How do actors get paid on commercials?

Question:I want to make a commercial for my business that will air locally. I'm at the stage of hiring several non-union professional actors. I believe they get paid each time the ad airs. Do they get paid the same rate if the ad airs for the 500th time as the 1st time? also is there any upfront money involved for the production of the commercial? Also, i will be dealing with their agent. I'm sure they will get their cut. Are there any special considerations for recurring actors for future ads?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I want to make a commercial for my business that will air locally. I'm at the stage of hiring several non-union professional actors. I believe they get paid each time the ad airs. Do they get paid the same rate if the ad airs for the 500th time as the 1st time? also is there any upfront money involved for the production of the commercial? Also, i will be dealing with their agent. I'm sure they will get their cut. Are there any special considerations for recurring actors for future ads?

Usually a non-union actor works on a buy-out deal, and does not get residuals if the commercial is a non-union shoot. (You should contact the union to confirm whether your shoot is union or not; if it is, even if the actor is non-union they need to be paid union scale.)

Even without a full buy-out, the usual contract allows for a certain number of showings within a certain time period before the residual payments are made. And residual payments step down each time they're shown in each market--i.e. if it's a national spot, each time it's show in a certain market (like the northwest, east, etc.) the actor gets the full payment, then the second time less, etc. Again, this usually only applies to union actors.

As far as agent pay, usually a non-union actor pays the agent themselves. You would send the payment to the agent, and they deduct their 10% before they send the pay to the actor. (Some agents negotiate scale plus 10% for pay.)

Recurring actors for future ads? The only problem in that vein is if an actor becomes identified with a specific product, then does ads for another. For example, the "can you hear me now" guy will probably not get another commercial gig for a very, very long time. (Though I'm sure he's not worried about that; those commercials have made him very rich.)

ADD: Just wanted to make a correction to the first poster's statement that your actors would have to join AFTRA if you're doing an AFTRA shoot. They would be "Taft-Hartleyed," which means they don't have to join for that gig, and could do other union gigs for about a month, but after that they would have to join to do another AFTRA gig.

Are you working under an AFTRA contract? If so, the rates and such are on the AFTRA website. As for residuals, I believe that is something to be negotiated, so you can work that out with their agent.
Yes, an agent will take a 10-20% cut from the actors pay, so sometimes a production company will pay their actors x amount + 10% to cover that.
There is so upfront money, the actors get paid when they complete their work.
As for recurring actors - do you mean would you pay them differently if you used them again? I don't believe there's any requirement, again, it's something to be negotiated with the agent.
Basically, all terms of the contract can be negotiated except the minimum rates of the actors if you're working under AFTRA. Though, since you're working with Non-Union actors, these may not apply. If you are under AFTRA and are offering principal roles to non-union actors, they would have to join AFTRA.
It's all kind of confusing. For questions about contracts, residuals and rates, I would call your local AFTRA representative. They can give you some information about how much leeway you have in payments and then you can work with the agent.

Sounds like a non speaking role. On a 1 minute commercial as a add/extra you should expect to get around $600

On a 1 minute commercial as a add/extra you should expect to get around $600

Not all actors have agents and hiring non-union you should be able to negotiate a buy-out deal, therefore no residuals.

Anyone with more current experience please feel free to correct me... Non-union actors would not be working under an AFTRA contract, no?

Marianne