Quote:
Originally Posted by GatorB
So that means they should get all this extra money because it currently doesn't pay them well enough to live off? Um that's called LIFE. In what other job in the REAL world do you get paid like this? in REAL jobs you paid ONCE for doing a job. As is they get paid for doing a "job" I eman $800 and you might do is stand there and no have any lines. Sign me up. then you get paid if that goes into syndication, then you get paid for it if it goes on DVD. Now they want money from online? Ok out of work "actor", I know you really could use some cash from that small 30 second part in a epsiode Night Court from 1986, but get over it already, acting just wasn't in the cards for you.
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Here is how it works.
First off if you are just standing there and have no lines you are an extra (unless you are cast in the movie and just have no lines in that scene). Extras make $50-$100 a day and get no residuals. To make the $800 a day you have to have lines. So great. Say you get cast for 10 days on a movie and you get $800 a day. That is 8K for 10 days work. That is pretty nice. But you may not work again for 9 months (if ever).
Residuals are not what you think. Artie on the Howard Stern show talks about how he loves Christmas because they always play the movie Elf several times during that month. He was in that movie for a few minutes and worked for a few days on it. He gets about $500-$1000 a year in residuals. So sure, if you could rack up 15-20 of these types of movies you could start making a decent amount of money per year, but again, those that are able to do this are about 5% of those in the industry.
Look at it like this. If you work at Intel and you are on a production line making $10 an hour you will probably still get stock options, but since you make so little money the amount of the option will be pretty small. If you have been with the company 20 years and worked your way up to where you now sit on the board or are in a very senior position you will make a hell of a lot more money than the guy working on the assembly line and your stock options are going to be bigger. When they work out compensation contracts for the company they don't have the high up exec in mind. He is going to be okay. They are thinking more about the little guy. An extra $2K a year isn't going to matter that much to the exec making $500K a year, but it is a big deal for the guy making $10 an hour. So when SAG wants more money they are not worried that Brad Pitt is going broke. They want to help the unknown guy who has had tiny parts in half a dozen movies/TV shows and is struggling to make it.
Actors get paid over and over again for the same work because that is how the industry works and even the biggest most popular actors in the world don't work 50 weeks a year so these residuals help them live while they continue to look for other parts. The movie or show they worked on is still being marketed and making money and they are sharing in the profit. In the end, for the most part, they are using your face to sell that product. If they are using your face resell the product, why shouldn't you get paid for it? If you are so against getting paid for something after the fact should this industry do away with recurring payouts? Why should we have them? You did your job. You sent the visitor to the site and they signed up. Take you $30 and like it. If they stay a member for the next 2 years and the site continues to collect a membership fee for the next 24 months should be of no concern to you.