Who benefits from residuals? Not just the writers!
I don’t generally read the Huffington Post blog site, and even more rarely recommend it, but there’s a very good OP-ED peice on who benefits from the WGA strike, and it’s not only the writers! Susan Savage, SAG member, writes in response to a friend’s gripe against the strike:
“Very few (below the line) people in our business get Residual Income (actors, writers…who else?). The rest of us slug it out on an hourly basis, and if we don’t get the hours - we’re screwed!”
But although residuals aren’t paid directly to the members of I.A.T.S.E, Teamsters Local 399 or the Basic Crafts Unions, they work under a pension & health plan that is entirely funded by their AMPTP employers through residuals. This is a hidden side of residuals that would continue to fund retirement and health care for all the talented workers who actually make the films we enjoy and pay for. As Susan Savage writes:
This strike is not just about writers; it’s about all of us. Or at least anyone who wants to make a living in this business. And as my dear, but angry friend of 20 years said, “There would be no film or television if ANY of our crafts (camera, electric, wardrobe, hair & makeup, etc. etc.) were eliminated from the business.” And I agree with him. A 100%! But I would also say to my friend, there would be nothing for him to shoot, and nothing for me to say, if not for writers. There would be no stories without them, and hence, no work for any of us without writers.
Read the whole post here!
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