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- Depending on your type of production,

and sometimes the budget you have,

you may want to consider working with union talent.

SAG-AFTRA is an American labor union

that represents actors and performers

in film and television, radio,

video games, and broadcast journalism.

There are special contracts and rules

you must follow in order to use

union talent in your production.

So why would you want to use them?

In general your union actors tend to have more experience.

They're required to have a certain amount of on-set

time before they can get their

SAG-AFTRA card, but not all the time.

Sometimes they're only on one production

that's SAG-AFTRA eligible before

they actually get their card.

So does that mean they're more experienced?

Not necessarily.

But in general, they do have more experience.

When you open your production to SAG-AFTRA talent,

this will increase your pool of

potential experienced actors.

When you use union talent, this actually will work

to ensure that you have reasonable

working conditions on set.

With independent film a lot times you're

working really long days with very few breaks.

But when you use union talent, you're

required to take those breaks and

your hours are regulated by contract.

When you use union talent, a lot of people

will consider your production professional.

It's an industry standard to use

SAG-AFTRA talent in your productions.

If you want to have them taken seriously.

That said, I don't believe that non-union is

the same thing as non-professional.

I was a non-union actor for many years

and I didn't consider myself to be a

non-professional actor.

So when should you consider union talent?

Well first you want to evaluate your goals.

Are you making films as a career?

Do you want to work with a famous

name actor in your production?

You want to think about your budget.

Can you afford to work with less experienced actors?

That might sound odd, but when you're using

less experienced talent, you're going to be doing

more takes and taking up more time,

and therefore that means more money making your production.

And you want to think about your needs.

Do you need a lot of older actors in your production?

SAG-AFTRA actors tend to skew older

because of the experience that's required to become one.

Do you have a large cast?

Do you just need to look at a larger pool

of actors that includes union and non-union talent?

Or do you want to hire a specific union actor

for your film?

Here's a picture of some of the actors we used

in a fantasy web series I produced

called The Broken Continent.

We needed over 65 of them, so we needed

a good mix of ages and types.

So we went with union and non-union actors.

In the next movie, I'll give you some

resources for finding union talent.

For more information on SAG-AFTRA

casting and contacts, visit their website at sagaftra.org.