Awards season is awesome for many reasons. Many actors use it as a way to gauge the industry’s temperament and see whether or not their predictions about who would win will come true.
Others simply like to check out the fancy dresses and designer wardrobes on their favorite stars. Admittedly, I do both LOL!
However, there is one show in particular that gets under my skin and always has. I’m talking about The SAG Awards, and I’m far from being the only one who feels this way.
Most actors won’t speak up on this, even though there are some very valid concerns. The reason that The SAG Awards gets under our skin, is that there are some inherent problems with SAG itself.
Whether you agree with them or not is mostly irrelevant. What’s important is that, if you don’t navigate the SAG organization correctly, your career will likely never get off the ground.
However, if you do navigate SAG correctly, you can put yourself on the road to having a career that exceeds your wildest dreams and even maybe even be at the SAG Awards Show itself.
First let’s talk about how to get your SAG card...
If you have been in the industry for any length of time, you should have already come to the realization that doing what everyone else in the industry does, is a sure fire way to never reach your goals.
Why?
Because most actors never come anywhere close to accomplishing their goals, so doing what they do, will get you to where they got.
While I have a love-hate relationship with SAG, I want to back up for a second and clarify something.
All things considered, I do believe in SAG and I think it’s an indispensable part of the industry. At its core, it provides better opportunities for its members and it ensures that actors are compensated fairly for their efforts, and have a safe work environment.
However, I don’t think it should be so difficult for actors to become SAG eligible and join the union.
On one hand, I understand the reason for making actors jump through hoops to get in. It ensures that only serious actors who truly want to build a career are allowed into the union.
More on that in a sec...
On the other hand, it shouldn’t be so difficult for aspiring actors to become eligible.
See, SAG productions are allowed to hire non SAG actors but they have to jump through several hoops to do it.
On top of that, they have to pay a fine, and pay the nonunion actors at SAG rate which makes it more expensive to hire them.
Because of this, most productions go the simpler and more economical route by sticking with hiring union actors
That’s where the problem is. You need union credits to become SAG eligible but no one wants to hire nonunion actors.
So how in the world are you supposed to get your SAG card?
It does take a bit of work but there is a faster and simpler way to do it. Thanks to the increasing amount of content being distributed online and through other “nontraditional” forms, SAG was forced to create the New Media division, to keep up with the times.
This has created an opportunity for you to basically grant yourself SAG eligibility, even if you don’t have any SAG credits to your name.
See, if you produce a series that is to be distributed on the web, and you abide by all of the SAG guidelines you can grant yourself a Taft-Hartley voucher and make yourself eligible to join the union.
The process is simple and you can tap your network of friends and industry contacts to help you put it all together.
When you go through this process you will also learn a ton about how productions actually come together which is valuable experience that will serve you well in building your career.
A word of caution: SAG does have a “Legitimacy of Application” clause which is intended to prevent people from abusing this method of becoming eligible.
So, don’t think you can get away with filming 30 second monologue and calling it a day.
You have to put together a real production with real artistic value to make the cut, but if you are serious about becoming a professional actor that’s what you should be doing anyway.
You will need to either write a script or partner with a screenwriter. Either way, you will learn a ton about storytelling and character building through that.
You will need to ensure that you are following SAG guidelines, which will give you intimate knowledge of the “business” side of the industry and how it works.
If you choose to direct the series, then you will learn how to pull an actor’s best performance out of them, and in turn become better at pulling your own best performance from yourself too.
Even by planning the shots, you will learn so much about cinematography and staying in frame. This is experience you can’t get anywhere else.
The rules for making your production SAG compliant do change often, so reach out to them early on in your planning phase, and check again before you start filming to make sure nothing has changed.
You will first have to sign up as a SAG signatory production, which only takes a few minutes and can be done online.
After completing your application, SAG will send you a production packet to fill out and they will assign you a SAG representative.
Once you have wrapped, you can take your production contract and your pay stub into a SAG office to begin the process of becoming SAG eligible.
Doing this is simple, but hardly anyone goes through the steps required. Remember, doing what everyone else does will get you what everyone else gets.
So, deciding to go down this road will mean that you will be going above and beyond.
There’s a reason that most reputable agents won’t sign non union talent. When you become a member of the union, you will open up many doors that were previously closed to you.
Many actors make the mistake of thinking that joining the union will solve all their career problems.
While it is a big part of transitioning from aspiring actor to professional actor, it will only get your foot in the door.
Casting directors will of course be more receptive to calling you in, when you are a member of the union, but they will still look into you and your background before making a casting decision.
Here’s how you can show that you are a true professional during the casting process.
Whether or not you decide to get started on this now, you should always focus on building a solid industry reputation.
Union productions aside, all casting directors have a set of criteria by which they measure an actors “castability” and talent is only one of many factors.
If you truly want to become a professional actor, you will have to join the union somehow, at some point.
Whether that’s now or in the future, this is your logical next step.
Take at least that step now, so I can one day...
See you at the top,
Scott