Screen Actors Guild: Difference between revisions

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== Beyond the Major Studios ==
== Beyond the Major Studios ==
SAG members may not work on non-union productions; many [[film school]]s have SAG Student Film Agreements with the guild to allow SAG actors to work in their projects. SAGIndie was formed in [[1997]] to promote Independent filmmaking using SAG actors; SAG also has Low Budget Contracts that are meant to encourage the use of SAG members on films produced outside of the major studios and to prevent film productions from leaving the country. ("Runaway Production") In the fight against "Runaway Production", The SAG National Board recently voted unanimously to support the Film & Television Action Committee(FTAC)and its 301(a) Petition which asks the US Trade Representative to investigate the current Canadian film subsidies for their violation of the Trade agreements Canada already signed with the United States.
SAG members may not work on non-union productions; many [[film school]]s have SAG Student Film Agreements with the guild to allow SAG actors to work in their projects. SAGIndie was formed in [[1997]] to promote Independent filmmaking using SAG actors; SAG also has Low Budget Contracts that are meant to encourage the use of SAG members on films produced outside of the major studios and to prevent film productions from leaving the country. ("Runaway Production") In the fight against "Runaway Production", The SAG National Board recently voted unanimously to support the Film & Television Action Committee(FTAC)and its 301(a) Petition which asks the US Trade Representative to investigate the current Canadian film subsidies for their violation of the Trade agreements Canada already signed with the United States.

==SAG Foundation==
== SAG Awards ==
{{main article|Screen Actors Guild Awards}}
SAG Awards have been one of the major awards events in [[Hollywood]] since 1995. Nominations for the awards come from 2,100 randomly selected members of the union, with the full membership (98,000 [[as of 2004]]) available to vote for the winners. The awards have been televised for the past several years on [[Turner Network Television|TNT]], but now also air on [[TBS (TV network)|TBS]].


==Presidents of the Screen Actors Guild==
==Presidents of the Screen Actors Guild==
Line 109: Line 104:
* (1999-2001) [[William Daniels]]
* (1999-2001) [[William Daniels]]
* (2001-2005) [[Melissa Gilbert]]
* (2001-2005) [[Melissa Gilbert]]
* (2005-) [[Alan Rosenberg]]
* (2005-present) [[Alan Rosenberg]]


Source: [http://www.sag.org/history/presidents.html SAG website]
Source: [http://www.sag.org/history/presidents.html SAG website]

Revision as of 08:55, 21 December 2006

SAG
Screen Actors Guild
Founded1933
Members
120,000
AffiliationsAFL-CIO
Websitewww.sag.org

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is an American labor union representing over 120,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide. According to SAG's Mission Statement,[1] the Guild seeks to: negotiate and enforce collective bargaining agreements that establish equitable levels of compensation, benefits, and working conditions for its performers; collect compensation for exploitation of recorded performances by its members, and provide protection against unauthorized use of those performances; and preserve and expand work opportunities for its members.

The Screen Actors Guild is associated with the Associated Actors and Artistes of America (AAAA), which is the primary association of performer's unions in the United States. The AAAA is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. SAG claims exclusive jurisdiction over motion picture performances, and shares jurisdiction of radio, television, Internet, and other new media with its sister union AFTRA.

In addition to its main offices in Hollywood, SAG also maintains local branches in several major US cities, including: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Nashville, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, Salt Lake, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, Honolulu, and San Francisco.

History of the Guild

The Early Years

In 1925, the Masquers Club [2] was formed by actors fed up with the grueling work hours at the Hollywood studios, particularly for actors without contracts, who felt the brunt of cost-cutting measures during the Great Depression.

This was one major concern which led to the creation of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933. Another was that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which at that time arbitrated between the producers and actors on contract disputes, had a membership policy which was by invitation only.

A meeting in March 1933 among six actors started it all: Berton Churchill, Charles Miller, Grant Mitchell, Ralph Morgan, Alden Gay, and Kenneth Thomson. Three months later, three of those six and eighteen others became the guild's first officers and board of directors: Ralph Morgan (its first president), Alden Gay, Kenneth Thomson, Alan Mowbray (who personally funded the organization when it was first founded), Leon Ames, Tyler Brooke, Clay Clement, James Gleason, Lucile Webster Gleason, Boris Karloff (reportedly influenced by long hours suffered during the filming of Frankenstein), Claude King, Noel Madison, Reginald Mason, Bradley Page, Willard Robertson, Ivan Simpson, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Starrett, Richard Tucker, Arthur Vinton, and Morgan Wallace.

