I need to talk about residuals.
If you're an actor, you know what they are. You do the work, and if that work keeps generating value — if it keeps streaming, keeps airing, keeps selling — you get paid for it. That's the deal. That's always been the deal.
Except it's not the deal anymore.
The streaming era changed everything. The backend money that used to sustain working actors between gigs has been systematically dismantled. The studios found ways to restructure contracts, buy out residuals upfront for pennies, and move to models where your work generates revenue for decades but you get paid once.
SAG-AFTRA fought hard in the 2023 strike. They won some ground back. But let's be honest — for most working actors, residual income is a fraction of what it used to be. The cheques that used to cover rent between jobs now barely cover a meal.
What this has to do with a self-tape app
When I was building Self-e-Tape, I kept thinking about the economics of being an actor in 2026.
You need tools to compete. Good tools cost money. And you're competing against actors who might have more resources — better equipment, dedicated spaces, human readers on call. The playing field isn't level, and the tools that could level it are another monthly expense on top of everything else.
So I started thinking: what if the app could actually put money back in actors' pockets? Not through some corporate CSR initiative or a discount code. Through a real, ongoing revenue share. Through residuals.
How the Residuals Program works
It's simple.
You use Self-e-Tape. You like it. You tell a friend about it. When they subscribe, you earn 10% of their subscription — every month, for as long as they're a subscriber.
That money first goes toward reducing your own subscription. Refer enough friends and you'll never pay for Self-e-Tape. Ever.
Once your subscription is covered, the extra accumulates as cash. When you hit $100, you can cash out. Or keep it growing.
That's it. No tiers, no complicated point systems, no "credits" that expire. Ten percent. Real money. Every month.
Why 10%
We did the math. A lot of it.
10% is the number where the economics work for everyone. It's enough that referring 10 friends covers your subscription completely — that's meaningful. It's not so much that it threatens our ability to keep building the app.
And it's flat. Whether you refer 1 person or 100, the rate is the same. I didn't want a tiered system where you have to game your way to a higher percentage. That felt like the opposite of what this program should be.
Why "residuals"
Because that's what they are.
You do the work of telling people about something you believe in. And as long as that work keeps generating value — as long as your referrals keep subscribing — you keep getting paid for it.
It's the same principle the entertainment industry was built on. We're just applying it to a community of actors instead of a studio's balance sheet.
And honestly? Calling it anything else felt dishonest. "Referral program" is what tech companies call it. "Affiliate program" is what influencer marketplaces call it. We're actors. We call it what it is.
The early adopter rate
This is important: 10% is the rate for early adopters. If you join the Residuals Program during our launch period, you keep that rate for life. We may adjust it later for new sign-ups, but the people who believed in us early get rewarded for it.
Because that's how residuals should work. The people who were there from the beginning shouldn't get less because the show got bigger.
What I hope this becomes
I'm not naive about this. A self-tape app referral program isn't going to replace what the industry has taken from actors. I know that.
But I keep thinking about the actor in their second year out of school, the one who's auditioning three times a week and bartending four nights. If they tell ten friends about an app they already use, and that covers a monthly expense? That matters.
And if they tell thirty friends and start getting a cheque? That matters more.
Actors have huge communities. We're in classes together, on sets together, in shows together, at workshops together. We talk about our tools constantly. The fact that nobody has built a way for those conversations to put money back in actors' pockets is, honestly, kind of wild.
So that's what we're doing.
Philip Riccio is an actor, director, and the Artistic Director of The Company Theatre in Toronto. He built Self-e-Tape because actors deserve better tools, and he built the Residuals Program because actors deserve to be paid for their work.