Streaming residuals are even more dire than anyone previously expected.
Jezy Gray, the actor who plays the secretary of William Hale (Robert De Niro) in Martin Scorsese’s 2023 crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, posted on Twitter/X that all of their recent residual checks have only amounted to $10.
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“Please my family is starving,” the actor jokingly said in a post as they shared a picture of their last check. Their post was quote-tweeting a report from Jordan Ruimy that Apple TV+, the company that bankrolled the movie and released it in theaters, doesn’t plan to release the film on physical media.
For those unaware, “residuals” are commissions paid to actors, writers, directors, and film crew members after a movie or TV series is licensed for television re-runs, syndication, DVD or Blu-Ray release, or licensing to streaming.
Any time a movie, TV show, or even a product commercial is seen again by somebody somewhere, everyone involved in the work gets a bit of money.
Since Apple has no plans to release KotFM anywhere but their own service, they aren’t required to pay the cast and crew much money.
Gray also said that the first few checks (when the movie was in theaters) were “pretty good but the rest have all been crumbs.”
Social media users were shocked seeing Gray’s insanely small check.
One user remarked that “a friend was in a 2010 ‘twilight’ tie-in burger king commercial and is still pulling hundreds in monthly residuals and my friends in streaming are constantly 5 days away from homelessness.”
Another user said “I did a voice in a Spider-Man movie in 2010 or something and my residuals are more than that. F—ing streaming!!!!!”
When one user asked how Gray is losing money on the checks, instead of responding with the real answer—taxes, insurance, and the like—they instead decided to reply with a joke. “Did a bad job in the movie :(,” Gray said.
Gray finished their thread off with one final joke: “OK too many people liking this. Don’t need the whole world knowing I’m a broke b—h.”
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