An actor appears in a television show. When that show is aired, every time it is broadcast, the actor is paid a certain amount. That’s about the limit of my understanding of it, and I may be wrong.
Is the amount of money specified by the actor’s contract, or by the actor’s union?
What happens if the actor dies? For instance, would John Ritter (as a television actor) still have royalties paid, in his name, to his estate? What about Heath Ledger (as a film actor) for his role in the “Batman” sequel: will his estate get residuals for his appearance on television?
What about child actors? Since they can’t legally sign contracts, I assume any contract is in the parents’ name, then renegotiated when the kids turn 18. Does the parent still get the residuals from the time when the child was a minor?
How does it work if the parents have twins? Twins are often used as baby stand-ins, because although one infant can only work for a few hours, two identical babies can effectively work twice as long. Does each twin have a contract or is there one contract covering both?
A complex question, and one that is subject to both union rules and whatever your agent can negotiate. Until recently, residuals were only paid for the first few reruns. After that, the actors, writers, etc. got nothing. That’s why syndication rights for old TV shows were so cheap. Now, the union has renegotiated these rights to include more reruns, changes in medium, and stuff like that. IIRC, Audrey Meadows was one of the first to negotiate long-standing residuals for The Honeymooners, so she made bank on all the reruns.
My brother-in-law was in an episode of Miami Vice many (many) moons ago. From what I understand, every once in a while he receives a check for some piddling amount (like $5.00 or something) because somebody played his episode. It’s also possible that I understand it all entirely wrong.
As an amusing aside, the director of the professional choir I sing in once sang for a Christmas album being put out by a relatively obscure group. Given the choice between a one time paycheck and a share of the royalties, he decided to take the one time payout. After all, how many Christmas albums would this Mannheim Steamroller group sell, anyway…