SAG actors and non-SAG

Gohanto

Gohanto

New member
Quick question, though probably a dumb one...

I have an upcoming short which I really want a local actor to play the lead in (student theater actor and non-SAG), but for another role there's an LA actor I'm looking at who is SAG.

My current understanding is the only way to make this work is have the SAG actor request as waiver to work on the project. Is that correct?
 
No. You need to get a SAG short film contract and shoot under that. That way your SAG actor has nothing to worry about.
 
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So not EVERY actor needs to be SAG on the film. Thanks guys.

Couple questions about the contract

What's a prior lien?
Does the $100/day minimum include rehearsals?
I think I meet all the requirements they ask for, but is there a huge risk in talking to agents before hearing back from SAG about if you're cleared?
 
It seems that you're looking at the "Low Budget" contract by the questions you're asking. The "Short Film" contract is different. There's no minimum pay for one thing.

And, from the workshop, as long as you get your contract back to them for approval within 4 to 6 weeks, you should be fine, unless you're doing some sort of bizarre short or someone would be in danger or something. They'll give you a "SAG" number for your records and most people usually use that for pointing out that it's a SAG contracted project.
 
Tom Marshall said:
It seems that you're looking at the "Low Budget" contract by the questions you're asking. The "Short Film" contract is different. There's no minimum pay for one thing.
Click to expand...
That's not entirely true. There is a minimum compensation of $100/day which can at the agreement of the producer and actor be deferred, so in that case, you don't have to actually pay them anything as long as you don't end up with some sort of distribution contract.

Regarding the prior lien; they want to make sure no one else has claim on the short, they want to be in first position regarding liens.

lien |ˈlē(ə)n|
noun Law
a right to keep possession of property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is discharged.
 
Thanks for the help again. The other questions I had is what constitutes days worked? Meaning if I worked out a day rate for an actor, does that same day rate apply if we're just rehearsing and not shooting? And does it apply to days spent in travel?

I'm sure this varies a bit between contracts, I'm just trying to get a handle on what's "normal" first.
 
Watching reels and previous work. Some prefer to audition all roles, but I consider myself pretty good at watching a reel and seeing if they'll work for the role or not. Granted that doesn't always work and something a role so different that I need to see them read the lines, but for this short I found people for all the roles like that.

And anyone know the answer to my other question? About if a day-rate is generally charged for rehearsal time and/or travel time?
 
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