Waivers for films during Actors strike. I know there are exemptions for film projects during the strike. Are actors permitted to sign on to low budget (under 3 Million) independent films as long as the filming begins after the strike is settled? Must a formal waiver be applied for and granted by the Union?
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The Interim Agreement is not a waiver, just to be crystal clear. A waiver would mean you could continue to shoot on the old contract. What SAG-AFTRA has done is vetted projects individually to see which ones have no "fingerprints" from the AMPTP on them, and if deemed "clean", will allow them to sign onto the Interim Agreement. Basically, the productions that are approved have agreed to the terms from SAG-AFTRA's most recent proposal to the AMPTP.
So that said, any union actors are forbidden to work on any project that has not been approved for the Interim Agreement. A full list is updated daily at sagaftrastrike.org.
And if you're non-union, but you plan to make acting your life's work and eventually will join, then you should also refrain from working on any struck projects. There will be a paper trail, and the union has stated clearly that any "pre-member" that works on a struck project will not be allowed to join the union at any future time.
Sooooo, long story short, I would make sure any union project has been approved before even auditioning for it. If it's non-union, and you're non-union, then there's nothing governing either party.
Hope that helps.
Thanks Matthew. That does help to clarify things. So… .. if a producer/director of a film project enters into negotiations with an actor who is non union, the project can be negotiated but better beware if they hope to ever be in the Union someday.
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Alice Manica, it's only a real problem IF the project is claiming to be a union project. Because if they had applied to be a signatory before the strike, and are pretending to still have that status now, then stay away. Stay away until they've proven that they have been accepted to the Interim Agreement.
However, on the other end of the spectrum, if a producer just wants to play around and shoot a low-budget web series, then there's no harm in that if they're only hiring non-union actors.
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Hi Alice Manica - thanks for bringing this topic to forefront. Stage 32 is hosting a webinar on this very topic - albeit from a producer's perspective on how to apply for the SAG-AFTRA Interim Waiver. Here's a link so you can check it out as I think all creatives should understand this as well at Matthew does (kudos Mathew!!): https://www.stage32.com/webinars/Understanding-the-SAG-AFTRA-Interim-App...
Matthew Cornwell, that's really helpful insight, thank you!
Thanks for sharing the class, Sam Sokolow! Michelle is so knowledgeable and helpful. I can't wait to watch this one.