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Screen Actors Guild

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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.

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

The Guild was founded in 1933 in an effort to eliminate exploitation of actors in Hollywood who were being forced into oppressive multi-year contracts with the major movie studios that did not include restrictions on work hours or minimum rest periods, and often had clauses that automatically renewed at the studios' discretion. These contracts were notorious for allowing the studios to dictate the public and private lives of the performers who signed them, and most did not have provisions to allow the performer to end the deal.

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.

Discrimination/Wrongful Termination Lawsuits

Eric Amdursky & Catherine B. Hagen, partners in O'Melveny & Myers LLP have represented the Screen Actors Guild for the past several years in discrimination lawsuits against SAG. Amdursky represents SAG in a series of wrongful termination/discrimination cases. He also represented Time Warner Entertainment Company and several affiliates in a class action brought by television writers over the age of 40 alleging industry-wide age discrimination against all of them.

SAG, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO has settled all of the wrongful termination and racial discrimination cases by its minority employees. Three of which where settled in recent months except one. SAG’s officials on its website have vowed to fight allegations that it says are baseless against, Dr. Patricia Heisser Metoyer, former affirmative action director. SAG’s record of dismissing minority staff members is significant.

SAG an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, who gave Ruby and Ossie Davis the SAG Lifetime Acheivement Award, prides itself on a long history of affirmative action and diversity, has settled seven discrimination lawsuits by minority employees since 2001. Valerie Quetel, an African-American who worked as a benefits administrator and recruiter in the SAG's human resources department, alleged a "pattern and practice" of discrimination by SAG. Quetel filed suit in L.A. Superior Court alleging 22 causes of action. Quetel, was a 12-year employee of SAG, filed a wrongful termination-racial discrimination lawsuit. This case was settled by SAG.

In 2001, Peter Nguyen, Asian-American, an associate in the affirmative action department worked for Heisser Metoyer, filed a wrongful termination suit that has since been settled. Terms were kept confidential, as were the terms of a settlement in a wrongful termination suit filed by former employee Ray McCoy Daniel Jr., an African-American.

Another wrongful termination and discrimination case filed by former SAG executive Thomas Baiz, a Mexican-American was settled by SAG. SAG also fired Mexican-American employee, Hector Chavez. Chavez was the associate national director of human resources, was terminated following six months on the job. His case was settled as well. Deborah Geter, an African-American, SAG employee for 20 years, was in charge of monitoring and enforcing SAG’s Taft-Hartley waivers, which brought in $1 million a year to the union. The waivers allow producers to use nonunion actors under certain conditions, and Geter would collect the financial penalty for the use of the nonunion talent. This case settled by SAG.

Former secretary Kelley Langford, African-American sued SAG. SAG settled the lawsuits with Langford.

In November 2003, Heisser Metoyer's lawsuit, filed in L.A. Superior Court, was moved to U.S. District Court, Central District of California, where George W. Bush appointed federal judge, John Walters threw out about half her claims on technical grounds. Her case is currently on appeal in the U.S. District Court of Appeal Ninth District.

Heisser Metoyer sued SAG, alleging that she was forced out over her complaints about the SAG's falsified statistics on the racial makeup of the staff. The action also named the top two SAG execs at the time, John McGuire and Leonard Chassman. . McGuire is currently” a senior adviser” to SAG and Chassman retired with a substantial retirement package.

Eugenia Hicks, Heisser Metoyer’s attorney said in an L.A. Business Journal article says that Heisser Metoyer, on the job for little more than a year, ended up in the bad graces of other SAG officials when she reported to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the union was exaggerating the number of minorities on its 270-person staff.

"When she got in there she actually started doing something and she stepped on some toes. Some people didn't like that," Hicks said. "They decided to retaliate and they did it with a vengeance." SAG has countersued Heisser Metoyer, and O'Melveny & Myers joined its original firm in the suits, Geffner & Bush.

The suits, brought by Heisser Metoyer, have been litigated by Eric Amdursky and Catherine B. Hagen, among other O’Melveny & Myers attorneys, hearing is set for February 16, 2006 before Superior Court Judge David Minning, for additional attorney’s fees. Heisser Metoyer pursued in house discrimination allegations along with her opposition to affirmative action budget cuts. There were no minorities among the 30 top SAG execs. The suit alleged that the dismissal came in retaliation. In the suit, she accused SAG's then-human resources director at the time, Linda Shick, of calling her a “black bitch” and alleged that there had been a continuing deterioration in the workplace environment at SAG, with minority employees staging a letter-writing campaign to the board that accused Shick and associates of repeated breaches of confidentiality.

Shick and Kathy Nirschl, the No. 2 exec in SAG's human resources department in 2001, departed their posts later, with SAG saying they had left for other job opportunities.

In addition to firing Nguyen in March, 2001 McGuire and Chassman also dismissed Celine Bae, Asian-American employee from the affirmative action department, and placed its then-chief for three years , Heisser Metoyer, who until then received many industry commendations, on leave during the same week, firing her on May 31, 2001.

SAG later hired David White, African-American, formerly of O’Melveny and Myers as Senior Legal Counsel, who consistently throughout the last years, declined comment on all of the suits and execs refused to disclose any details about the cases to the national executive committee, which is composed of national board members.

“The suits are yet another complication embroiling the union, which has historically been beset by internal and external battles and [racial] strife.” By not speaking publicly, SAG has kept the discrimination lawsuits in the background.

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.

Member Benefits and Privileges

SAG contracts with producers contain a variety of protections for Guild performers. Among these provisions are: minimum rates of pay, first class airfare and travel insurance, adequate working conditions, strict safety requirements, special protection and education requirements for minors, arbitration of disputes and grievances, and affirmative action in auditions and hiring.

Standardized Pay and Work Conditions

All members of the Guild agree to only work for producers who have signed contracts with SAG. These contracts spell out in detail the responsibilities that producers must assume when hiring SAG performers. Specifically, the SAG basic contract specifies: the number of hours performers may work, the frequency of meal breaks required, the minimum wages or "scale" at which performers must be compensated for their work, overtime pay, travel accomodations, wardrobe allowances, stunt pay, private dressing rooms, and adequate rest periods between performances.

The Producers Pension and Health Plans

Performers who meet the eligibility criteria [3] of working a certain number of days or attaining a certain threshold in income derived from SAG productions can join the Producers Pension and Health Plans offered by the Guild. The eligibility requirements vary by age of the performer and the desired plan chosen (there are two health plans). There is also Dental, Vision, and Life & Disability coverage included as part of the two plans.

Residuals

The Guild secures residuals payments in perpetuity to its members for broadcast and re-broadcast of films, TV shows, and TV commercials through clauses in the basic SAG agreements with producers.

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 extremely controversial. Some factions within SAG call it a success, asserting that it not only saved Pay-Per-Play (residuals) but it also increased cable residuals by 140% up from $1,014 to $2,460. Others suggest almost identical terms were available in negotiation without a strike. In the wake of the strike, 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

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