Many high-profile actors refused to join SAG initially. This changed when the producers made an agreement amongst themselves not to bid competitively for talent. A pivotal meeting at the home of Frank Morgan (Ralph's brother, who would go on to play the title role in The Wizard of Oz), is what gave SAG its critical mass. Prompted by Eddie Cantor's insistence at that meeting that any response to that producer's agreement help all actors, not just the already established ones, it took only three weeks for SAG membership to go from around 80 members to more than 4000. Cantor's participation was critical, particularly because of his friendship with the recently-elected Franklin Roosevelt. After several years and the passage of the National Labor Relations Act, the producers agreed to negotiate with SAG in 1937.

Actors known for their early support of SAG (besides the founders) include Edward Arnold, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Dudley Digges, Porter Hall, Paul Harvey, Jean Hersholt, Russell Hicks, Murray Kinnell, Gene Lockhart, Fredric March, Adolphe Menjou, Chester Morris, Jean Muir, George Murphy, Erin O'Brien-Moore, Irving Pichel, Dick Powell, Edward G. Robinson, Edwin Stanley, Gloria Stuart, Franchot Tone, Warren William, and Robert Young.

The Blacklist Years

In October of 1947, a list of suspected communists working in the Hollywood film industry were summoned to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which was investigating Communist influence in the Hollywood labor unions. Ten of those summoned refused to cooperate and were charged with contempt of Congress and sentenced to prison. A climate of fear, enhanced by the threat of detention under the provisions of the McCarran Internal Security Act, permeated the film industry. On November 17, 1947, the Screen Actors Guild voted to force its officers take a "non-communist" pledge. On November 25th (the day after the full House approved the ten citations for contempt) in what has become known as the Waldorf Statement, Eric Johnston, President of the Motion Picture Producers Association, issued a press release: "We will not knowingly employ a Communist or a member of any party or group which advocates the overthrow of the government of the United States by force or by any illegal or unconstitutional methods."

Although declassified KGB documents showed that there was a Communist influence in Hollywood [citation needed], none of those blacklisted were proven to advocate overthrowing the government; most simply had Marxist or socialist views. The Waldorf Statement marked the beginning of the Hollywood blacklist that saw hundreds of people prevented from working in the film industry. During the height of what is now referred to as McCarthyism, the Screen Writers Guild gave the studios the right to omit from the screen the name of any individual who had failed to clear his name before Congress. At a 1997 ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Blacklist Richard Masur said: "Only our sister union, Actors' Equity Association, had the courage to stand behind its members and help them to continue their creative lives, in the theatre..."

SAG Rules and Procedures

Joining SAG

A performer is eligible to join the Screen Actors Guild by meeting the criteria in any of the following three categories:

Principal Performer

Any performer who works as a principal performer for a minimum of one day on a project (film, commercial, tv show, etc.) where the producer has signed a producer's agreement with SAG, and the performer has been paid at the appropriate SAG daily, three-day, or weekly rate is then considered "SAG-Eligible." A SAG-Eligible performer may continue performing in any number of both SAG or non-SAG productions for a period of 30 days, during which that SAG-Eligible performer is classified as a "Taft-Hartley." After the 30-day Taft-Hartley period has expired, the performer may not work on any further SAG productions until the performer joins the Guild by: paying the initiation fee, paying the first half-year minimum membership dues, and agreeing to abide by the Guild's rules and bylaws. The SAG-Eligible performer does not lose their eligibility to join the Guild should they choose not to join the Guild immediately at the expiration of their Taft-Hartley period.

