Fewer Than 1% of SAG-AFTRA Members Get Streaming Bonus Pay
About 700 performers will share roughly $1.5 million from the bonus fund. Union president Sean Astin admitted a "palpable disconnect" between the union's work and members' lived experience.
Less than 1% of SAG-AFTRA members stand to benefit so far from the streaming success bonus won in the 2023 contract talks. The union disclosed the figure after its national board met in person over the weekend.
Roughly $1.5 million will soon go to about 700 performers for work on high-budget streaming projects released in 2024. The guild put the share at about 0.4% of its 160,000-plus members, more than 100,000 of whom are actors and performers.
How the bonus works
Any title that passes the viewership threshold triggers a payment to each principal performer equal to 100% of the fixed residual. The performer keeps 75% of it. The other 25% goes into a fund overseen by SAG-AFTRA and studio-side trustees to be shared among the remaining members.
Details on how that 25% will be distributed, and whether it is counted in Monday's figures, have not been given. Information for those who qualify is expected in the coming weeks, along with changes to the union's health plan.
Astin's message
In a 12-minute video, SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin acknowledged "a palpable disconnect between the work of this union and the lived experience of too many of our members." He said residual income once sustained working actors between jobs, and that cable and then streaming dismantled it. What the union has won back, he said, is "substantial, but it's nowhere near what it was."
Astin asked members to hold on a little longer. At the end of October the union returns to its regular membership policy, so members who have not caught up on dues will be terminated.
Health cover complaints
Astin said little on health care, though the union's memo noted improvements for senior members with extensive retiree health credits. Complaints from members continue. Drake Bell said last week that he has no health insurance because he did not reach the required $28,933 in annual union-contracted income. Cecily Strong, Jack Haven and Heather Matarazzo have also spoken about coverage costs or the risk of losing it.
Actor Cheyenne Jackson has started a social media series called "One Job Away." It highlights actors close to qualifying for SAG health insurance, and he says he has received hundreds of submissions.
Source: Deadline