Fran Drescher’s “Robin Hood fund” is finally getting off the ground, nearly two years after it was touted as a major win of the 2023 actors’ strike.
Actors’ union SAG-AFTRA announced on Friday the establishment of the SAG-AFTRA-Producers Success Bonus Distribution Fund, a mechanism that will allow a large pool of union performers to share in the success of top streaming projects. According to the union, trustees both from labor and management have agreed on the terms of the fund, which will offer “the first-ever secondary income stream to performers of successful made-for-streaming shows whose compensation was previously not directly linked to their show’s success.”
Many details of the fund’s distribution were not provided by the union on Friday, which said that additional information would be provided in the coming weeks. SAG-AFTRA’s announcement on the establishment of the bonus fund came shortly before the union announced the results of its national elections, with Sean Astin taking over as president from the departing Drescher.
That said, the labor group did disclose that performers who are eligible for the fund will include stand-ins, stunt riggers and background actors “with a significant connection to a qualifying project.” That marks the first time that these performers will receive reuse payments for their work.
The union also stated that the list of productions that are eligible for the fund has been expanded from the previous definition provided by the 2023 TV/theatrical contract, but did not offer specifics on what additional titles could be included.
“This is the last puzzle piece from the 2023 TV/Theatrical/Streaming contract. Successful SVOD shows on streaming channels will share their success with the SAG-AFTRA members performing on these shows,” Drescher said in a statement on Friday. “This historic triumph marks the end of my tenure.”
Added Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, “This fund reflects the vision and determination of President Drescher and our negotiating committee during the 2023 bargaining cycle, and now it’s delivering real results. It underscores our commitment to building innovative structures that provide real economic value for artists in the streaming age.”
SAG-AFTRA’s Friday announcement is far more specific than the initial communication around the fund. In 2023, the union stated that 75 percent of success payments triggered by high-performing streaming titles would go to performers on those shows while 25 percent would go to a larger group of union members that had yet to be determined.
“Subject to legal review, and subject to certain conditions, the parties will create a jointly trusteed fund to administer additional payments as streaming bonuses to be paid to performers on motion pictures made for initial exhibition on SVOD services using a distribution methodology to be determined by the trustees,” the union’s summary of the deal stated at the time.
Drescher had intended the fund to be a means of distributing the spoils of the streaming era among a large group of union members, as THR reported at the time. The fund was “designed to share the wealth among more actors — even those who aren’t working on the shows and films that generated it,” THR reported.
Now, the union appears to be saying that the larger pool of performers that will receive distributions from the fund are non-principal performers on those successful streaming shows. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to SAG-AFTRA for comment.
With Drescher’s term as SAG-AFTRA president ending, Astin and the union’s new leadership will have oversight of the fund going forward. The union’s next round of contract negotiations with studios and streamers is likely to begin in the near future, as the current deal that ended the 2023 strike expires June 30, 2026.