What would it take to get a fair residual in streaming?
That is the question at the heart of both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes. It’s also a deep question, with roots in the history of technology and its impact on labor going back nearly a century. Residuals are, now and always, the product of a struggle.
In the simplest terms, they are the payments that artists receive for reuse of their work. Unique to the entertainment industry, they are calculated through obscure and mysterious formulas. When a green envelope arrives in a writer’s mailbox, she often has no idea how many zeros will be on the check.
Residuals are also fiercely defended. In a feast-or-famine industry, they keep artists afloat, and have been the key issue in nearly every strike in Hollywood over the last 71 years. With the transition to streaming, a dramatic overhaul in the entertainment business model,...
That is the question at the heart of both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes. It’s also a deep question, with roots in the history of technology and its impact on labor going back nearly a century. Residuals are, now and always, the product of a struggle.
In the simplest terms, they are the payments that artists receive for reuse of their work. Unique to the entertainment industry, they are calculated through obscure and mysterious formulas. When a green envelope arrives in a writer’s mailbox, she often has no idea how many zeros will be on the check.
Residuals are also fiercely defended. In a feast-or-famine industry, they keep artists afloat, and have been the key issue in nearly every strike in Hollywood over the last 71 years. With the transition to streaming, a dramatic overhaul in the entertainment business model,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Gene Maddaus
- Variety Film + TV
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