SAG-AFTRA is working to limit the damage as the actors’ union is forced to face the extent to which the current decline in domestic production has crippled its members.
The union revealed some sobering figures this weekend during the national board’s in-person plenary, including that less than 1% of its members will benefit so far from the bonus distribution fund that above-the-line guilds demanded during 2023 negotiations with the AMPTP.
About $1.5 million will soon be disbursed from the fund to about 700 artists to work on big-budget SVOD projects launching in 2024, the guild announced Monday in its preview of the in-person meeting. That’s about 0.4 percent of the guild’s more than 160,000 members, more than 100,000 of whom are considered actors and performers.
Details about who will benefit are expected to be revealed in the coming weeks, as are some changes to the union’s health plan, which has also ruffled feathers since SAG-AFTRA agreed to steep cuts in exchange for a much-needed infusion into the health fund during negotiations with the studios earlier this year.
In a video message Monday, SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin attempted to allay concerns, admitting “a palpable disconnect between the work of this union and the lived experience of too many of our members.”
“I think a lot about the working-class actor who was hired fairly regularly to build a life, someone who could earn a living, raise a family, maintain health coverage and maybe even retire with some security,” he said. “Part of what made this possible was residual income. For decades, it allowed actors and their families to survive during the inevitable periods between jobs. Cable and then streaming gradually dismantled that system, and we spent years fighting to get it back. What we got back was substantial, but it’s nowhere near what it was.”
SAG-AFTRA was optimistic about implementing a streaming achievement bonus in 2023, as was the Writers Guild of America. This is one of several burning issues that led to a historically long double strike that lasted half the year. Since that contract was finalized, unions have spent the last several years trying to implement this bonus distribution, which is why performers are only now receiving checks for their work released two years ago.
As Deadline reported at the time, the success bonus has a very high threshold that makes it difficult for most projects to qualify. For SAG-AFTRA, any title exceeding the audience threshold will trigger a payment to each lead performer equivalent to 100% of the fixed residual. However, the artist will only receive 75% of this payment; the remaining 25% will be paid into a fund controlled by both SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP administrators and distributed among the rest of the union members. There are still no specific details on how that 25% is distributed and to whom — or whether those distributions are included in Monday’s SAG-AFTRA numbers.
Astin spent most of his 12-minute speech asking members to hold on a little longer, especially in the face of some brutal maneuvers ahead. At the end of October, SAG-AFTRA returns to its regular membership policy, meaning that members who are not caught up on their dues will be terminated.
However, while he acknowledged that “few issues weigh more heavily on our members than health care,” Astin had little else to say on the topic. In its memo to the national board’s plenary session, the union noted some improvements for senior members receiving expanded retiree health credits, although it had nothing to say about growing complaints from high-ranking members about their difficulties qualifying and affording services in the first place.
Last week, actor Drake Bell called out the union after revealing he didn’t have health insurance because he didn’t qualify for it, having failed to meet the $28,933 in annual income contracted by the union.
“Don’t become an actor. Don’t join SAG,” Bell captioned his Instagram Stories post. “You can work steadily for 35 years and they’ll say (middle finger emoji).”
Bell is not alone. Cecily Strong also recently lamented the rising prices of mental health coverage through union insurance plans earlier this year. Atypical actor Jack Haven and Princess Diaries Star Heather Matarazzo also recently revealed that they would lose their health insurance if they don’t find more work soon.
After almost losing access to his own insurance (and getting an anonymous role on the CBS show) Matlock to cross the threshold), actor Cheyenne Jackson launched a social media initiative to highlight other SAG-AFTRA artists at risk of losing their coverage.
“I’m starting a little series called ONE JOB AWAY, spotlighting other actors who are about to qualify for their SAG health insurance and might need a little help with that next booking,” Jackson wrote in an Instagram post Monday. “I’ll share their faces, their work, and how to reach them. Casting directors, producers, friends who do things… maybe your next hire will be someone you meet here. Actors… Send me your info in a private message if you’d like to be featured.”
He says he has already received “hundreds” of submissions.
Gn entert
