The Actors Corner -

A Beginners Guide to Acting Unions

Membership in an acting union is an important career goal for any serious actor. At the start of your career, understanding how unions work and how to join can be confusing. This article provides a basic run-down of the three primary unions (AEA, SAG and AFTRA) along with how—and when—to steer your career toward union membership.

There are advantages to being a member. It gives your career an important stamp of legitimacy in a field that is swamped with available talent. Agents, managers and casting directors will see you as a professional. And of course, unions protect members from abuse. On a union project, you are assured reasonable compensation, safe working conditions and a system for lodging grievances. Depending on how often you work, you can also become eligible for health and pension benefits.

Many actors see joining a union as a sweet, personal reward for their dedication. Even performers who have gone on to become movie stars still remember when they “went Equity.” They happily tell those stories on the AEA Web site.

There are also unions beyond the big three. AEA and SAG both recognize the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA). The Guild of Italian-American Actors (GIAA), recognized only by AEA, specializes in actors eager to their highlight their Italian heritage. SAG also recognizes the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA). Once you’re a member of AEA or SAG, joining these other unions is pretty straightforward—just pay the fee. Membership in multiple unions can broaden your union work potential.

That said, less experienced performers should be cautious about joining unions too soon. Once you join, you can no longer take non-union work—and a lot of available work is non-union. Other emerging artists won’t be able to work with you and you won’t be able to work with them. Some performers try to work quietly on the side using alternate stage names, but getting caught carries serious penalties. You can be kicked out of the union.

Union work is also not easy to come by. According to AEA’s own annual report for the 2006-2007 season, only 14.3% of union actors were employed on any given week. That left a whopping 85% of AEA actors unemployed at any given time.

On the stage, an AEA actor will not be hired for every role in every show. Depending on the production, union contracts are sometimes saved for needed “types” that are more rare (i.e., older actors or hard-to-find ethnicities). An actress in her 20’s, for example, is just not that hard to find, so that role can easily go to a non-union actor. If you’re 24, female and in the union, you may miss out.

It certainly helps if you have exceptional talent or are a true triple threat (able to act, sing and dance extremely well). But being good is no guarantee that you’ll find work, especially if your resume is light on experience.

If experience is what you need, consider holding off on the union track. Take low or non-paying work and attend classes and workshops to build your resume. Joining a union means jumping into a much bigger pond. Ensure that when you do join, you can be competitive.

Once you have a professional headshot and a strong resume in hand, you may feel ready. Whether you’re exceptional or just plain determined (which can be just as important), here is an overview of the three primary unions and how to join.

Actors Equity Association (AEA)
The oldest of the performance unions, AEA was founded in 1913 and reigns over the world of live theater. Its 45,000 members are both actors and stage managers. On their behalf, the union regulates pay and working conditions and administers health and pension benefits.

It costs $1,100 to join the union but annual dues are very manageable: $59 paid twice a year. Equity takes additional “working dues” out of paychecks, but you don’t pay working dues if you don’t work.

There are three ways to join AEA: complete the AEA Membership Candidate program, use membership in a sister union to fast-track your entry or secure an AEA contract from a producer.

The AEA Membership Candidate Program (EMC) requires you to register for a modest fee ($100). You must then accumulate 50 weeks of acting work at theaters that participate in the EMC program.

If you’re already a member of an affiliated union, you can simply pay the membership fee to join.

If a producer or director really loves your work and has to fill the role with an AEA contract, they can “buy” you into the union.

Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
AEA is the oldest union, but SAG is the biggest. SAG represents approximately 120,000 actors. It regulates pay, working conditions and benefits for films, TV, commercials, the Internet, industrials and games.

The initiation fee for SAG is steep: $2,277. Membership dues are calculated on a sliding scale based on your earnings. The minimum is $58 paid twice a year.

Actors join SAG in one of two ways: getting hired on a SAG project or joining through a sister union.

If you work for one day in a principal role or for three days in a background role on a SAG project, you become “SAG eligible.” After 30 days, you can do no more union work without joining SAG. You don’t lose your eligibility if you decide to wait, so you can go back to non-union work—but only until your second SAG contract. Then you must join the union to take the job.

If you are a member in an affiliated union and have been paid for a principal role in that union, you can pay the initiation fee and immediately join SAG.

The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
AFTRA represents over 70,000 people. Membership in AFTRA is more varied than AEA or SAG. Actors are a primary constituency, but so are journalists and certain types of recording professionals. AFTRA represents a diverse collective of artists across entertainment and news: network and cable TV, radio, audio books, educational media, the Internet and games.

The initiation fee for AFTRA is $1,300. Minimum dues are $63.90 twice a year and they can go up based on earnings.

The AFTRA Web site states, “Any person who has performed or intends to perform professional work in any one of AFTRA's jurisdictions is eligible for membership.” In other words, anyone who wants to can join AFTRA. Just contact the local office, complete an application and pay the fee.

There is a hard line drawn between union and non-union careers, so joining a union is a serious decision. Armed with the facts, you can now consider where you are in your career and what makes the most sense for you. Maybe you need to spend a few more years studying and getting the experience to hone your craft. Or maybe you’re ready to run with the big dogs from now on.

-Back to Top

Interested in Moving to or from Hollywood?

If so, make sure to check out the Real Estate section.

- Back to Actors Corner