?? for professional Actors RE: Equity Card & SAG?

Question

I'm trying to become an actress and to join the Equity & SAG world.
I've gone to the websites and am just confused. Can any pro actors give someone some good advice 4 someone who is trying to make it where you are at?

No stupid or dirty answers please to gain points!

Thank you.

Answer 1

There are already some great and thorough answers here so I'll just add my own 2 cents to the discussion. I completely agree that just because you CAN join the union doesn't mean you necessarily SHOULD join. Turning equity or SAG too soon can absolutely kill your career. I have so many friends who got their cards at 20 or 21 and they never ever work. I'm a professional singer here in southern california and I have a tremendous passion for musical theater. By choice, I have never had any desire to get my equity card but I work all the time as a nonunion performer. By work, I don't mean bit ensemble parts, but I regularly do leads at almost all the major equity houses here in Southern California. Being a guy makes it little easier of course and my situation is certainly more the exception than the norm. Being non-union is actually to my advantage. Like previously mentioned, most theaters can't afford to cast entirely equity and usually settle for a combination of the two. In my situation, theaters can perhaps pay me a little less, but still receive just as good or even better performance than my equity counterpart. I have plenty of equity acquaintances who hate it when they see me walk into an audition because I repeatly get cast over them. Now, don't get me wrong, it's taken me many years of diligent hard work to get to this point. I acted in dozens of lower level community theater productions while I honed my craft. It's certainly not something you can do overnight. At this point in my career, I've had enough opportunities and amassed enough points to have gone union several times but I don't really have any immediate plans to do so. Of course my situation is unique because I have degrees in finance and I have a very good paying day job. My theater performing is just a hobbie. If I had to completely support myself through theater I might consider getting my card because the pay is certainly better but then again it's all dependent on booking the jobs so who knows. To be honest, and I don't mean any offense to any AEA members out there and this is simply my opinion, but I don't particularly think Equity is the greatest of unions (I certainly know many other unions who do much more for their members). Over the years, I've just seen too many cases where equity through stupid rules and regulations, have hurt a person's career more than they've helped. Anyway, just my humble opinion. Good luck in your endeavors.

Answer 2

Actually, Katrina did not answer your question correctly. The answer is YES, you be a successful actor without a SAG card. Most true aspiring actors I know that truly are pursing acting are non-union and go to auditions for principle "SPEAKING" roles. They have agents and managers. If you love the world of background and want to be paid more for walking around in the back of scenes... then yes, SAG is way to go. Also, Katrina wrote "SAG-AFTRA is for professional actors (not wannabe actors)"... that is the biggest BS I read in a while. Coming from someone that is out there everyday, SAG actors in the world of BG are not auditioning and are content with being over paid BG. They are actually some of the worst actors out there. Most where grandfathered in when you could buy your way in thru AFTRA before the merge. Had nothing to do with talent. If you have an real agent, he or she will advise you not to BG work at all. So hope this helps you. If you do go SAG and want to be a serious actor. Stay away from BG. Based on all info she specifics she gave you... I guarantee she is SAG background with a fake IMDB page full of uncredited work. Good luck!

Answer 3

I agree with everything the other poster said, but wanted to add that one of the biggest mistakes young actors make is to join the unions the first chance they get, before they have a resume that makes them competitive.

I did it myself - joined SAG and AFTRA on my third on-camera job, and have struggled since. I simply didn't have the time to develop as a screen actor in small projects before I was trying to compete with the big kids.

I was smart enough, luckily, to learn my lesson, and turned down my Equity card twice before I felt I was ready to join. I lived in a small city that had lots of opportunity for a non-union actress and spent several years building my resume and gaining experience. I joined the EMC program, and earned weeks working as a "non professional," as Equity likes to call it, in Equity theatres. Finally, I was offered my card a third time, and decided to take it. Not long after, I moved to a bigger city where there were more opportunities for an Equity actress.

Now I make my living doing theatre. I always wonder if I had joined that first time I had the chance, whether I'd be here today. I certainly have never overcome the mistake I made by joining the screen actors' unions too early - if I do more than an extra job on a film or an industrial once a year, it's a lot of on-camera time for me. And that's fine - I prefer theatre, it's what I love to do - but I sometimes wonder what if...

Answer 4

You've already gotten two excellent responses to your question. Read them both carefully, as they're both filled with terrific advice. Let me underscore a couple of things.

There is a great deal of non-union work in both film and theatre that pays decently. There's far more of it, in fact, than there is union work. Keep honing your craft, refining your skills, and building your resume. You don't necessarily want to leap at the first opportunity to join one of the performing arts unions. Believe me, they are much, MUCH tougher nuts to crack.

Join when you're ready...and (especially) when you're EMPLOYABLE in that context.

In most major cities (I'm in Los Angeles, so I know it's true here), there are a number of theatres that regularly cast a combination of union and non-unions actors in their shows. These are terrific opportunities for young actors. Start working with professionals as soon as possible. Start to note for yourself how their approach to their work is different from that of non-professionals. Talk to the union actors; start to learn the various scenarios under which an actor can become a member of one of the unions.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Aside from the obvious answer, which is "start by becoming an actress first, and then worry about the unions"....Understand a couple of things, starting with theatre. One: you can't just "join" Actors Equity. You have to be cast in a specific number of shows with Equity contracts, and earn credits toward becoming a member. You can do this on your own, or through the more formal Equity Membership Candidate program. Look on the Equity website under "Membership" for more details--and when in doubt, simply call or e-mail your regional Equity office. But as you can see, since it depends on being cast repeatedly, you can't GET cast until you're an actress, and a good one, so (going back to my first point) start with learning to act, audition, etc. Once you do that, you will meet Equity people, plenty of information will become available, and you'll understand much more about how to achieve what you're after.

But TWO: depending on where you live, being in the union can actually hurt your chances of working. Not all Equity theatres are required to hire complete casts of Equity members; usually there are more actors than jobs, so staying non-Equity can actually increase your chances of being hired in many cities. Not being in the union doesn't mean you can't be good, professional, and cast in shows.

SAG is a whole other matter entirely. You either have to be cast in a SAG film, or be a member of an affiliated union already. (Such as: if you're already a member of Equity, then you can get into SAG as a sister union.) Again: go to the SAG website, click on "Join SAG", and then click on "How Do I Qualify?" at the left. It will explain everything to you.

But I can't stress enough: unions are not clubs that you can just join. You have to qualify, and that's a long hard road. Don't put the cart before the horse. Again, though: when in doubt, ask the unions directly. They'll be happy to help you understand the process.

ADDENDUM: I move that nomadgirl, shkspr, RCollier27 and myself run Theatre & Acting from now on! (4 intelligent, well-thought-out-and-written, actually helpful answers in a ROW? On Yahoo Answers? Alert the media!)