SAG requirements for a Canadian production

mastermind

mastermind

Well-known member
I'm shooting a Canadian feature film. Shot and produced in Canada. It's a non-union Canadian production and i'm looking to cast an american actor (low A-lister) and would be shooting their scenes down in the US for financial reasons.

That being said the actor is part of SAG so how does one go about getting this actor in the film. I think theres a low budget sag agreement that actors can sign off on but would my film have to be a US union film in that case?

i know theres must be a workaround and any info would be MUCH appreciated.

thanks.
 
Thanks for the link. with a little more research this thing goes even deeper. Apparently SAG has imposed (back in 2001) something called Global Rule One, which basically states that a non-american production company, even if shooting a film entirely outside the US has to become a SAG signatory member for that particular production and adhere to the SAG rules. Thats fine and dandy however that also means that i would have to use only SAG actors I guess.

This is getting more and more complicated. I guess the key is to get the specific actor to do the film "outside of SAG"
 
mastermind said:
Thanks for the link. with a little more research this thing goes even deeper. Apparently SAG has imposed (back in 2001) something called Global Rule One, which basically states that a non-american production company, even if shooting a film entirely outside the US has to become a SAG signatory member for that particular production and adhere to the SAG rules. Thats fine and dandy however that also means that i would have to use only SAG actors I guess.

This is getting more and more complicated. I guess the key is to get the specific actor to do the film "outside of SAG"
Click to expand...

The onus is really on the actor, not you. He is legally free to come work for you or not as he sees fit, regardless of whether you are a SAG signatory or not, and there's nothing the union can or would do against you if you hire him without becoming a signatory. Thing is, if he DOES come and work for you without your signing, he leaves himself open to many potentially serious disciplinary sanctions the union can put on him, including fines or even expulsion from the union. He must decide if he wants to risk it - if being in your show is worth risking his union status if you don't sign with SAG. Then if he chooses not to work for you unless you sign, you have to decide if having him in the cast is worth it to you.
 
Mastermind, if your production is non-union, and is going to be longer than 39minutes in length, you are not eligible for SAG-Indie Deffered. So thereby, you must submit a budget for your movie and deal with all SAG rules that would apply to your production.

Try to a avoid such entanglements if you can. Either do SAG or Non SAG.

My best advice to you is to call the guild and tell them your problem, now while you're not a member they want their members employed, so they will work with you to get the project out, and on to the screen. They'd much rather that you complete production than give up on using a SAG actor and go non-union. Just reading their rules does will put you into a Catch-22 situation, actually speaking to someone is way different.

Remember their job is to make sure that their members *get work*, and are not abused, fed, and get paid an acceptable wage and if they work overtime, get paid for that as well.
 
Also don't forget, American productions have been filming in Canada for decades due to rebates the government issues. - So there are clearly established union offices and union precedents and rules for DGA/WGA/SAG and productions in Canada.
 
Oh, and another Afterthought, its not that the rest of the actors already on the picture MUST be SAG, they just must be PAID as SAG and treated as SAG when you're a SAG signatory production. And you must give them a waiver, letting them know that they are non-union actors working on a union production treated as union. After 3 such waivers each of your non-union actors becomes eligible to join the guild. After 30 days of filming (consecutive work) on such a production, they become a "must join". - P.S. Your non-union actors will thank you for it.
 
That's correct. My last film had 1 union actor, the rest weren't. I did pay all actors as though they were.

Michael
 
thanks so much for the info as this is VERY helpful. i read through the SAG guidelines and it seemed they contradicted their rules every other point.

My basic thing is I am shooting a feature in Canada with a full cast of canadian non-union actors. I am canadian and this is a canadian production. i would be able to afford a single name actor from the US to play a supporting role which would help me in getting distribution basically.

I'm thinking as you said that calling SAG would be the best option for me and if they are willing to assist in order to get their member working that would be great. I also have no issue making this a SAG signatory shoot if i'm not obliged to use SAG members exclusively. however its just wierd to me that a canadian film would be a SAG signatory project.
 
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