If you wrote on a high-budget series or feature for an online subscription service that was covered by the 2014 MBA, this page provides information about how residuals for reuse on the SVOD (subscription video on demand) service are calculated. Programs written during the 2017 and 2020 MBA will also be covered by these terms if the license agreement was made prior to May 2, 2017 or writing for the first episode began before May 2, 2017.

HBSVOD Residuals – Platforms with 15 million or more Subscribers

Initial compensation paid to the credited writer of a high budget SVOD Program on a platform with 15 million or more subscribers includes one year of use worldwide on that platform. For each subsequent year of use on the platform, the writer receives a fixed residual payment that is determined by the exhibition year and the applicable network prime time residual base, which is based on episode length and credit. The tables below provide information on the residual bases and the percentage payment for each exhibition year.

The residuals are calculated by multiplying the residual base by the exhibition year percentage.

HBSVOD Residual Bases - 2014 MBA Programs
  5/2/14-5/1/15 5/2/15-5/1/16 5/2/16-5/1/17
and
2017 MBA
and
2020 MBA
30 Minutes or less
Story $5,247 $5,326 $5,406
Teleplay $8,520 $8,648 $8,778
Story & Teleplay $13,114 $13,311 $13,511
60 Minutes or less
Story $9,534 $9,677 $9,822
Teleplay $16,513 $16,761 $17,012
Story & Teleplay $23,837 $24,195 $24,558
75 Minutes or less
Story $13,574 $13,778 $13,985
Teleplay $24,031 $24,391 $24,757
Story & Teleplay $33,973 $34,483 $35,000
90 Minutes or less
Story $14,329 $14,544 $14,762
Teleplay $25,399 $25,780 $26,167
Story & Teleplay $35,824 $36,361 $36,906
120 Minutes or less
Story $18,777 $19,059 $19,345
Teleplay $33,689 $34,194 $34,707
Story & Teleplay $46,946 $47,650 $48,365
Exhibition Year Percentage for Programs covered by the 2014 MBA
Exhibition Year Percentage of Applicable Network
Prime Time Residual Base
Year 2 30.0%
Year 3 30.0%
Year 4 25.0%
Year 5 20.0%
Year 6 15.0%
Year 7 10.0%
Year 8 8.0%
Year 9 5.0%
Year 10 4.5%
Year 11 3.0%
Year 12 2.5%
Each Year thereafter 1.5%

HBSVOD Residuals – Platforms with fewer than 15 million Subscribers

Initial compensation paid to the credited writer(s) of a high budget SVOD program on a platform with FEWER than 15 million subscribers also covers one year of use worldwide on that platform. For each subsequent year of use on the platform, the fixed residual payment is 65% of the calculation for a service with 15 million or more subscribers.

Examples

If you wrote a one-hour episode for a CBS All Access series in the last year of the 2014 MBA, your residual for the second year of use would be calculated using the residual base of $24,558 multiplied by 30% for the exhibition year and then multiplied by 65% because CBS All Access has fewer than 15 million subscribers.

$24,558 x 30% x 65% = $4,788

If you wrote on a half-hour episode for a Netflix series in the first year of the 2017 MBA, but the series was licensed or first written during the 2014 MBA, your residual for the third year of use would be calculated using the residual base of $13,511 multiplied by 30% for the exhibition year.

$13,511 x 30% = $4,053

If you are looking for information about HBSVOD residuals under the 2017 or 2020 MBA, please click here.

Please contact the Guild Residuals Department for more details.