Residuals Chart Available

Residuals are complex. Flummoxed by formulas? Most people are. Whether it’s 1.2% of gross, 100% of TAM, or the complexities of new media, it’s easy to find your knickers in a twist if you spend more than a few minutes puzzling over this stuff.

Puzzle no longer — or, at least, not as much as before. I’ve managed to compress most of the guild and union residuals formulas onto a single page color chart. A second page gives cross references to the actual sections and paragraphs of the guild and union agreements themselves. That means you can look up the actual contract language and marvel at its opacity.

The chart’s not available in stores, but it is free, and suitable for framing. You could also laminate it for a nice placemat. Get your copy here: http://jhandel.com/residuals (check back from time to time for updates). Feel free to print, email and distribute. And let me know if you have corrections or comments.

———————

Subscribe to my blog (jhandel.com) for more about entertainment law and digital media law. Go to the blog itself to subscribe via RSS or email. Or, follow me on Twitter, friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Huffington Post articles. If you work in tech, check out my book How to Write LOIs and Term Sheets.

SAG Approves Joint Bargaining with AFTRA

The Screen Actors Guild national board this morning approved an agreement to hold joint negotiations with AFTRA with the studio alliance (AMPTP) later this year, for 45 days starting on October 1. That was the date for SAG and the AMPTP to begin early negotiations. Now it will be SAG and AFTRA jointly meeting with the AMPTP. The vote was expected, and was by a strong margin: 78% to 22%, according to a SAG spokeswoman.

This is good news for the industry, and dramatically reduces the possibility of further labor disturbance in the upcoming negotiating cycle. AFTRA’s national board approved joint bargaining three weeks ago, on February 27, so all that remains is presumably finalizing the text of the joint bargaining agreement and then signing on the dotted line.

AFTRA and the AMPTP had no comment.

A Membership First crowd of demonstrators outside the SAG meeting was minimal – about 20 to 25 people by reports from non-MF sources. Emails to MF were not immediately returned.