Last week, I took a well-deserved shot at your lovely union, but in the spirit of fairness, I must admit there are certain rules at SAG-AFTRA that I quite admire. What kind of rules? Well, I’m an agent, so naturally they all concern money and the way actors get paid.
I’ve been a 10-percenter for almost 10 years now, and during that time, I’ve seen certain union rules kick in and put quite a bit of scratch in my clients’ pockets. (And in mine!) This week, I’d like to discuss some of those rules because hey, you never know. When you least expect it, you might find yourself in the same position.
Let’s start with the standard drop/pick-up deal used on feature films.
I once had a client book a meaty role in a tentpole movie, the kind that takes forever to get done. They hired him for two days of work in January and two more weeks in February. This sort of spread happens all the time, and the union rule allowed the studio to drop my client after those first two days and then pick him up a month later without having to pay for the time in between. But here’s the catch. The union only allows one drop/pick-up, and after they finished his scenes, the director realized he needed my client for one
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