At striking actors' hangout bar in Los Angeles, tiny residual checks are no longer a joke

Record ID: 1736043

  • Title: At striking actors' hangout bar in Los Angeles, tiny residual checks are no longer a joke
  • Date: 2nd August 2023
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 27, 2023) (Reuters) ACTORS JOHN O'BRIEN, MICHAEL SPELLMAN AND ARABELLA FIELD MEETING UP OUTSIDE RESIDUALS TAVERN ACTORS WALKING TO TABLE INSIDE TAVERN (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, JOHN O'BRIEN, SAYING: "Just this place back in the late 90s, it used to be a kind of a rarity to get such a tiny residual check, that you could come in here and people would laugh and say 'Hey I got one for 90 cents' and you'd get a free drink. But I would imagine over the last five to 10 years this place would have gone out of business if they kept doing that because now it is so common for these residuals to be coming in on these new platforms that are ridiculously low." HOLLYWOOD FILM SET LABORER KIRK DINSMORE PLAYING DARTS WITH FRIEND (SOUNDBITE) (English) HOLLYWOOD FILM SET LABORER, KIRK DINSMORE, SAYING: "I mean, it started with the writers strike and that really, they got ahead of that there because essentially once that happened, they cut off all new productions, all the pilots, all the new shows that were supposed to start, anything there got tabled. And once that happened, there went kind of any of the new work that's going to sustain a lot of people working. So I mean, you're talking at the lowest rung, I guess you'd call it a laborer, then you've got prop makers, you've got electricians, you've got grips and every trade has been drastically affected." VARIOUS OF DINSMORE PLAYING DARTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) HOLLYWOOD FILM SET LABORER, KIRK DINSMORE, SAYING: "You know, there's a lot of family members who are being drastically affected by this. There's people that have got to pay their mortgages. I know a make-up artist that comes in here, lost his apartment. I know some other people that do sound, yeah, a couple of months ago, having to move back in with his parents. So this really extends to a lot of different roots and it affects a lot of people, you know." VARIOUS OF O'BRIEN, SPELLMAN AND FIELD AT TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL SPELLMAN, SAYING: "Since we've been striking and all the numbers have been coming out, the statistics, it surprised me to find out that for 22 years I've been in the top 13 percent of actors. Which blows my mind because I feel like there are definitely years that I'm struggling and the top 13 percent consists of the people that are earning enough money to make insurance, which is at $26,470, and I feel like it's shrinking every year too. It becomes harder and harder because of what we're striking for. One of the many reasons we're striking is because of the lack of decent residuals. With inflation and everything, I feel like their share is getting bigger and we're left with the scraps." VARIOUS OF FIELD TALKING TO FRIENDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, ARABELLA FIELD, SAYING: "It's sometimes confusing when people are seeing, you know, soundbites and stuff about WGA and people complaining about mini-rooms or us complaining about residuals. It's so hard to wrap your head around but basically I would say, we're you. We're the American worker. We're the people working in the Amazon warehouse. It's the same thing. Everybody's getting squeezed." FAN AND LOS ANGELES SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL SPELLMAN, SAYING: "I think if I had to say anything to people, especially to my friends and family in Michigan, that they just see a bunch of actors whining, they think about celebrities whining about more money and it's not about that. Most people don't realize that, okay, if the 13 percent of us are making enough just barely to get insurance, celebrities are only about... I think it's 0.02 percent of those people that don't need to worry about money. That's a huge pay gap right there." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, ARABELLA FIELD, SAYING: "You know, we've had 40 years of trickle down economics and it's never trickled down. And we've given and given and given and made concession after concession and yeah, at the point, we don't have anything else to give, yeah." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, JOHN O'BRIEN, SAYING: "You know, when the pie gets bigger and bigger and bigger, but your sliver of the pie stays the same, you know, after a while, enough is enough and you have to stand up for fair wages." LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 28, 2023) (Reuters) PEOPLE ON PICKET LINE ACTOR JACK BLACK PICKETING LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 27, 2023) (Reuters) SPELLMAN AT TABLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR, MICHAEL SPELLMAN, SAYING: "You know, I've heard end of year, which would be horrible, I've heard October, which would be horrible, next week is horrible. We all want to go back to work and it's hot. But if they think that we're going to quit because it's hot or we're going to quit because we're living check to check - well, because of the current system, we've all been living check to check. We're used to that, so if anybody's the survivor, it's the actor and I think that we're in it to win it. We're out there as long as it takes." SPELLMAN, FIELD AND O'BRIEN STANDING AT BAR EXTERIOR RESIDUALS TAVERN
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2023 10:58
  • Keywords: Actors Residuals Residuals Tavern Strike
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,North America,Television
  • Reuters ID: LVA001130531072023RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:For actors trying to make it in Hollywood, a small residual check from one of their first jobs used to prompt laughter, and at one neighborhood watering hole, a drink on the house.
