The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) & American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) are holding money for thousands of performers whose residuals checks – royalties earned from television and film performances both foreign and domestic – have gone unclaimed. The Unclaimed Residuals Fund now totals $76 million owed 124,000 performers.
Residuals go unclaimed if an outdated address is on file, or if the legal beneficiary to a deceased performer’s estate is unknown. SAG processes over 1.5 million residuals payments annually, and because residuals are paid well into the future, keeping track of performers owed funds is a cumbersome task. A number of well known personalities are on the unclaimed residuals payment list.
Performers may also be entitled to receive other payments, including:
- Coogan Trust Funds: By law, 15% of earnings paid to minors are held in an Actors Fund trust account.
- Foreign Royalties: Foreign royalties are collected as a result of laws in other countries, which provide for payments to artists in audiovisual works to compensate for private copying.
- Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund: These monies, collected by SoundExchange, arise from the Digital Performance Royalty Act (DPRA) and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Included are royalties from digital subscription services, webcasting, and other digital services. Sources are royalties on Sound Recordings owed non-featured musicians and vocalists; AudioVisual royalties arising from usage in motion pictures; royalties due Symphony, Opera & Ballet Musicians & Vocalists.
If you – either as an actor, musician, performer or heir – are entitled to unclaimed residuals as a result of a television or film appearance, complete the form below:
