SAGIndie: A gentle and loving union between the hard working thespians of the world and the passionate filmmaking mavericks who buck the system.Since its
formation in 1997, SAGIndie has been traveling to film festivals, trade shows and conventions spreading the word: Just because your film isn’t produced by a studio doesn’t mean you can’t use professional talent.
Are you aware of this SAG contact? :
Ultra-Low Budget Agreement
* Total budget of less than $200,000
* Day rate of $100
* No step-up fees
* No consecutive employment (except on overnight location)
* No premiums
* Allows the use of both professional and non-professional performers
* Background performers not covered
Check out THIS PAGE for more SAG contract information.
A few weeks back I was at a callback for a good role (interesting character and situation, well written, multiple days work) in an indie film that is, right now, shooting in Colorado. I’m sitting in Austin. I was interested, the director was interested. It didn’t work out. Why? For one thing they had good SAG and non-SAG choices.
They decided not to become a SAG signatory production. I won’t lie, I would really have liked to have nailed the job…good roles are hard to find. And this, Mr./Ms. indie writer/director/producer is why you should look at the various SAG low budget agreements and at SAGIndie.
What is every actor looking for? Even more than a payday? A GREAT PART. That includes SAG actors, and that, Indie Producer, is your secret weapon. Do you have a well written script with interesting characters that will be fun, interesting, challenging to play? If so, then you can get those SAG actors for your project. Even if you’re only paying $100 a day.
When I got the audition call from my agent I was told the project ‘might go SAG’ IF the actors they ended up casting were SAG actors. Right away I knew there was a possible ‘problem’ with the SAG thing.
NO…it’s not that I couldn’t audition. As a SAG member I am encouraged to audition for anything I’m right for. IF the producer wants to cast me, at that point they have to become a signatory or I can’t do the job.
The potential problem was that the production was only 2-3 weeks from the start date…and they hadn’t decided yet if they’d go SAG or not. They weren’t really organized for a potential SAG shoot. From the SAGIndie site:
I am starting to shoot tomorrow and need to get an agreement today.
That’s funny. Do you know any others?
I can’t get anyone in the theatrical department to call me back and I’m starting production this weekend…
Did you start the process 4-6 weeks ago? If not, we probably can’t help you. If you did start the process but no one is responding that’s a problem. Please send us an email and we’ll try to resolve it.
Organize, people. No, I don’t mean Union in this case. I mean get things together well before your shoot date. And don’t discount working on a SAG contract because you don’t have a large budget or because you’ve been scared off by what somebody said to someone who told this other guy about what a big, bad motha SAG was to work with back when blah, blah, blah. Things change. SAG is trying very hard to be “Indie Friendly”.
Visit the SAGIndie site. Get in touch with the SAGIndie people. They will be straight up with you on what you need to do to navigate the waters of the SAG low budget agreements…agreements that will allow you to work with SAG actors for as low as $100/day. Is your cast ethnically diverse? If so you may be able to significantly bump your budget and still qualify for one of the low budget agreements.
