Yes. Residuals are union-negotiated payments that fire every time acting work gets reused, and they can outlast the original job by decades. Films that move into TV windows pay the cast pool 3.6% of the distributor's gross receipts. Reruns pay per airing. Streaming pays a fixed annual rate plus, since 2023, a bonus on a platform's most-watched titles.
Want to see what a career's worth of residuals adds up to? Use our free Actor Salary Calculator with the 2025–26 union rates built in.
Who actually pays residuals
Residuals are paid by the distributor, the studio or network that owns and reuses the work. SAG-AFTRA is the body that negotiates the rates and enforces the payments on the performer's behalf. They exist because a filmed performance can be sold and resold indefinitely, and the union contract guarantees the performer a cut every time that happens.
Films on TV: the 3.6% rule
When a theatrical film reaches TV and other post-theatrical windows, SAG-AFTRA residuals pay the cast pool 3.6% of the distributor's gross receipts from that use. That pool is then divided among the credited performers by time-and-salary weights, so leads with more screen time and higher original salaries take the largest shares, while smaller roles receive smaller ones.
TV reruns and syndication
Broadcast television works differently from film. Each network rerun pays a declining percentage of the performer's original episode fee, so the first rerun pays more than the fifth. Syndication pays smaller fees per run, but a syndicated show can air hundreds of times across dozens of markets, and those small per-run payments add up into a real, ongoing income stream long after the original episode order wrapped.
Streaming residuals and the 2023 bonus
Streaming platforms pay fixed annual residuals based on the service's subscriber count rather than a per-airing fee, since a title on a streaming service never technically stops running. The 2023 strike settlement added a second layer: a viewership bonus paid on top of the base residual for a platform's most-watched titles, tying streaming pay more directly to how much a show or film actually gets watched.
What residuals have actually paid out
The documented cases show the range. The six Friends leads negotiated backend points in 2000 that turned the show into a decades-long income stream, and cast members have since put their streaming-era residual income near $20 million a year each. Our Friends cast net worth breakdown follows exactly where those checks went. The three original leads of The Big Bang Theory reportedly own about 1% each of the show's roughly $1 billion in annual revenue, a backend structure our Big Bang Theory cast breakdown covers in full. Rupert Grint's residuals were significant enough to surface in his UK tax case, where a single assignment of income to his company was put at roughly £4.5 million, a detail laid out in our Harry Potter cast net worth guide.
What it means for working actors
The checks are smaller outside a hit, but they are real. A popular rerun can out-earn its original session fee many times over across enough airings, and residual income counts toward the earnings thresholds that qualify a performer for SAG-AFTRA health coverage. For actors who work steadily rather than famously, that combination is often worth more over a career than one bigger upfront paycheck.
Residuals in commercials and background work
Commercials run their own residual system, paid per airing on network usage or per 13-week cycle on cable and streaming; our commercial actor pay guide covers how that works. Background actors, by contrast, do not earn residuals at all. Only performers in speaking roles qualify, a distinction covered in our background actor pay guide.
How long residuals last
Residuals run for the life of the work, not the life of the actor. Estates continue receiving them after a performer dies, which is why shows that stopped filming decades ago, with casts that are partly or entirely gone, still generate checks for the people who now hold those rights. Our net worth model carries a residuals lane for every actor we cover, built on these exact rates; the full breakdown is on our methodology page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do actors get paid every time a show airs?
Yes, through residuals. Each network rerun pays a declining percentage of the performer's original episode fee, and syndicated reruns pay smaller per-run fees that add up across hundreds of airings. Streaming works differently: it pays a fixed annual residual instead of a per-airing fee.
How much are residuals for reruns?
It depends on the format. Theatrical films moving into TV windows pay the cast pool 3.6% of the distributor's gross receipts, split by time-and-salary weights. TV reruns pay a declining share of the original episode fee per airing, largest on the first rerun and smaller on each one after.
Do actors get royalties from streaming?
They get fixed annual residuals based on the streaming service's subscriber count, plus, since the 2023 strike settlement, a viewership bonus on the platform's most-watched titles. There is no per-airing fee, since a streaming title never technically stops running.
How long do residuals last?
For the life of the work, not the life of the actor. Estates continue collecting residuals after a performer dies, which is why shows that stopped filming decades ago still generate checks for the people who hold the rights today.