Home Video Royalty

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Home Video Royalty
In one sentenceA common contract rule where only a small slice, often around 20 percent, of home video earnings actually count toward what talent are paid on.
CategoryFilm and Television
RelatedHome Video, Royalty, Gross Receipts

Imagine selling copies of a board game you helped design, but your contract only counts 20 cents of every dollar earned as your "real" sales figure, with the store keeping the rest of that dollar counted separately as its own cost of doing business.

A home video royalty provision works similarly. It typically states that only a percentage, often around 20 percent, of Home Video earnings gets included in Gross Receipts for the purpose of calculating someone's Royalty or participation, with the rest kept by the distributor to cover the costs of manufacturing and selling physical copies.

Fun facts

  • This rule can make home video earnings look much smaller in a participation statement than the movie's actual home video sales might suggest.
  • The exact percentage used for home video royalty calculations is often heavily negotiated in a talent's contract.
  • This kind of provision is a good example of why reading the fine print in a film contract matters so much, since it directly shapes how much money ends up being shared.