    Residuals Tavern provided a free beer to any performer who brought in a check for less than $1 from reruns of TV shows or movies and posted the check on a wall.
    But penny payouts have become far more common, actors say, and they are no laughing matter.
    "Back in the late '90s, it used to be kind of a rarity to get a tiny residual check," actor John O'Brien said. "You could come in here, people would laugh and say 'Hey I got one for 90 cents!' and you'd get a free drink."
    In today's streaming-TV era, small residual checks have become so customary that they helped push the SAG-AFTRA actors union to go on strike in mid-July, joining film and television writers, who walked off the job in May, in part over residual payments.
    "It's gotten to the point where I think a lot of people can't believe it if they get a residual for $25," O'Brien said. "They're so used to opening those envelopes and it's 30 cents."
    O'Brien, who has appeared on dozens of shows, from "Grey's Anatomy" to "Pretty Little Liars," shared images of residual checks from more than two decades ago worth $47.49, $87.77 and $216.25. Others, from the past few years, amounted to $1.63, 43 cents and 1 cent.
    Residuals were created decades ago to supplement writers' and actors' base salary and help them survive between projects. The payments were doled out, for example, when a show was sold into syndication or a movie went to DVD. For working class actors who were not the famous, highly paid stars, the residual checks were vital to helping them pay their bills.
    As much of Hollywood production shifted to streaming, the unions say residuals shrunk to the point where it became hard for many members to earn enough to live in Los Angeles.
    Lower residual payments mean fewer actors earn the $26,470 per year needed to qualify for SAG-AFTRA's health insurance coverage, said actor Michael Spellman. The union said about 14% of its 160,000 members currently meet that threshold.
    The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Netflix, Walt Disney and other companies, said it has offered substantial increases in residuals.
    "The largest streaming services would be paying 22% more in residuals, including 76% more in foreign residuals," an AMPTP statement said.
    The group has not released a detailed breakdown but said it has proposed more than $1 billion in higher pay, residuals and other benefits for SAG-AFTRA members.
    At Residuals Tavern, founded in 1986, bartenders still serve free drinks for sums below $1, though they no longer post checks on the wall. Checks from the 1980s, in amounts as small as "zero dollars," hang in two cases near the restrooms.
    The bar sits in a strip mall about a mile from the Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney studio lots. Sometimes a bona fide celebrity such as Justin Bieber drops in, but it is mostly a hangout for middle-class actors, crew members and people trying to break into show business. On a recent afternoon, one aspiring actor, who sometimes works the door, carried a guide to "Making It in Hollywood."
    Throwing darts nearby was Kirk Dinsmore, a laborer who helps with construction and other tasks on sets. He said he has not had a job since March when production slowed ahead of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. Most filming of scripted TV shows and movies has stopped across Los Angeles.
    In addition to laborers, "you've got prop makers, you've got electricians, you've got grips (lighting technicians), and every trade has been drastically affected," Dinsmore said.
    Actor Arabella Field, whose credits include "House" and "Seinfeld," said SAG-AFTRA members did not expect to go on strike but felt they were put in a position where "we have no choice."
    "To be able to just make a living wage, that's all we're asking for," she said at the tavern.
    While payment formulas for actors may confuse people outside Hollywood, Field explained it this way: "We're you. We're the American worker. We're the people working in the Amazon warehouse. It's the same thing. Everybody's getting squeezed."
    Spellman said he has been able to earn enough from TV roles and commercials for most of his two-decade career without taking side jobs.
    As residuals declined, he added gigs such as leading tourist hikes to the Hollywood sign. This week, he is driving a dog across the country for a pet transportation company. Then it's back to the picket lines.
    "We've all been living check to check and we're used to that," Spellman said. "If anybody's the survivor, it's the actor. We're out there as long as it takes."
    (Production: Sandra Stojanovic, Lisa Richwine, Rollo Ross)
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