Unions

I have a request!

I've been asked to expound on how I got into "must join" status with AFTRA without realizing it. I'll talk about all the unions I'm familiar with just to be safe.

The unions were formed to standardize fair wages and working conditions for performers. "Actor's Equity's constitution was drafted by May 1913 and was formally recognized by the American Federation of Labor (the AFL-CIO) on July 18, 1919." (From the Actor's Equity History page.) SAG was established in 1933, and a few years later, AFTRA was formed in 1937.

1) AEA - Actor's Equity Association

Actor's Equity is the actor's and stage manager's union whose jurisdiction includes Broadway, Off Broadway, Off Off Broadway, certain regional theaters, dinner theaters, touring companies, and some theme park performers. So, basically, live performance. I am a dues-paying member of AEA.

There are only two ways to join AEA. The first is that one can pay the first $100 of Equity's initial dues ($1100 total, which can be paid over two years) and become an Equity Membership Candidate (EMC). Being an EMC gives one access to Equity auditions after members and before non-union, non-EMCs, and allows one to accrue points for work on Equity productions. Once one has enough points (47, I believe it is), one is eligible to join AEA. The second way is to be offered a union contract by a theatre that is authorized to do so. (The various agreements between Equity and producing theatres are multitudinous and complicated. Some examples: LORT - League of Resident Theatres, SPT - Small Professional Theatre, LoA - Letter of Agreement. I don't really want to get into the details of each, but the information is out there if you want to know more.)

In certain markets, AEA membership is not beneficial unless one is a well-established performer and has cultivated relationships with many union theatres that lead to regular work. In New York, the sheer number of Equity auditions held in one week and the ease of signing up for them makes the membership worth the time and money. Union membership doesn't guarantee work, but it gives one access to work that pays, even if it doesn't always pay well.

2) SAG - Screen Actor's Guild

The Screen Actor's Guild represents actors on film and television. SAG and AFTRA used to bargain with producers together until recently, when AFTRA decided to negotiate its own contracts with producers without SAG. Their jurisdiction overlaps in certain areas, but most major market feature films are covered by SAG.

From the SAG mission statement: "With 20 branches nationwide, SAG represents nearly 120,000 working actors in film, television, industrials, commercials, video games, music videos and other new media."

Joining SAG seems confusing at first, but really isn't as complicated as it seems. Being employed as a principal or having a speaking role in a film, tv show, or commercial under a SAG contract, or being employed as background at full SAG rates for three, full work days makes one eligible to join. It costs $2335 to become a member of SAG, which is why most people don't enter into that relationship lightly. If one has a speaking role, one is "SAG-eligible" and can work for 30 days on non-SAG projects, at which point one becomes a "must join" and can't work on any union projects until one pays the initial dues and joins SAG. If one has earned SAG-eligibility through background work, one can continue to work as a background performer on SAG and non-SAG projects without becoming a member.

Bottom line: don't join until you can pay the dues, because they're due in full immediately. That means, if you get offered a commercial or speaking role that will "Taft-Hartley" you (that 30-day period I talked about), don't take it unless the check will cover your dues or you have that amount saved.

3) AFTRA - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

AFTRA represents "performers, journalists and other artists working in the entertainment and news media." They cover broadcast, public and cable television shows, soaps, talk shows, reality and game shows, radio, sound recordings, etc. SAG and AFTRA overlap when it comes to television: Life on Mars is a SAG show, Damages is an AFTRA show.

Interestingly enough, AFTRA does not have a delineated set of rules governing membership published on its website. On it's "How to Join" page for New York, it simply says, "Any person who has performed or intends to perform professional work in any one of AFTRA's jurisdictions is eligible for membership." It says nothing about waivers or "must join" status. Interesting.

Anyway, because I found out the hard way, I'll let you in on the goods. You can work ONCE under an AFTRA contract without becoming a "must join." You will get paid AFTRA rates and enjoy the benefits of membership for that day - a waiver. You then have only 30 days to work non-union on any other AFTRA projects without joining. After that 30 days is up, the next time you work an AFTRA projects puts you into the position of having to join the union, i.e. "must join." You can no longer work AFTRA projects as a non-union person. If you pony up the $1300, then you're a member. If you don't, you can't work, not even as a non-union person. Once again, only take the work if it's going to pay the initiation fee. I'm embarrassed because I worked for the Onion News Network for $40, not realizing that the next time I worked (Damages, $135.00) would put me into must-join status. Obviously the work didn't pay for the initiation fee.

There is one other way to join each of these unions. If you are a member of one of the performing unions, are in good standing (you've paid your bi-annual dues) and have been a member for at least a year, you can pay the initial dues and join any of the other unions. I don't think this is the best option because it doesn't build the relationships you need to keep working once you join. I'll admit that this was my mistake concerning Equity. I was not as established as I thought I was, and as an Equity member, I was now too expensive for most theatres to hire, and I didn't have the clout to overcome that. I'm not going to abandon my membership now, but let my mistakes be a lesson to you.

Wordy, but it makes up for all the days I didn't update. Good luck to you! I hope the business side of acting doesn't overwhelm the art. Get all the business in order, and then you're free to be arty.