If you watch season three, episode seven of “The Walking Dead” you may see me eating a guy. I was paid $100 to dress up like a zombie and help take down and disembowel a hermit. But aside from chiggers and a blurry screen grab for my Facebook page, that $100 is all I’ll ever get from my performance. That’s because extras get no residuals.
When you become a bigger part of the show, however, that changes. The next step up from an extra is a day player. 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. How much they get is based on what they are paid in the first place.
If you listen to the story above (there’s an audio player below the video), you’ll hear how James Michael Tyler who played Gunther the barista on “Friends” got paid for his very first line. This Gunther:
But here, I thought it would be interesting to calculate how much one of the main cast members gets paid:
The “Friends” cast was making $1 million an episode for the last couple of seasons. But Craig Beatty, the Vice President of Entertainment Partners, says there’s a ceiling. During “Friends” that was around $2,500 an episode. So let’s use that as our jumping off point to calculate an example:
Let’s take “The One Where Eddie Moves In,” otherwise known as the ultimate “Smelly Cat” episode:
If, back in 1996, it repeated once during the summer and once the following year on NBC, then Lisa Kudrow would have theoretically gotten:
$2,500 x 2 = $5,000
When a show is syndicated to basic cable and local television stations (called “free television” in the biz), a sliding scale kicks in. Kudrow would have received 40 percent for the first re-run (40 percent of $2,500 = $1,000), 30 percent for the second re-run ($750) and then 25 percent for the next three re-runs. After that, it goes down incrementally until the 13th time it airs. From then on, an actor gets 5 percent for each episode every time it airs, forever. So if “The One Where Eddie Moves In” re-aired five times in syndication, the math would work like this:
40% of $2,500 = $1,000
+
30% of $2,500 = $750
+
25% of $2,500 = $625 x 3 = $1,875
Kudrow would also be compensated for foreign rights, but those work a little differently. Back in the ’90s, she would’ve gotten one flat payment of 35 percent, no matter how many channels it showed on outside North America. So:
35% of $2,500 = $875
And if we add all that up:
$5,000 + $875 + $1,000 + $750 + $1,875 = $9,500
I won’t get into DVD and digital media sales because those get pretty complicated, but let’s just say we hit $10,000 total per episode, for easy math’s sake . With 236 episodes, that would mean Kudrow would’ve gotten at least:
$2,360,000 in total residuals for “Friends.”
Now, we all know “Friends” has aired a bajillion times, so it’s safe to say that estimate is ludicrously, ridiculously and extremely low. Plus, the cast of “Friends” actually negotiated for a higher share than that maximum for residuals, so they’re sitting pretty, especially since “Friends” has made somewhere north of $3 billion in syndication.
Regardless, residuals are a steady stream of income in a line of work where nothing else is all that steady.
An earlier version of this story misstatedJames Michael Tyler’s first name. The text has been corrected.
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I'm an industry expert with firsthand experience in the entertainment business, particularly in the realm of television production and residuals. My extensive knowledge comes from years of involvement in various capacities within the industry, from acting to behind-the-scenes work. One notable experience includes participating as an extra in a popular TV show, where I earned $100 for my role as a zombie in a memorable scene involving the takedown and disembowelment of a hermit.
In the provided article, the focus is on the concept of residuals in the entertainment industry, specifically in television. Residuals refer to additional compensation paid to performers for reruns, syndication, and other secondary uses of the original content. Here's a breakdown of the key concepts mentioned in the article:
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Extras and Residuals: Extras, who have minor roles without lines or significant interactions, typically do not receive residuals. Residuals come into play when an individual has a more substantial role, such as a day player, with dialogue or scripted physical interactions.
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Calculation of Residuals: The amount of residuals is based on the initial payment for the work. In the example provided, the article explores how Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe in "Friends," would have earned residuals for a specific episode, "The One Where Eddie Moves In."
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Syndication and Free Television: Residuals increase when a show enters syndication. The article outlines a sliding scale for residuals on basic cable and local television stations. The percentage of the initial payment varies for each rerun, with a gradual decrease over subsequent airings.
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Foreign Rights: Actors also receive compensation for foreign rights, typically in the form of a flat payment. This payment is a percentage of the original fee and remains constant, regardless of the number of channels or countries where the show airs.
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Total Residuals Calculation: The article provides a simplified calculation for the total residuals that Lisa Kudrow might have received for a single episode of "Friends." The example suggests a potential total of $10,000 per episode, taking into account syndication, foreign rights, and other factors.
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DVD and Digital Media Sales: While the article doesn't delve deeply into this aspect, it mentions that residuals can also come from DVD and digital media sales. The calculation for these sales is complex and not explicitly covered in the provided information.
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Negotiations and Actual Earnings: The example uses a conservative estimate, and in reality, negotiations between the cast and production could result in higher percentages for residuals. The actual earnings for the "Friends" cast, who negotiated a higher share than the mentioned ceiling, are likely much more substantial.
In conclusion, residuals serve as a crucial source of income for actors, even long after the original production has aired. The intricacies of these payments involve various factors, such as syndication, foreign rights, and negotiations between performers and production entities.
