Do actors get a one time payment on doing commercials or do they get an easy $50,000 for each time it gets ?

Question

Aired ?

Say if Shaquelle gets $7 million dollars just drinking a Coke ,does he get an additional $50,000 for each time the commerical is played .

Answer 1

Usually the person in the commercial gets a payment for doing the commercial and then receives royalties each time the commercial is aired. The royalties are no where near what they are paid for being in the commercial, but it adds up since the commercial is run many, many times, but it usually only airs for a short period of time.

Answer 2

An actor gets paid for his time to do the commercial, then most of them get residuals, if it's specified in their contract.

"Residuals" are payments actors get when their image and/or voice are used again and again, and they get paid each time. Someone well known and in the business a long time knows to ask for residuals. A beginner doing a small commercial might get paid only once, but then it might be more than he would get if he would have asked for residuals. The agent should advise on that.

"Royalties" are what an author gets paid when someone uses his work. For instance, if a song is used in a movie, the songwriters, etc., get royalties for that. If a high school puts on a play, they have to pay royalties to the author of the play each time they perform that play.

Every wonder why many restaurants make up their own birthday song to sing for people? If they sing "Happy Birthday to You", technically they would be required by law to pay residuals to Patty Hill and Mildred Hill, the writers of that song, because it would be a "performance", and residuals must be paid when someone's work is used for a performance! It's a performance that's included with your paid meal.

Feel free to sing it at your home as much as you want. Nobody is paying you to sing it, right?



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