What different unions will I work with?

What different unions will I work with?

Ben Lyons (Producer) gives expert video advice on: What is 'scale'?; What different unions will I work with?; How can I get actors, make-up artists and crew to work for little or no money? and more...

When making an independent film you're going to deal with the Screen Actors Guild, SAG, as that's what every actor who's working in insured films is a part of. You're also going to be dealing with the Writers Guild of America when making your independent film because you want to copyright your material and make sure that no one steals your scripts, so you're going to be registering your scripts with the WGA. But most independent films are not union films, the crew is paid freelance. Different crews have different unions that they're a part of in making a studio film, and there's certain rules that go with that. You can only work a certain number of hours a day, or a certain amount of time without being fed. But sometimes in an independent film, those things have to go out the window because of money, so people know what they're getting into before they sign up. Sometimes you work 18-hour days and you're only paid in food, so that's the way it goes in an independent film.