pay only while they’re in use or on hold.

How much is a residual?

It depends on your original pay, the medium, the market, and the contract in force when you worked. Rates change with each contract, so check your union’s current materials rather than a number you read online.

Is a buyout worse than residuals?

Not always. A buyout trades future payments for a fee now. Compare the fee against how long and where the spot can run, and ask your agent if you have one.