Yahoo News Kate Hudson Still Receives 10-Cent Residual Checks for ‘Home Alone 2’
Residuals aren’t what they used to be, apparently even if you’re A-list talent.
That’s what Kate Hudson revealed on her Sibling Revelry podcast on Monday while speaking about the minuscule checks she receives from her brief appearance as a child in the hit sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Hudson asked her guest, fellow actor Joey Lawrence, about being paid for his work in commercials as a child.
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“I still get residuals from Home Alone 2 because I sang in the chorus,” the Glass Onion star revealed. “I’m in that chorus, and then I get 10 cents every once in a while.”
Hudson, 44, was a preteen when she filmed the brief, very early career cameo for the Christmas comedy, which follows the McCallister family on a trip to New York. In the scene in question, her little-known appearance comes as a member of a holiday chorus alongside several of the McCallister kids.
On the podcast — which Hudson hosts with her brother, actor Oliver Hudson; Lawrence; and his brothers, Matthew and Andy — said they had no idea that she was in the ’90s classic starring Macaulay Culkin. Joey Lawrence, 47, who got his big break on the hit sitcoms Gimmie a Break and Blossom, told the hosts of a similar experience regarding payments for the dozens of ads in which he appeared as a child.
“Sometimes I’ll get, like, 2 cents. And I’m like, ‘Wait. Doesn’t the envelope and paper cost more?’” he joked.
“At least they’re being fair and honest,” Kate replied, referring to the companies that pay out the residuals — the long-term payments to actors, writers and others who work on movies and TV series each time a show runs on television.
Residual payments were a major sticking point during the recent actors and writers strikes. Traditionally pegged to factors including the size of a role, production budget and where the movie or series is now airing, the shift to streaming — where viewership numbers are kept secret — made residual payments a fraction of what they once were.
During the strike, actors shared examples of this decline. Orange Is the New Black’s Kimiko Glenn made a TikTok video that showed a mere $27 for foreign residuals. Residuals are supposed to land in mailboxes one to four months after air, and amounts are calculated and administered by unions like SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America.
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