Background Performer

SAG productions require a minimum number of SAG members be employed as background performers before a producer is permitted to hire a non-union background performer in their production. For television productions, the minimum number of SAG background performers is 15, and for feature films, the minimum is 30. Often, due to the uniqueness of a role, or constraints on the numbers of available SAG performers or last-minute cancellations, those minimums are unable to be met. When this happens, producers are permitted to fill one or more of those union spots with non-union performers. The non-union performer chosen to fill the union spot is then issued a union extra voucher for the day, and that non-union performer is entitled to all the same benefits and pay that the union performer would have received under that voucher. After collecting three valid union vouchers for three separate days of work, a non-union performer then becomes SAG-Eligible. The SAG-Eligible background performer may continue working in non-union productions and is not required to join the Guild before performing in another SAG production as a background performer. According to the FAQ on the SAG website, this "three voucher rule" is in the process of being phased out.

Member of an Affiliated Union

Members in good standing, for at least one year, of any of the other unions affiliated with the AAAA, and who have worked as a principal at least once in an area of the affiliated union's jurisdiction, and who have been paid for their work in that principal role, are eligible to join SAG.

Initiation Fee and Membership Dues

As of 2006, the initial fee to join the Guild is a one-time charge equal to double the day player SAG scale rate of $737, or $1,474. At the time of initiation, the first minimum semi-annual membership dues payment of $50 must also be paid, bringing the total amount due upon initiation into the Guild to $1,524.

Membership dues are calculated and are due semi-annually, and are based upon the member's earnings from SAG productions. The minimum annual dues amount is $100, with an additional 1.85% of the performer's income up to $200K. Income over $200K is assessed at 0.5%, with a cap at $500K. Therefore, the maximum dues payable in any one calendar year by any single member is limited to $5,300.

SAG members who become delinquent in their dues without formally requesting a leave of absence from the Guild are assessed late penalties, and risk being ejected from the Guild and can be forced to pay the initiation fee again to regain their membership.

There is a current proposal before the Guild membership to increase the initiation fee to make it equal to THREE times the day player SAG scale rate, or $2,211. That same proposal also seeks to increase the minimum annual dues from $100 to $116, and also to raise the earnings cap from $500K to $1MM. If the new dues proposal is passed by the Guild membership in 2007, the maximum dues payable in any one calendar year by any single member would rise to $7,816.

Global Rule One

The SAG Constitution and Bylaws state that, "No member shall work as a performer or make an agreement to work as a performer for any producer who has not executed a basic minimum agreement with the Guild which is in full force and effect." Every SAG performer agrees to abide by this, and all the other SAG rules, as a condition of membership into the Guild. This means that no SAG members may perform in non-union projects that are within SAG's jurisdiction once they become members of the Guild.

Since 2002, the Guild has pursued a policy of world-wide enforcement of Rule One, and renamed it Global Rule One. The Guild claims that this global policy has enabled it to collect millions in additional residuals for its members and in contributions to the Guild's pension and health plans.

Major Strikes and Boycotts by the Union

Emmy Awards Boycott of 1980

In 1980, SAG called for a boycott against that year's prime-time Emmy awards, which took place during its labor strike. Powers Boothe was the only one of the 52 nominated actors to attend: "This is either the most courageous moment of my career or the stupidest" he quipped during his acceptance speech.

The Commercials Strike of 2000

The commercials strike of 2000 was a success in that it not only saved Pay-Per-Play (residuals) but it also increased cable residuals by 140% up from $1,014 to $2,460. In the wake of their strike against advertisers in 2000, SAG, and its sister union AFTRA, gathered evidence on over 1,500 non-members who had worked during the strike. SAG trial boards found Elizabeth Hurley and Tiger Woods guilty of performing in non-union commercials and both were fined $100,000 each.

Beyond the Major Studios

SAG members may not work on non-union productions; many film schools have SAG Student Film Agreements with the guild to allow SAG actors to work in their projects. SAGIndie was formed in 1997 to promote Independent filmmaking using SAG actors; SAG also has Low Budget Contracts that are meant to encourage the use of SAG members on films produced outside of the major studios and to prevent film productions from leaving the country. ("Runaway Production") In the fight against "Runaway Production", The SAG National Board recently voted unanimously to support the Film & Television Action Committee(FTAC)and its 301(a) Petition which asks the US Trade Representative to investigate the current Canadian film subsidies for their violation of the Trade agreements Canada already signed with the United States.

Presidents of the Screen Actors Guild

Source: SAG website

See Also

Other Performer's Unions

Miscellaneous

External Links

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