{"id":895748,"date":"2026-10-26T23:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T23:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/895748\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T23:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T23:32:08","slug":"less-than-1-of-sag-aftra-members-have-qualified-for-streaming-bonus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/895748\/","title":{"rendered":"Less Than 1% Of SAG-AFTRA Members Have Qualified For Streaming Bonus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSAG-AFTRA<\/a> is doing damage control as the actors\u2019 union is forced to confront how the ongoing domestic production decline has crippled its membership.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe union revealed some sobering numbers over the weekend during the national board\u2019s in-person plenary, including the fact that less than 1% of its members will so far stand to benefit from the bonus distribution fund that the above-the-line guilds pushed for during the 2023 negotiations with the AMPTP. <\/p>\n

\n\tRoughly $1.5 million will soon roll out from the fund to about 700 performers for work on high-budget SVOD projects released in 2024, the guild said Monday in its overview of the in-person meeting. That comes out to about 0.4% of the guild\u2019s 160,000+ members, more than 100,000 of which are considered actors and performers. <\/p>\n

\n\tDetails for those who will benefit are expected to go out in the coming weeks, as are some changes to the union\u2019s health plan, which has also been ruffling feathers since SAG-AFTRA agreed to deep cuts <\/a>in exchange for a much-needed infusion to the health fund in negotiations with the studios earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a video message Monday, SAG-AFTRA president Sean Astin tried to assuage concerns, admitting to \u201ca palpable disconnect between the work of this union and the lived experience of too many of our members.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI find myself thinking a great deal about the working-class actor who used to get hired consistently enough to build a life, someone who could earn a living, raise a family, maintain health coverage, and perhaps even retire with some measure of security,\u201d he said. \u201cPart of what once made that possible was residual income. For decades, it sustained actors and their families through the inevitable periods between jobs. Cable and then streaming steadily dismantled that system, and we\u2019ve spent years fighting to reclaim it. What we\u2019ve won back is substantial, but it\u2019s nowhere near what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSAG-AFTRA was bullish about implementing a streaming success bonus in 2023, as was the Writers Guild of America. It is one of several hot-button issues that led to a historically long, dual strike that lasted half the year. Since that contract was finalized, the unions have spent the last several years trying to actually put that bonus distribution into action, which is why performers are just now receiving checks from work released two years ago.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Deadline reported at the time, the success bonus has a very high threshold<\/a> that makes it difficult for most projects to qualify. For SAG-AFTRA, any title that surpasses the viewership threshold will trigger a payment to each principal performer equivalent to 100% of the fixed residual. However, the performer will only receive 75% of that payment; the other 25% will be funneled into a fund controlled by both SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP trustees to be distributed among the rest of the union\u2019s members. There\u2019s still no details, exactly, on how that 25% is being distributed and to whom \u2014 nor whether these distributions are included in the figures from SAG-AFTRA on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tAstin spent most of his 12-minute speech asking members to hold on a little longer, particularly in the face of some brutal upcoming maneuvers. At the end of October, SAG-AFTRA is returning to its regular membership policy, meaning members who are not caught up on their dues will be terminated. <\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, despite acknowledging that \u201cfew issues weigh more heavily on our members than health care,\u201d Astin had little else to say about that topic. In its memo about the national board plenary, the union noted some improvements for senior members with extensive retiree health credits, though it did not have anything to say about the mounting complaints from high-profile members about their difficulties qualifying and affording services in the first place.<\/p>\n

\n\tLast week, actor Drake Bell called out the union<\/a> after revealing he didn\u2019t have health insurance because he didn\u2019t qualify, having not hit the required $28,933 in annual union-contracted income.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDo not become an actor. Do not join SAG,\u201d Bell captioned his Instagram Stories post. \u201cYou can work steadily for 35 years and they will say [middle finger emoji].\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBell is not alone. Cecily Strong also recently lamented hikes in mental health coverage prices via the union\u2019s insurance plans earlier this year. Atypical actor Jack Haven and Princess Diaries star Heather Matarazzo also recently revealed they would lose their health insurance if they did not get more work soon.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter nearly losing access to his own insurance (and getting an unnamed role on CBS\u2019 Matlock to boost himself over the threshold), actor Cheyenne Jackson launched a social media initiative to spotlight other SAG-AFTRA performers at risk of losing their coverage. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m starting a little series called ONE JOB AWAY, spotlighting fellow actors who are close to qualifying for their SAG health insurance and could use a little help with that next booking,\u201d Jackson wrote in an Instagram post Monday. \u201cI\u2019ll share their faces, their work, and how to reach them. Casting directors, producers, friends making things\u2026 maybe your next hire is someone you meet here. Actors\u2026 DM me your info if you want to be featured.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHe says he\u2019s already received \u201chundreds\u201d of submissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAG-AFTRA is doing damage control as the actors\u2019 union is forced to confront how the ongoing domestic production…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":895749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[88,3801],"class_list":["post-895748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-sag-aftra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=895748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/895748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/895749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=895748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=895748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=895748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}