{original post had no questions}

The information on residuals is not correct. NO ONE was aske to
give up residuals on season 5 forever. That simply never took place.

To explain:

There are different residuals formulas for the various forms of
TV. The best one is for network, where the fee paid per rerun is quite
high; then you have syndication, which starts at a much lower level;
then there is the basic cable residual, which is lowest of all. In
year 5, B5 is going from syndication to basic cable. That means it
must now use the basic cable residuals formula. But the cast had to be
informed of this, and agree to it, otherwise there could not BE a fifth
season.

The basic cable deal is spelled out very clearly in the Screen
Actors Guild (SAG) agreement, which is standard for all parts of the
Industry. The rule is that the amount paid to an actor over
double-scale is *credited against* residuals. Once that amount is
earned out, the residuals come again. That is standard for basic cable.
(The closest parallel would be a print author, who is paid an advance
against royalties; once that advance is earned out, the royalties come
to the author.)

So to make it clearer: let's say for the sake of argument that
scale is $5,000 per episode. (It isn't that exact figure, but I don't
have the SAG book in front of me; still, that's close.) Double scale
would be $10,000 per episode. So if an actor is paid, let's say,
$12,000 per episode, then $2,000 over double scale per episode is
credited against residuals, for a total of $44,000. That amount would
get burned through pretty fast, and then the actor would again start
getting residuals.

That was the situation explained to *all* the actors. NO ONE
was asked to permanently give up S5 residuals. That simply never
happened, and *could not* happen under SAG rules. And the rule as
specified above can be verified in the SAG agreement.

BTW...it was stated to Claudia's people that WB *could* drop her
down to 18 episodes if she wanted to be paid for only those 18
episodes, but her reps demanded that she should be paid for all 22
regardless, and didn't take that deal.

You must understand that this sort of thing is common. For
instance, when Stephen Furst wanted to do fewer episodes so that he
could appear as a regular in the sitcom "Misery Loves Company," he
said, "Look, I really want to do this, so if you could cut me down to,
say, 8 episodes, and just pay me for those 8 instead of the contracted
13, that'd be great." And that deal was made, and made quickly. If an
actor wants to be reduced in the number of episodes, but still be paid
for the full number, that makes things difficult for a studio to go
along with.

And as of now, it's a moot point. The boat has left the pier.
This is no longer an issue that can be altered. She opted out, for her
own reasons. Heck, that was announced in the trades long before we knew
what was going on. We have had no choice but to move on.

jms