Film Unions

What are film unions?

A film union is a labor organization that negotiates a collective agreement with producers on behalf of one group of workers: actors, writers, directors, camera crews, grips, editors, drivers. Some call themselves unions, others guilds. The word guild is a leftover from the 1930s, when screenwriters, actors and directors organized inside the Hollywood studio system and wanted a name closer to a craft society than a trade union. Legally there is no difference: the WGA, DGA and SAG-AFTRA bargain, collect dues and call strikes like any other union.

In the US, the big agreements are negotiated with the AMPTP, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains for the studios and streamers. Independent producers sign them, or their low-budget versions, project by project. A production that has signed is a signatory, and a shoot run under those agreements is a union shoot. For a rundown of film industry topics beyond labor, see the film industry hub.

The major Hollywood unions and guilds

| Union | Who it represents | Main contract | |---|---|---| | SAG-AFTRA | Actors, stunt performers, background actors, voice and on-camera performers | TV/Theatrical Agreement, low-budget tiers | | WGA (West and East) | Screenwriters and TV writers | Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA) | | DGA | Directors, assistant directors, unit production managers | DGA Basic Agreement | | IATSE | Most below-the-line crafts, organized in locals | Basic Agreement, Area Standards Agreement | | Teamsters (Local 399 in Hollywood) | Drivers, location managers, casting directors, animal wranglers | Teamsters agreement for motion pictures |

IATSE is the one that covers most of the film crew. It is an alliance of locals, each with its own jurisdiction: the camera department belongs to IATSE Local 600, the International Cinematographers Guild; editors to Local 700, the Motion Picture Editors Guild; art directors to Local 800; sound to Local 695; makeup and hair to Local 706.

One name on many lists is not a union at all. The Producers Guild of America is a professional association: producers are the employers in these negotiations, so the PGA does not bargain contracts.

Outside the US the names change: in the UK, Equity represents performers and Bectu most crew; in Canada, ACTRA covers performers.

What does a union contract cover?

The clauses that matter on set:

• Scale. Minimum rates by job title, per day or per week. Above scale is allowed; below is not.
• Hours and overtime. When overtime starts, how much it pays, and what happens on sixth and seventh days in a row.
• Rest and turnaround. A guaranteed rest period between wrap and the next call, and weekend rest. Cutting it short costs a penalty.
• Meals. A meal break within a fixed number of hours from call; running past it triggers meal penalties that grow every half hour.
• Safety. Rules for stunts, minors, hazardous locations, firearms and working hours; the union can step in when they are broken.
• Pension and health. The producer pays fringes, contributions to the union health and pension plans, on top of every paycheck.
• Residuals and credits. Performers, writers and directors get residuals when the film is reused on TV, home video or streaming, and the guilds rule on screen credits.

For a producer, all of this lands in the budget twice: in the rates, and in the fringes and penalties that above-the-line and below-the-line accounts carry on top.

Union vs. non-union film production

| | Union shoot | Non-union shoot | |---|---|---| | Pay | Scale minimums plus fringes | Negotiated freely, often flat day rates | | Hours | Overtime, turnaround and meal rules enforced | Whatever the deal says, often long days | | Hiring | Access to union actors and experienced department heads | Mostly non-union crew and actors | | Paperwork | Signatory filings, time reports, payroll through a union-savvy payroll company | Lighter | | Protection | Grievances, safety rules, health and pension | Depends on the producer |

Non-union is common on student films, music videos, micro-budget features and much commercial work outside the big production centers. It is cheaper and more flexible, but it limits who you can hire: SAG-AFTRA members, for example, may not work for producers who have not signed with the union.

A non-union job does not always stay that way. Crews on sizable non-union productions sometimes organize mid-shoot and stop work until the show flips to an IATSE agreement.

How a production goes union

Each union is signed separately. A producer can sign SAG-AFTRA to cast known actors and still hire a non-union crew, or sign IATSE for the crew and not the DGA. The steps are similar for each: register the project, show the budget, financing and chain of title, post a deposit or bond when required, and hire through a payroll company that handles the fringe reports.

Most unions offer low-budget agreements with reduced rates and relaxed rules, tiered by total budget, so a small independent feature can still hire union members legally. Tiers often restrict release or require upgrades if the film sells, so check current terms.

Union rules decide how long a day runs, when lunch happens and how long the crew rests before the next call, so prep matters: a shot planned in detail fits inside the turnaround. On a FlashBoards board, the director and line producer can keep the storyboard, AI previs frames and reference stills next to the union notes for each scene, flagging stunts, minors, night work and background actors before the schedule is locked.

Strikes and the 2023 Hollywood double strike

Contracts expire every few years; when a union and the AMPTP cannot agree, the union can strike and signatory shoots shut down.

In 2023 the WGA struck from May to September, and SAG-AFTRA struck from July to November; it was the first time both had been out together since 1960. The fights were over streaming residuals, pay, writers' room staffing and artificial intelligence. The resulting WGA contract limits how studios can use AI-generated material in place of a writer, and the SAG-AFTRA contract requires consent and payment before a performer's digital replica is used.

Those clauses matter to anyone making films with AI: generated characters for previs should be clearly fictional, never a recognizable actor.

Further reading

Jason E. Squire (ed.), The Movie Business Book (Focal Press) · Published agreements and rate sheets of SAG-AFTRA, WGA, DGA and IATSE