‘Josie and the Pussycats’ Singer Has Been Cut Out of Residuals Due to a Clerical Error Since 2009

Photo Credit: Kay Hanley by Gage Skidmore / CC by 3.0

Kay Hanley, the singing voice of Josie in 2001’s Josie and the Pussycats, has received less than $1,500 in residuals—and has received none since 2009.

Letters to Cleo frontwoman Kay Hanley, whose singing voice was given to Rachael Leigh Cook in 2001’s Josie and the Pussycats film, says she’s only received around $1,500 in residuals in the 25 years since the movie premiered—and none at all since 2009.

Hanley admits that the proper paperwork wasn’t filed with SAG when the film was made, and she didn’t fully understand the scope of the error until well after the statute of limitations had passed. The matter illustrates a key issue raised during the writer-actor strikes in 2023—residuals in the streaming era are a confusing mess.

“We just weren’t thinking about SAG contracts. I was supposed to be getting day sheets that were reported to the union, and I was supposed to be compensated with a daily union scale. None of that was a conversation,” said Hanley. “But I had an absolute blast.”

The singer says she was on set for one day, so she was paid what a regular extra would be paid, despite her role in the production being significantly more extensive. In all, she estimates that her work on the film took about a month.

Unfortunately, so many years after the fact, Hanley says it’s been nearly impossible to try to prove to the union that she should be paid.

“What SAG wants from me now is pay stubs and documentation of time in the studio, which I don’t have,” she says. “I probably had paper airline tickets. There’s no way I can document that any of this happened, except: Watch the fucking movie, duh. That’s my voice coming out of Rachael Leigh Cook’s mouth.”

Hanley notes that, for comparison, her contributions to the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You have earned her around $50,000 in residuals since its premiere. That film was an immediate hit, as opposed to Josie’s cult status after the fact, but Hanley says it’s taken her 25 years to fully understand the scope of what she’s missed out on from the latter.

As a result, she says she will soon have to pay more for health insurance and will be forced to take her son off her plan. “If I can miss these things, I can’t imagine how widespread [this issue] is.”

“My simple advice for anyone in this industry is to make sure you’re filling out your SAG paperwork. The voice-over studio should be presenting you with your paperwork every day if you’re doing voice-over,” she explains.

“I’m familiar with my rights. And yet I’m fighting every day to make sure all of my songs are registered correctly and I’m getting paid for them,” Hanley concludes. “Learn from me.”