SAG-AFTRA membership is available to those who work in a position covered by a SAG-AFTRA (or AFTRA or SAG) collective bargaining agreement, provided that any person qualifying through work as a background actor must have completed three (3) days of work as a background actor under a SAG-AFTRA (or AFTRA or SAG)
Can I check my SAG-AFTRA eligibility online through an eligibility checker?
- Click on the following link membership-benefits/sag-aftra-eligibility-checker.
- Enter the your "Name" and "SSN" and click "Search"
The size of your pension will depend on how much you work. Often, actors will have pensions from all three unions, and with Social Security, it can be enough to live on, Fowkes said. "Actors are becoming smarter about retirement than they were five years ago," Fowkes said.
Once reactivated, a member must maintain active membership for one full year from reactivation date before becoming eligible again for inactive status.
SAG first members: July 10: Group application for Guild membership signed by 17 SAG founders: Arthur Vinton, James Gleason, Lucile Webster Gleason, Clay Clement, Reginald Mason, Richard Tucker, Leon Waycoff [Ames], Charles Starrett, Ralph Morgan, Alan Mowbray, Claude King, Morgan Wallace, C.
The national initiation fee rate is currently $3,000, although it may be lower in some states. Annual Base dues are $222.96. In addition, work dues are calculated at 1.575 percent of covered earnings up to $500,000.
Extras are paid a session fee of $388.40, according to SAG's 2019 rate sheet. This is regardless of where the commercial will air. To figure out an extra's hourly rate, divide the session rate of $388.40 by eight, the number of hours SAG considers the session rate to cover.
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
But union in the voice over industry is more than just a group of people with a common goal. SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) represents Actors and Voice-Over Artists in Film, TV, Video, Web and Radio.
A SAG card demonstrates membership of the union, which helps to establish status as a performer and provides workers' rights. Jerry Garcia's 1977 SAG card auctioned for $950 in 2015.
SAG rates for multiple programs are put in a weekly scale, with $2,585 per week for both 1/2 Hour and 1 Hour Programs, $3,038 per week for 90 minute programs, and $3,580 per week for two hour programs.
Amount. The Regular Pension is a monthly amount equal to the sum of the annual Prior Service Benefit plus the annual Current Service Benefit divided by 12. The amount is rounded to the next higher multiple of 50¢ if it is not already a multiple of 50¢.
Everything not produced under a union contract is “non-union,” which means there are no established rules. Non-union projects are the unregulated, wild west of acting and actors have to beware.
These are some of the ways SAG-AFTRA serves and protects its members.
- Health and pension/retirement. Members earn credits toward retirement and health care each time they work.
- SAG-AFTRA App.
- Contracts/collective bargaining.
- The SAG-AFTRA Conservatory.
- Casting workshops.
- SAG-AFTRA Foundation.
- iActor.
- Deals & Discounts.
The drawbacks: It's still difficult to get into these unions and then after you get into that union, you still have to book a role as a principle. Getting into SAG isn't easy to do but it's done all the time, so that means you can do it. And once you get your SAG card, you'll find doors open a little bit easier.
You can join SAG/AFTRA in one of three ways: By being cast and hired to work in a principal or speaking role for a SAG signatory producer. After a minimum of one year's membership in an affiliated performers' union, with proof of principal work under that union's jurisdiction.
SAG-AFTRA members cannot accept an acting role in any studio, independent, low-budget, pilot, experimental, non-profit, interactive, educational, student, or ANY production, unless that producer has signed a Contract or Letter of Agreement with SAG-AFTRA.
Background Actor Salary
| Annual Salary | Monthly Pay |
|---|
| Top Earners | $105,500 | $8,791 |
| 75th Percentile | $55,000 | $4,583 |
| Average | $58,588 | $4,882 |
| 25th Percentile | $25,500 | $2,125 |
Al Pacino (2019)
The most wins by any actor is two, accomplished eighteen times:
- Tom Wilkinson (The Full Monty (1997), Shakespeare in Love (1998))
- Catherine Zeta-Jones (Traffic (2000), Chicago (2002))
Nominations for the awards come from two committees, one for film and one for television, each numbering 2100 members of the union, randomly selected anew each year, with the full membership (165,000 as of 2012) available to vote for the winners. It is considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards.
Screen Actors Guild Award
Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center
