Mandy Moore says she received ’81-cent checks’ in residuals for her work on NBC hit This Is Us… amid SAG-AFTRA strike

Mandy Moore said she has received residual payments as low as 81 cents at a time, illustrating the uphill battle artists are facing amid the SAG-AFTRA strike for better wages and working conditions.

Moore, 39, spoke with the hollywood reporter while marching with his colleagues on the SAG-AFTRA picket line outside Disney Studios in Burbank, California on Tuesday.

“The residual problem is a big problem,” the Emmy-nominated actress told the outlet, noting that she has been sent “very small checks, like 81 cents” for passing on residuals for her work on the hit series.

The Nashua, New Hampshire native added: “I was talking to my business manager, who said he received a residual for one cent and two cents.”

Moore, who played the role of Rebecca Pearson in 106 episodes of NBC’s hit series from 2016 to 2022, explained how essential waste is amid what can be a difficult road for artists.

“We’re in incredibly lucky positions as actors working on shows that were hugely successful in one way or another,” Moore told the outlet. “But many players in our position for years before us were able to live off the waste or at least pay their bills.”

The broadcast rights to the show, which also starred Milo Ventimiglia, Sterling K. Brown, Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley, were acquired by Hulu in May 2017, amid competition with Amazon and Netflix.

The deal gave the service joint digital rights to air the series with its parent network, NBC.

The SAG-AFTRA strike is aimed at improving actor salaries, transparent broadcast royalties and restrictions on the implementation of artificial intelligence.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher spoke about the urgency of the strike, which comes after the Writers Guild of America (WGA) picketed in May.

“This is something very serious that affects thousands, if not millions of people across the country and around the world,” Drescher, 65, said at a news conference on Thursday amid stalled negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Drescher said the union had “no choice” but to go to the picket line, amid unprecedented levels of humiliation and financial exploitation facing players under the current agreement.

“We are the victims here,” he said. “We are being victimized by a very greedy entity.”

Moore played the role of Rebecca Pearson in 106 episodes of the hit NBC series from 2016 to 2022.

The Nashua, New Hampshire native added: “I was talking to my business manager, who said he received a residual for one cent and two cents.”

Moore previously participated in the picket line on Friday, where she was spotted with This Is Us castmates Chrissy Metz and Jon Huertas.

Moore previously participated in the picket line on Friday, where she was spotted with This Is Us castmates Metz and Jon Huertas. She called them “my forever family” in an accompanying Instagram Stories post.

Moore is one of several artists voicing their frustrations with current working conditions, which they say are outdated, while critical numbers are shrouded in secrecy.

Actor Sean Gunn, who played Kirk Gleason in 137 episodes of Gilmore Girls between 2000 and 2007, explained to the envelope on Sunday his frustrations with Netflix’s refusal to declare streaming numbers for that show and others they have on their platform.

He called the streaming giant’s unwillingness to release official numbers “utter nonsense” and “also unconscionable”, used as a game to avoid paying artists their fair share of residuals.

“You can be sure that when a corporation says, ‘We’re keeping this information under wraps,’ they’re screwing somebody,” Gunn said.

He added: “The old model used to be that when a show went into syndication, you got a little bit of money for all the views, for all the revenue that was made, and that changed completely.”

‘We see such a small percentage of that. Instead, that money now goes into bonuses for those CEOs and studio heads, and I think that’s [a] pity.’