Principal Performers: Engagement

Do performers get paid for auditions?

• 1st and 2nd Auditions:  No payment is due for the first hour from the call time or arrival time, whichever is later. For each additional half-hour, a performer is entitled to $37.00.
• 3rd Audition:  No payment is due for the first 2 hours as long as 3 or fewer performers are called back per role, and none of those performers is on their first audition. Otherwise, a performer is entitled to $148.10 for the first 2 hours. For each additional half-hour over 2 hours, $37.00 is due.
• 4th Audition & thereafter:  No payment is due for the first 2 hours as long as 3 or fewer performers are called back per role, and none of those performers is on their first audition. (For each additional half-hour, $37.00 is due.) Otherwise, a performer is entitled to $296.10 for the first 4 hours. For each additional half-hour, $37.00 is due.
• Remember to use your SAG member ID number, not your Social Security number, to prevent identify theft and to sign in and out. If you are entitled to audition overtime and do not receive a check within 12 business days, contact the SAG office so that a claim can be filed.  Do not use “on file” on the audition sign-in sheets. Please be aware that if you do not put down an ID #, you may not be paid. Additionally, Pension and Health contributions are made on audition payments – yet another reason to make sure you are properly compensated.

What does “clean contract” mean?
On the front of the standard SAG employment contract, there are 4 separate boxes to check if you do not consent to use of your commercial on the Internet, as a dealer commercial, on New Media, and/or on a simulcast. On the reverse side, two separate paragraphs grant rights to producer for foreign and theatrical/industrial use. Although not a contractual term, “clean contract” is used by producers to mean as a condition of employment, that you must grant these rights at the time of booking at scale, i.e., you may not mark your contract by checking off these boxes or crossing out the paragraphs.

In the event that the producer did not acquire these rights at the time of booking, the performer should check the boxes on the front and strike the paragraphs on the back. By doing so, the producer must come back to you and negotiate for these rights. If there is any question as to whether any of these rights were granted to producer, check with your agent before signing your contract.

Can a producer require the performer to accept a “clean contract” as a condition of auditioning for a commercial?
No. Performers cannot be required to accept minimum fees as a condition of auditioning.  A producer is permitted to state the company’s intent to offer a performer the minimum fees; however the producer is obligated to advise the performer at the same time of his/her right to negotiate for better terms and conditions. 

What is the difference between a “first refusal” and a “hold”?
When a casting director issues a “first refusal” it means that a final casting decision has not been made; the casting director is requesting that the performer contact him/her before accepting a booking for another job on the same day(s), i.e., giving the original producer the first opportunity to book the person. A “first refusal” is not a booking and the performer has no contractual obligation to get back to the casting director or turn down the second job nor does the producer owe a cancellation fee if the performer is not used. As a professional courtesy, it is suggested that the performer advise the casting director of the second job before accepting the booking.

If a performer has been put on “hold,” the producer has engaged the performer and a cancellation fee is due if the producer cancels the engagement.  A cancellation fee would not be paid when a performer is placed on an “avail” and not used.

These terms are not always used properly. If you have a question as to whether you have been definitely booked, you or your agent should ask the casting director, “Is this a booking?”

When is the session payment due for a commercial?
Session payment for a commercial is due 12 business days after the session.

How is overtime paid?
A principal performer receives time-and-one-half for the ninth and tenth hours and double time thereafter, in hourly units. Principal performers receiving more than two times the session fee per commercial per day receive time-and-one-half instead of double time after the tenth hour.

Are session and residual checks for members sent to the Guild?
Normally, session and residual checks are sent to the performer directly, or to whomever the performer has designated on the employment contract (such as to his/her agent).  However, checks for Spanish and Asian language commercials, as well as for claims that have been filed, are sent directly to the Guild, and in turn, are forwarded to the performer.  

What is the difference between sweetening and multiple tracking (Singers)?
Multiple tracking, which requires an additional 50% of the original fee for solos and duos, is a re-recording over the original track or adding another track, electronically or mechanically, which contains the same material as recorded on the original track.  Sweetening, which requires an additional 100% of the original fee for solos and duos, is the addition of a new or variant track over the original track. Group performers are paid an additional 50% of the original fee for unlimited multiple tracking and/or sweetening.