SAG strike

smashedburrito said:
Can you go into more details on this?

Thanks for all the help everyone. Too bad that SAG waiver for the strike ended.
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Like it was mentioned before, a bond has to be given to SAG (they put it in an interest bearing account) and is calculated based on the number of SAG actors to the number of shooting days. The rate depends on the shooting schedule. It is 2 weeks pay or 40% of total pay (whichever is more). We shot over a course of a year so it was calculated at 40% of the total pay due to all SAG actors. The bond ensures the producers will pay the talent. If the producers don't make prompt payments, SAG takes the bond money to pay talent the monies due and then 'shuts' down the SAG production. SAG gets the paperwork, then the payroll is notified on how much is due and you get an invoice for total amount payable to the payroll service. The great thing about the payroll service is that they actually become the 'employer' and are responsible for Unemployment Insurance, etc.

Exhibit G's are a form showing in/out times, meal breaks, OT, etc. Our first day of shooting our 1st AD inadvertently put our In times as the time we showed up on set (as Producer/Director) and not the time as the Cast call. Sooo.... we payed ourselves a meal penalty and overtime. SAG was cool and said we could amend the Exhibit G, but it was a lot more hassle than it was worth (and since the checks were going right back into production we only lost out on the extra taxes paid).

I never actually filled out any of the Exhibit G's myself (I was too busy directing and doing a bunch of other stuff) so Chris (my film partner/producer) or my 1st AD (when we had him) would fill out those forms.

If I can answer any other questions, give me a shout.

Todd
 
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Prodigi Pictures said:
Most people don't know this, but the bond can be negotiated. SAG certainly doesn't advertise this. It isn't easy to do and it is completely arbitrary, but you can ask your SAG rep to lower the bond. Also, the bond is based on your original estimate for shoot days...if you go over that estimate, SAG won't penalize you. SAG doesn't require you to be perfect.

Therefore, it is in your best interest to give a conservative estimate. Think you'll shoot 20 days but feel the urge to say 25 to be safe? Why? Just say 20 days. Don't pad. Just give SAG a realistic estimate.

Also, don't expect to get that bond back anytime soon. SAG is very slow about this. They'll tell you they'll get it back to you in 2-3 weeks...I guess that's the reverse of dog years. I have done this twice and we've never gotten the bond back without a tremendous amount of effort, lots of phone calls and at least two months passing by.
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Funny, SAG had told us the bond was non-negotiable. We explained that we were the filmmakers and thtat as long as the other SAG actors had guaranteed payment could we not be forced into securing payment for ourselves (our budget was low and we need all the cash in hand we could get). We were told "No. We understand your situation but unfortunately we could not make exceptions." I should have pressed a little harder. 'However, we did under estimate our shooting dates (we were really most concerned about the dates that included SAG actors other than myself and Chris). For those shooting dates, we were 100% accurate, but for the dates that only included us... we did what we had to :smile:

We already got our SAG bond back (after about 2 months from wrapping) so no big problems there and we didn't even have to make a lot of phone calls. Go figure.

Todd
 
Prodigi Pictures said:
..., directors chairs for actors, have a PA get them water, they get their meal breaks on time, they get paid industry wages even if they aren't SAG, I contribute to their retirement benefits...

...and, in exchange for that I get to have INCREDIBLY high standards about their skills, work ethic and behavior. I expect actors to be completely off book. Completely. I hire only the very best actors. And, I only re-hire actors who blow me away.

Directors who have high expectations of their talent but aren't willing to reciprocate are shooting themselves in the foot and behaving hypocritically.
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Well Justin,

Chris and I are sold! Where do we sign? :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
You guys are amazing, this information is going straight to my producer. Thank you so much for all of this.

I haven't even thought of that extra $30 a day. That adds up I'm sure. And meal penalties? We will just have to be super careful.

Do you have any other advice about working with SAG? The daily paper work? Things like that? Also we shoot a scene in Michigan and have a day of travel, but we do not shoot on that day. Do we have to pay the actors the $100 on that travel day? We will be transporting them there but if they arent acting do we have to pay?
 
smashedburrito said:
You guys are amazing, this information is going straight to my producer. Thank you so much for all of this.

I haven't even thought of that extra $30 a day. That adds up I'm sure. And meal penalties? We will just have to be super careful.

Do you have any other advice about working with SAG? The daily paper work? Things like that? Also we shoot a scene in Michigan and have a day of travel, but we do not shoot on that day. Do we have to pay the actors the $100 on that travel day? We will be transporting them there but if they arent acting do we have to pay?
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yeah, you pay them for the day AND they're supposed to get a per diem. and on top of the $30 prodigi spoke of, you will also have another $40 held up in a bond paid to SAG until they see everyone has been paid properly. you'll get it back but the immediate cost for the actor will be $170/day.
 
i have also used gifts (aka "bribes") with past reps to grease the wheels. not kidding. but julia allen is very.... by the book.
 
i don't care who knows it. never in the form of cash. our old rep was moving so slow we needed to grease the wheels. a gift basket and a case of his favorite beer moved things along.
 
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