SAG and SAG INDIE

[Superheidi]

Does anyone know about SAG indie and what scale is?

what is the difference between SAG indie and regular SAG scale pay?

Which actors/actresses that we know of in the horror circle are SAG or SAG indie?

[ScottSpears]

SAG and SAG Indie are the same things. SAG Indie is just an offshoot of SAG which was made to deal with low budget folks and the new contracts which SAG has created for low budget folks like the "Experimental" contract.

Pays (I'm a little fuzzy on this, but here are some estimates)
Experimental (budget $75,000 and under) $0
Low Budget Modified: $100/day
Low Budget: $250/day
Scale: $650/day

Now there are some catches to the Experimental contract. My advice is contact SAG Indie and ask for their booklet which lays out all the contracts. The scariest thing about the Experimental contract is if you do get a distributiona deal, you have to get permission from every SAG actor to release the movie and you can't do it in advance.

Scott

[littlenothing]

You can check out the SAG Indie website here: www.sagindie.org. You can look at all the different (abbreviated) contracts and all the various permutations of the rates and restrictions.

I just finished a no-budget film using SAG actors where we decided to go with the Limited Exhibition Agreement. We figured we could (albeit barely) afford to pay the actors some semblance of a salary now (affording us some good will from the actors) and then when we get distribution we’ll only have to make up the difference between the Limited Exhibition Agreement rates and the Low Budget Agreement rates.

This is one thing you have to keep in mind: if you do go with Experimental, Limited Exhibition, or Modified Low Budget Agreement, once the film is acquired you will be bumped up to the Low Budget Agreement…and the rates that go along with that. And those rates have to be paid to the actors before the film can be distributed.

Also keep in mind (another thing that kinda blind-sided us), if you go with anything other than the Experimental Agreement, you will have to obtain the services of a payroll company. Add about 20% of the actors’ gross salaries for their services and various taxes. And add about 14% for the SAG Health & Pension plan you’ll be required to pay into for your actors. And get your workers comp insurance through the payroll company (add about 7% for that), or you’ll end up paying through the nose when you get overeager and add the workers comp onto your general liability insurance (not that I’m talking from experience, or anything…yeah).

Finally, you’ll also want to keep this in mind (d**n hindsight, d**n 20-20): an actor’s workday is 8 hours. Regardless of how long your can convince your crew into working, your actors’ workday is still only 8 hours. Anything over 8 hours becomes time-and-a-half. And if you’re shooting a no-budget feature, 8-hour days aren’t really an option. So: stagger your actors so that some come in early, some later, and they all only work 8 hours; find actors who don’t mind cheating the timecard; or just be prepared to pay through the nose.

There’s a lot of paying through the nose going on, huh? But, despite the paying-through-the-nose part, we got some freakin' fantastic actors who brought their sh*t to the table every day of the shoot. Worth every overinflated and unexpected penny SAG is charging us. (And I mean that in the most un-cynical way possible.)

[tonemeister]

at our budget level, we don't feel the need to use sag actors as of yet. luckily we live in new york where we have hundreds of good quality non sag actors to choose from. right now we would rather spend the budget on equipment, locations and production. the pay is low if any at all but the food is delicious and plentyful we try to send food home with people as much as possible. all our actors i must say really stepped up to the plate when asked and gave 1000% with the exception of one or two who started asking what time we would be done before they even stepped foot on the set. with a cast of over 50 people i guess we did ok.