The actress spoke out about the SAG-AFTRA strike, revealing how little she gets when episodes are viewed on streaming platforms.
Mandy Moore, the Emmy-nominated star of This Is Us, has taken to the picket lines as part of the SAG-AFTRA strike, where she revealed just how little she makes from streaming residuals for the hit NBC family drama.
"I was talking with my business manager who said he’s received a residual for a penny and two pennies," Moore said while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, adding that she only gets "very tiny, like, 81-cent checks" for episodes of This Is Us that audiences are able to stream online.
Moore has been a SAG-AFTRA member since 1999, before she went on to break out on screen in the early 2000s hits, The Princess Diaries and A Walk to Remember. Since then, she has starred in everything from Saved! to 47 Meters Down to playing herself on Entourage before later earning her first Emmy nomination for This Is Us.
On the widely-watched series created by Dan Fogelman, Moore played Pearson matriarch, Rebecca, who raised three siblings, Kate, Kevin and Randall, with her husband, Jack, as the story jumped back and forth in time to show what happened to each family member in the past and present.
On July 13, actors officially went on strike, nearly bringing Hollywood to a stand still, after negotiations with major studios and streamers, which are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), fell apart over several key issues.
Among the actors' sticking points for a new agreement were improved compensation and benefits, residuals that reflect the value of their contributions amid the expansion of streaming services, regulated use of artificial intelligence and the issue of self-taped auditions.
"The residual issue is a huge issue," the actress said, explaining that "we’re in incredibly fortunate positions as working actors having been on shows that found tremendous success in one way or another … but many actors in our position for years before us were able to live off of residuals or at least pay their bills."
Following her interview, Moore took to Instagram "to bring a bit more clarity to a very nuanced issue."
"Striking isn’t fun. No one hoped it would come to this and I know everyone involved is hopeful for a resolution soon so folks can get back to work. The trickle-down effect felt across so many industries is already devastating. There are plenty of issues that are gumming up the wheels (transparency with data, wage increases, residuals, ai, etc…) and I spoke about one that happened to be top of my mind because of a conversation I’d been having while picketing," she wrote.
"I fully acknowledge the profoundly lucky and rarified position I’m in as an actor at this moment, one that I don’t take for granted and one I also don’t assume to be in forever. Ours is a fickle industry and in my 20+ years of being a performer, my career has ebbed and flowed. I’ve had very lean years where I couldn’t get a job and those are precisely the moments when in years past, actors could rely on residuals from their past work to help them get by. The world and business have changed and I’m hoping we can find a meaningful solution moving forward," she continued.
She concluded by adding, "I am one person- a tiny part of our guild- and while I am happy to use whatever platform my past jobs have given me to speak to issues affecting my fellow [SAG-AFTRA] family, I know my experience is my own. Here’s hoping we get a fair contract soon so we can get back to doing the jobs we all love and miss so much."
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