What is the difference between a Union and a Non-Union project?
A Union project is a project that is being produced under a Union contract. It could be a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) or an American Federation of Television and Radio Arts (AFTRA) contract. I am going to use SAG as an example for this blog to keep things simple. On a Union project, SAG has listed rules and guidelines that must be met by the production company to protect the SAG actors who are working on the project. A few examples of items that may be listed on the contract are the minimum amount of pay the actor needs to receive, regulations on hours being worked on set, meal breaks for the actors, safety on the set and…the list goes on. If the production company fails to abide by the contract, SAG will protect the actors and deal with the production company. There are many many many benefits to being a member of SAG…too many to list on this blog. You’ll just have to continue to visit our site to learn more. 
A Non-Union project is project that is being made by a production company without a contract with one of the Unions. Often these projects are fairly low in budget, made by companies just starting out, shot out of the country, made by foreign companies or…made by big companies who are…just plain old cheap. The pay on these jobs will usually be less than Union jobs, may pay a flat fee to the actor…without residuals, may shoot in far away locations, may work longer days than Union jobs and/or may not have the best working conditions. Geez! That sounded really bad.
Bottom line- Keep working hard so you become a member of SAG. Projects under the SAG contract are the best projects around and they are what all succesful actors work on. With that said, there are Non-Union jobs that may be worth taking…in my opinion. If you are not SAG…yet…and are presented with a Non-Union opportunity…you need to find out as much about it as you can and decide whether it is worth taking or not. If you are new to the business, it may be the experience you need. It will add a credit to your resume, it may give you good footage for a demo reel and you may even get a chunk of change. All Non-Union jobs are different. Before I became a member of SAG, I worked on several non-union projects. Luckily for me, most were pleasant…only one was a bad experience. Get the details of the project, ask a lot of questions, seek guidance from an industry professional if you know someone and… make the call. It’s up to you! Do keep in mind that you will not be working on Non-Union jobs for ever…I hope.
I’d love to hear from our readers on this subject. Tells us about your Non-Union experiences…
Lorena
