Child actors working under a SAG-AFTRA contract earn at least $1,246 for a day of film or television work as of mid-2026, but how much child actors get paid overall spans a wide range: a few hundred dollars on a non-union independent film, standard union scale for a day player, or tens of thousands per episode for an established series regular. The headline rate is only the starting point. Commissions, a mandatory trust deposit, and payroll taxes all come out before a family sees any of the money.
Union Scale for Film and Television
Productions that have signed a SAG-AFTRA collective bargaining agreement must pay performers at least the contractual minimum, called “scale.” Age doesn’t change the number. A child booked as a day player earns the same contractual floor as an adult in the same category.
For the contract year running July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026, the principal-performer minimums are:
- Day player: $1,246 per day on a theatrical film or television episode.
- Weekly player: $4,326 for a five-day workweek.1AMPTP. 2023-26 SAG-AFTRA Agreement Wage Tables
Series Regulars
A child cast as a series regular earns a per-episode fee. The floor depends on the length of the show and how many episodes are guaranteed. For a half-hour series with a full 13-episode guarantee, the minimum is $4,326 per episode. A one-hour drama with the same guarantee runs $5,205 per episode. Guaranteeing fewer episodes actually raises the per-episode floor: a one-hour series with only six guaranteed episodes starts at $6,792 per episode.2SAG-AFTRA. Current Television Rate Sheet
Those are floors. As a show gains traction, representatives renegotiate well above scale, and high-profile child leads on hit network or streaming shows can earn six figures per episode. Those deals are individually negotiated and never appear in the union rate sheets.
Background Actors
Children hired as extras earn far less. For the same period, a general background actor makes $224 per day, with those doing special-ability work or standing in earning an additional $28 per hour.3SAG-AFTRA. Background Actors Rate Breakdown Sheet The trade-off is less screen time and no lines, but background work can be a steady income source for young performers building experience.
Scale Plus Ten
Many union performers negotiate a rate called “scale plus ten,” where the production pays 10% above the contractual minimum to cover the agent’s commission. The child receives the full scale amount and the extra 10% goes directly to the agent, so the base pay isn’t reduced by commission.4SAG-AFTRA. Frequently Asked Questions Whether it applies depends on the contract and the local SAG-AFTRA office rules.
Commercial Pay
Commercials pay differently from film and television. A performer earns a session fee for the day of filming, then separate usage fees each time the commercial airs or is distributed. For the contract year running April 2025 through March 2026, an on-camera principal in a standard commercial earns a session fee starting around $822.5SAG-AFTRA. 2025 SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract Rate Sheets – Year 1 Beginning April 1, 2026, those rates go up 4%.6SAG-AFTRA. Summary of New Provisions 2025 SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract
The session fee is the small part. A national network commercial in heavy prime-time rotation generates a new usage payment for each cycle it airs, and those payments accumulate. A single national spot can produce thousands of dollars beyond the initial recording session, which makes commercials one of the highest-earning categories for young performers relative to time on set.
Residuals
Residuals are payments made when a project is replayed, re-licensed, or distributed through new channels after its initial release. On union work they can continue for years and sometimes outpace the original pay.
When a television episode reruns on network or cable, performers receive a residual calculated as a percentage of their original fee. The percentage decreases with each subsequent airing, but a show that enters syndication and airs repeatedly across many markets can produce substantial cumulative income.
Streaming was a central issue in the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, and the resulting contract set specific formulas. When a subscriber-based platform licenses a program, the producer pays performers an aggregate residual equal to 3.6% of the license fee.7SAG-AFTRA. 2021-2024 SAG-AFTRA National Code of Fair Practice for Network Television Broadcasting For paid permanent downloads, residuals run at 5.4% of 20% of the distributor’s gross on the first 100,000 units, rising to 10.5% of 20% after that.
Individual residual checks range from a few cents to thousands of dollars depending on platform, viewership, and licensing terms. They arrive periodically as long as the content keeps being distributed. Over time, residuals from a successful project can become the most financially significant part of a child actor’s compensation.
Non-Union and Digital Projects
Non-union productions sit outside SAG-AFTRA’s rate structure, and pay varies enormously. Independent films commonly offer flat fees of $100 to $500 per day depending on budget and role size. These contracts typically lack overtime protections, mandatory rest periods, and guaranteed minimums. Payment is usually a simple daily buyout covering all services for the shoot day.
