Nonunion using SAG actors

T

ToTheBack

Active member
Hey guys,

I'm in the casting stages for a low budget feature film and got curious about something after talking with the AD about it. The producers are trying to keep the film nonunion but there's a SAG actor about to break out that wants to do the film (it's a co-starring role) after meeting with the director a few months back. The actor is full SAG but he mostly does a lot of nonunion web videos that actually pay his bills since SAG doesn't care about those. When talking with the AD about the situation, he mentioned that there's a quasi-loophole in SAG that sprang up after the SAG/AFTRA merger where a SAG actor can sign a waiver allowing him to work a nonunion gig and it's limited to a few times a year or something. AFTRA allowed them to nonunion before the merger and seemed to be a holdover from that. I got curious about it and wanted to see if this was actually true, if you guys know what the deal is, or if there's faults in there somewhere. They wanna keep it nonunion since the ULB SAG agreement has a ton of restrictions in the distribution stage but I'm curious about it.

What do you guys think?
 
Sag has global rule one and aftra has "no contract/no work"(basically you don't work for an employer who hasn't signed a contract with the union). When the unions(guilds) merged they could not come to terms with the differences in how these two rules have been enforced so they agreed that sag would cover traditional sag areas with global rule one and aftra's 'no contract/no work" rule would apply to where traditionally aftra had control. The problem is that aftra never punished members for working in non union shops like cnbc. They would just call them "non-jurisdictional" and let members work in the nonunion broadcast jobs. The unions stated positions would be for members never to act in a nonunion film as a principle performer. As a holdover from the screen extras guild and sag merger, members can appear as background players (not speaking parts or principle parts) in nonunion films. Other exceptions would be for non-U.S. sag actors to appear in film and tv in a non-english language film or tv program outside the u.s.. Ficore would be another exception for sag actors (dues paying non members) to act in nonunion films. I would be surprised if sag is allowing members to sign a waiver and act in a couple of nonunion films a year . Hopefully someone could correct anything that I have wrong.
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It such a shame that Untions are necessary - too bad life isn't fair to begin with, right? :(

Just imagine if every employer paid people what they were worth and treated them airily, how much better this world would be. Of course Unions are a pain in the ass, but it's because without them people get raped.

I come from an aviation background. Even with a union we get screwed. Ive been a pilot for 24 years and I still have to compete with new young pilots who are willing to fly for next to nothing to build time and experience, or older folks who retired form being police officers or something similar and now with a full pension decided to fly because it was always their dream - and are willing to fly for free because they love it. Pilots have a saying "there is always someone out there that is willing to do your job for less money / benefits than you".... and I assume the same goes for actors.

Of course, do I think that they should have to get a trailer, etc etc - no, but hey, these guys have the money- deep deep pockets who make tens of millions (or more) using the actors talents.... if ever there was a time to get a big paycheck this is it! right?

But still, we are in the land of the free and home of the brave, and an organization can/will stop you from doing what you want to do,, thats BS too, isn't it? thoughts anyone?
 
Ultimately, it's up to the actor. Yes SAG/AFTRA has these rules governing their members. If you shoot an non-union film and SAG actor works on it, it's on them. SAG has NO repercussions against the film. The only person they have any repercussions against is the actor... up to and including termination from the union.

There are no waivers from these union rules on the part of the actor. There are "waivers" for non-union members to work on union films. After an individual acts in a background role capacity and obtains three "SAG Waivers" (either through 3 projects or 3 days on one project), or has a principal part for 1 day in a union production, they are then "SAG-eligible" and are forced to join SAG/AFTRA should they want to work on another union project. The term "waiver" in these circumstances is a waiver to the production, where their requirement to only employee union members is waived, should they not be able to fulfill all roles with union members, because there aren't enough available.
 
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Getting permission as an alien to work as a performer in the US is not by any means automatic, as they want evidence that the role could not be done by a US citizen, and you also now have to be an established international artiste. If the job is your first US job, you won't be eligible, and even when you have got the evidence, you need a US sponsor and a US sponsor needs a track record to be acceptable. I've been offered some nice stuff in Nevada, but needing to go to the US Embassy for an interview is going to be expensive and awkward. There is a nearby Pharmacy who now charge Embassy visitors to store their electronic items like phones, computers and other devices that you can't take inside the embassy!
 
It sounds like you'd be setting yourself up for a labor dispute. If you want a sag actor sign a sag contract. If not, keep it non-union.
 
It's like AJinNYC said:
If you have not signed the union contract as a producer of films (i.e. become a "signatory" to the union contract), then it does not matter whether or not the people in your film are union or non-union. The union has no effect, no claim, no jurisdiction over your project. You can shoot it any way you want. They can't stop distribution. The only repercussions will be against the actor (by their union).
 
Actually SAG often will sue non-union productions that use union actors. The actor claims the production said it was a union show and claims they were tricked, so SAG sues on their behalf. If you really aren't willing to go SAG, stay away from SAG actors. SAG suing non-union shows is all part of the system, even if they can't win, the lawsuit is very effective intimidation.
 
msorrels said:
Actually SAG often will sue non-union productions that use union actors. even if they can't win, the lawsuit is very effective intimidation.
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Been in the busiess 30 years and never heard of that. Not saying you are wrong but neither I, nor my associates in Biz Affairs, have ever experienced this - as you pointed out, they have no jurisdiction. It would be like trying to hold me to the terms of my neighbors mortgage - something I had nothing to do with and never agreed to. Unless the production company and actor actually have a piece of paper stating this false condition under Terms of Employment, then SAG wouldn't waste their time (if such a false agreement does exist, then the Production Company is screwed). Although SAG/AFTRA does get extremely pissed at their members (who actually are under a SAG agreement) and threaten them with expulsion.
 
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