SAG-AFTRA

What is SAG-AFTRA?

SAG-AFTRA stands for the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. It is one of the major film unions in the US film industry and represents roughly 160,000 performers: on-camera actors, background performers, stunt performers, voice actors, singers, dancers, broadcast journalists and recording artists.

The union is the product of two older organizations. The Screen Actors Guild was founded in 1933 by Hollywood actors pushing back against studio contracts that allowed unlimited hours. AFTRA began in 1937 as a union for radio performers and added television in the early 1950s. For decades the two overlapped, and many actors paid dues to both. Once digital production erased the line between "film" and "tape," they were competing for the same contracts, so members voted to merge in 2012.

What does SAG-AFTRA do?

The union's main job is collective bargaining. Its biggest contract, the TV/Theatrical agreement, is negotiated with the AMPTP, the studios' and streamers' trade group. Separate contracts cover commercials, music, video games and broadcasting. A contract typically sets:

• Minimum pay (scale). Day and weekly rates for principal performers, stunt performers and background actors, plus overtime.
• Residuals. Payments when a film or episode is reused on TV, streaming, home video or foreign markets.
• Working conditions. Meal periods and penalties, turnaround between days, rules for nudity and minors, and stunt safety.
• Benefits. Producers pay contributions on performers' earnings into the SAG-AFTRA health and pension plans.
• Digital replicas and AI. Consent and payment rules before a performer's voice or likeness can be scanned, reproduced or altered.

When talks fail, members can vote to authorize a strike. In 2023 SAG-AFTRA struck the studios for 118 days, from July to November, overlapping with the Writers Guild strike. It was the first time both unions had walked out together since 1960. The deal that ended it added consent and compensation requirements for digital replicas.

How to join SAG-AFTRA

You can't just sign up. You join by working, and there are three standard paths to eligibility:

1. A principal role on a union job. Being hired as a principal or speaking performer on a SAG-AFTRA production makes you eligible. If you aren't a member yet, the producer hires you under the Taft-Hartley provision (named after the 1947 labor law). You can then work union jobs for 30 days, after which you must join to keep taking them.
2. Background work. Collecting three union vouchers, meaning three days hired as a union background actor, qualifies an extra to join.
3. An affiliated union. At least a year as a member of a sister performers' union, such as Actors' Equity or Canada's ACTRA, and having worked as a principal under its contract.

Once eligible, you pay a one-time initiation fee (several thousand dollars, depending on the local) plus annual base dues and work dues, which are a small percentage of union earnings. After you join, Global Rule One applies: members may not do non-union work under the union's jurisdiction anywhere in the world.

Casting SAG-AFTRA actors on an independent film

Union actors can work on small films, but only if the production becomes a signatory. The producer registers the project with the union, submits the script, budget, financing and chain-of-title documents, and usually posts a deposit that guarantees performers' pay. The union offers tiered low-budget agreements for independent films. The Micro-Budget, Ultra Low Budget, Moderate Low Budget and Low Budget tiers each cap the total production budget and lower the day rates to match. There are also short-film, student-film and new-media agreements. Each tier limits how the film can be released, so check the current terms before you commit.

The paperwork is part of the job. Performers' times go on the call sheet and the Exhibit G, contracts must be signed before work starts, and a final cast list goes to the union after wrap. During prep, a director can lay out the cast plan next to the storyboard on one FlashBoards board: headshots, character notes, scene breakdowns and AI previs frames. Generating clearly fictional faces for previs keeps the plan from resembling any real performer's likeness.

SAG Exhibit G: the performers' production time report

Exhibit G is the daily time sheet for every SAG-AFTRA performer on a set. Background actors are covered separately by vouchers. The second assistant director usually fills it in over the day, and each performer signs next to their own line before leaving. Payroll uses it to calculate overtime, meal penalties and turnaround violations.

How to fill out a SAG Exhibit G form:

• Header. Production title, company, date, shooting location and whether it is a studio or location day.
• Performer and role. One line per performer, with the character played.
• Status code. Such as started, worked, hold, finished, rehearsal or travel.
• Times. Report time, makeup and wardrobe in and out, on-set start, each meal out and in, dismissal on set and dismissal from makeup and wardrobe, plus travel to and from a distant location.
• Other notes. Stunt adjustments, fittings and forced calls.
• Signatures. Each performer signs their line, and the production representative signs the sheet.

Record times as they happen, not at wrap: an unrecorded meal break or a missing signature turns into penalties you can't dispute.

SAG-AFTRA vs. other film unions

SAG-AFTRA covers the people who perform on screen or on mic. The Writers Guild (WGA) represents screenwriters. The Directors Guild (DGA) covers directors, assistant directors and unit production managers. IATSE represents most of the below-the-line crew through its locals: camera crews belong to IATSE Local 600, with grips, electricians, editors and makeup artists in other locals. The Teamsters handle drivers and some casting staff. SAG-AFTRA is often the first one a small production signs, because it is the only way to cast established actors.

Further reading

SAG-AFTRA, TV/Theatrical Contracts summaries and the SAG-AFTRA Membership handbook (sagaftra.org) · David Prindle, The Politics of Glamour: Ideology and Democracy in the Screen Actors Guild (University of Wisconsin Press)