Digital media adds another layer. Social media ads, branded YouTube content, and influencer partnerships often pay a one-time flat fee for a specific deliverable rather than a daily rate. A child with a large following might earn several hundred dollars for a sponsored post or a few thousand for a multi-video campaign. Those fees are driven by follower count and engagement rather than any industry schedule.
Some smaller digital productions offer profit-sharing arrangements where the child receives a percentage of advertising revenue or backend profits. Those payments are unpredictable and depend entirely on how the content performs. Without a union contract behind them, performers have fewer options if the production fails to pay what was promised.
What Comes Out of the Check
The advertised rate is not the take-home rate. Several deductions apply to every dollar a child earns.
The Coogan Trust Set-Aside
California and roughly half a dozen other states require employers to place 15% of a child performer’s gross earnings into a blocked trust account, commonly called a Coogan account after the child actor Jackie Coogan, whose parents spent nearly all his childhood earnings. The child cannot access the funds until turning 18.8California Legislative Information. California Code, Family Code, CH 940 (1999)
The employer, not the parent, is legally responsible for making the deposits. Under California’s framework, the employer must transfer the funds within 15 business days of receiving the trustee’s account information. A parent or guardian opens the account at a qualifying financial institution and provides the details to the production company. When the child turns 18, they can access the trust by presenting a certified copy of a birth certificate or U.S. passport to the institution holding it.9SAG-AFTRA. Coogan Law Full Text Before then, withdrawals generally require a court order.
Residual payments count as earnings under these laws too, so the 15% set-aside applies each time a residual check arrives. The blocked trust keeps growing as long as the project generates revenue.
Agent and Manager Commissions
Talent agents typically take 10% of earnings they help secure. Talent managers, who handle broader career strategy and day-to-day coordination, usually charge 10% to 15%. A child with both can lose 20% to 25% of gross pay to commissions before taxes or other deductions.
Under a scale-plus-ten deal, the production covers the agent’s 10% on top of the base rate, so the child’s minimum stays intact. Once a performer negotiates above-scale pay, commissions revert to standard percentages drawn from the performer’s own earnings.
Payroll Taxes and Income Tax
Child actors employed by production companies are W-2 employees. The employer withholds federal and state income taxes, Social Security at 6.2%, and Medicare at 1.45% from each paycheck.10Internal Revenue Service. Family Employees Age doesn’t matter when the employer is a corporation or production entity rather than the child’s own parent.
A child who earns enough during the year must file a federal tax return, even if the parents claim them as a dependent. The 2026 minimum floor for the dependent standard deduction is $1,350, and any child earning union scale for even a few days will cross that threshold.
Money sitting in a Coogan trust or other investment account generates unearned income: interest, dividends, and capital gains. For 2026, a child’s unearned income above $2,700 is taxed at the parents’ marginal rate rather than the child’s typically lower rate.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 1 Tax Imposed This “kiddie tax” applies to children under 18 and to some full-time students up to age 23.12Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 8615 Parents report it on IRS Form 8615, filed with the child’s return.
One deduction is not available. Families often spend on headshots, acting classes, coaching, and audition travel, none of which the employer reimburses. Before 2018, W-2 employees could deduct unreimbursed job expenses as an itemized deduction. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated that deduction, and 2025 legislation made the change permanent. As of 2026, child actors classified as employees cannot deduct any of these professional expenses on their federal return.
What a Day’s Work Actually Nets
Stack all the deductions against a single day at union scale. A child earns the day-player minimum of $1,246 and has both an agent and a manager:
- Coogan trust set-aside at 15%: $186.90 into the blocked account.
- Agent commission at 10%: $124.60.
- Manager commission at 15%: $186.90.
- Social Security and Medicare at 7.65%: about $95.30.
- Federal and state income tax withholding: another $100 to $200 depending on annual earnings and state.
What’s left for immediate use is somewhere between $450 and $550, roughly 35% to 45% of the gross figure. The Coogan money isn’t lost, just waiting until the child turns 18. But for a family budgeting around a child’s acting income in real time, the effective take-home is well below the headline rate.
Children who book recurring roles or commercials with heavy airplay come out much further ahead over time, because residuals accumulate and compound the value of the original work. A single national commercial or recurring television role can generate residual income for years, building the Coogan trust and producing periodic checks that extend well beyond the initial shoot days.