What to Know About Paying SAG-AFTRA Talent for Your Commercial
Hiring SAG-AFTRA talent for your commercials brings undeniable benefits—access to top-tier actors, credibility, and a guarantee of professional standards. As advertisers and producers, you likely already recognize the value union talent can bring to your commercial productions. However, the financial implications of this decision might be less familiar.
SAG-AFTRA costs under the Commercials Contract can be complex. Beyond the base pay rates, there are numerous additional expenses that can significantly impact your production budget. From pension and health contributions to residuals and session fees, these costs add up quickly.
By the end of this read, you'll have a clearer picture of the budgetary requirements for SAG-AFTRA talent, enabling you to make informed decisions and manage your production costs effectively. Let's dive into the essential details every advertiser and producer needs to know.
Understanding SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract
SAG-AFTRA has many agreements under its belt that vary per the type of project and scope details. The SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract spans over 250 pages that details all of their must follow rules and regulations.
The Commercials Contract outlines the special terms and regulations your production must comply with to develop a fair and orderly labor relationship between producers and union talent.
SAG-AFTRA has a tight policy on ensuring productions comply with all their terms and regulations under their contract, failure to comply can subject your production to added penalty fees.
SAG-AFTRA Costs for Union Talent
When hiring union talent within SAG-AFTRA, producers must pay residuals and pension and health on top of their daily wages. These costs are structured to ensure fair compensation for their union members and to ensure compliance with union regulations. Let’s dive into the details of each cost.
Session Fees
Session fees will vary depending on the role the performer has within the project, how many hours they work and how many commercials they appear in.
SAG Commercial Scale Principals
$783.10 for on camera principal and $588.90 for off camera principal.
SAG Commercial Scale Extras
$427.30 for general extras or body doubles
$469.90 for stand-ins
$651.80 for hand models
*All rates above based on an 8 hour shoot day for on camera performers or a 2 hour recording session for an off camera principal
Residuals
Residuals are an additional fee to add when onboarding principal performers and voice over actors for the use of their image in commercials across different platforms
How are residuals calculated?
Residuals takes into consideration the following factors of union performers in your shoot:
When and how often the project will air
Where the project will live
The role of the performer in the project
Pension and Health Contributions
SAG-AFTRA requires advertisers and producers to provide their union members with health insurance and retirement benefits during production. Currently, under the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract, producers are required to pay into the pension and health benefit plan and a fee of 20.5% of the total wages to the performer.
Additional Payments
Session fees, residuals and pension and health benefits are the fixed costs that must be added to the total cost of hiring union performers. However, additional costs may be incorporated into the union contract based on the project’s scope that producers must accommodate. Below we will outline additional provisions that could impact the overall cost of working with union talent.
Overtime
Rehearsal time
Night work
Weekend work
Work on holidays
Wardrobe allowances
Hazardous work
Extras agency fees
Meal penalties
Late Payment Penalties
These costs are set within the SAG-AFTRA Commercial’s contract that outlines rules and working conditions for producers to follow throughout production.
Conclusion
There are many costs involved when hiring union performers and being aware of all costs can save producers from running over their production budget.
CMS Productions is a third-party union signatory to the SAG-AFTRA Commercials, Corporate, Educational / Industrial & Interactive Media contracts with an expert team on these contracts to properly estimate and budget hiring union performers for your upcoming commercial.
CMS Productions is happy to assist you hire the best union performers for your next commercial project. Contact us today to set up a consultation.