An entertainment lawyer with several years of legal expertise, Steven C. Beer practices at the New York office of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, LLP, and serves as the firm's national chair for its entertainment, media, and sports practice. Steven C. Beer concentrates his practice on film, television, and music, among other entertainment matters.

Sometimes called residuals, royalties are an arrangement in the entertainment industry that involves paying a certain amount of money to actors when shows are played in reruns, streamed online, released on DVD, or sold in syndication. In the TV industry, actors receive royalties on reruns (the number of times a show is broadcasted).

The amount paid for each rerun gradually decreased until it was reduced to 5 percent of the original fee. According to WYTV.com, royalties typically fall to five percent on the 13th reruns of shows. Royalty payment cannot go under five percent, no matter the number of additional reruns.

All principal actors in a show are entitled to royalties. Background actors are not principal actors, and they can't receive royalty payments. The standard definition of a principal actor is a person who plays a speaking role on camera. There are some exceptions to this rule. For example, a principal actor may perform a significant level of acting in a movie without speaking. On the other hand, background actors act as fillers to make shows appear more realistic. Typical examples of background actors in movies are casual people walking down the street.