copywritten for Ambient Skies
One of the first lines in your production budget will be for
front of camera performers. Whether you’re booking David Duchovny or Dave
Debutant your production is going to need to conform to Screen Actors Guild
rules and SAG rates. These are the minimum amounts of money talent must make
for a given production. However, calculating your production’s SAG rates can be
harder than casting.
Pay rates vary based on the agreement in play and that
depends on the type of production and the total budget (and sometimes the
distribution plan). There are both daily and weekly scales with discounts
usually on offer for weekly rates. In addition, different classes of performer
will command different fees.
Before you can even roll the camera, you’ll have to submit
both a budget and copy of your screenplay to SAG for approval.
The following will give you a general idea of what to expect
to budget for your cast but you should also check out https://www.wrapbook.com/essential-guide-sag-rates/
which has further detail and the rate cards at source https://www.sagaftra.org/production-center/
We’ve also included here, common rates for budgeting the
marketing of your show with social influencers.
H2 What are SAG AFTRA rates?
SAG AFTRA rates are the minimum amounts of money the Screen
Actors Guild https://www.sagaftra.org/ will allow its members to work for on a
given project.
Hiring talent on SAG weekly rates will get you a discount.
However, that does mean you’ll have to pay for the rest of production on those
days too.
It’s important to note that that you’ll have to pay an
additional 18 to 18.5% on your SAG payroll for health and benefits, called
“fringes.”
Additionally, you’ll need to ensure that you have an
insurance policy that’s SAG-friendly. Luckily insurance providers like Wrapbook https://www.wrapbook.com/essential-guide-sag-rates/ can
spin up a policy that is SAG compliant, while lowest cost to you.
H2 SAG AFTRA Theatrical Rates
SAG Theatrical Rates apply to actors performing in
films across a variety of budgets and where the film has had an initial
theatrical release. For a production destined straight for a streaming platform
where the budget is over $1 million then you’ll need the New Media agreement https://www.wrapbook.com/essential-guide-sag-rates/#SAG%20New%20Media%20Rates
SAG breaks theatrical agreements down by budget. Within
that, the rates vary according to whether the actor is a principal (lead) which
carries the same pay weighting a stunt performer/coordinator or extra. As a
couple of examples:
SAG Basic Theatrical Agreement https://www.sagaftra.org/files/20172020wagesthatrical11_28_18_1.pdf
is for feature productions over $2.5
million. The SAG day rate for main performers $1,005, and $3,488 per week.
It’s only a minimum. Agents will negotiate rates far in
excess of the basic for leading talent on the biggest budget movies. Background
actors are paid $174 a day.
The SAG Moderate Low Budget Agreement applies to non-episodic
shows with budgets between $300,000 and $700,000 and has a day rate of $335 and
weekly rate of $1166.
The SAG Ultra Low Budget Agreement for films that are
$250,000 or less. There is no weekly SAG scale for these projects, but the day
rate is $125.
SAG Short Project Agreements cover films that have total
budgets less than $50,000 and a maximum running time of 40 minutes. Unlike
other SAG day rates, actor salaries are completely negotiable and you don’t
need to ensure a theatrical screening. Films made under this agreement can be
released at film festivals and on free-streaming sites like Vimeo.
Calculating your SAG rates for TV is by far the most
confusing since rates here are determined by the number of episodes, and more
often than not, the episode’s length. They are in detail here: https://www.sagaftra.org/files/20172020wagesTV.pdf.
Here’s a couple as guidelines.
If you need an actor for just one episode of your series to
say a few lines you’re looking at $1,005 a day, $2,545 for three days, or
$3,488 for the entire week.
SAG actors who appear in half or more of a season’s given
episodes are paid weekly for their time, with $3,488 per week for appearing in
every episode, $3,993 per week for appearing in more than half, and $4,656 per
week for appearing in half.
Note that these rates are for performers of cable and
streaming shows. For network shows, producers should plan to budget an
additional 15 percent
H2 SAG AFTRA Commercial rates
SAG commercial rates depend on where and how many times the
commercial is aired. Instead of a weekly or day rate, principal actors in SAG
commercials earn $89 dollars an hour. However, a producer must pay a fee to air
the ad, followed by additional charges each time it airs. However, SAG offers
different agreements (marked A, B or C) that allow producers to essentially ‘buy
in bulk,’ depending on where the commercial will be airing.
The vast majority of SAG commercials are Class A, meaning
that the commercial will air in over twenty cities. This is your bracket if you
are shooting a national commercial that will air on four major networks (FOX,
NBC, ABC, CBS).
For further details: https://www.sagaftra.org/production-center/contract/802/rate-sheet/document
H2 SAG AFTRA New Media rates
If your project is going straight to the web and your budget
is less than $1,000,000, even it’s for Netflix, then this is the rate sheet to
look at. https://www.sagaftra.org/files/2017%20Special%20New%20Media%20Agreement%20Rate%20Sheet.pdf
For New Media projects less than $250,000 (but greater than
$50k), expect to pay performers a minimum rate of $125 per day and
background/stand-ins $96. Shows with budgets up to $700k should expect to pay
major performers either $335 per day, or $1,116 per week and extras $130 a day.
If your project falls between $700,000 and $1,000,000, the minimum you’ll have
to pay SAG talent is either $630 per day, or $2,190 per week with extras $166
daily.
SAG Music Promo rates
Performer fees are negotiable (they will be the band members
so would presumably wave a fee). The day rate minimum for dancers is $562 on
promos costing $200k or more. The day rate for background actors is at least
10% above the applicable jurisdictional minimum wage. The rate card is here: https://www.sagaftra.org/files/2019MVRateSheet.pdf
H2 How
much do influencers charge?
If you are going to put some heft into marketing your
project you’d be remiss not to include social media influencers. Celebrities,
professionals, critics, and commentators make waves connecting with legions of
fans across multiple platforms and in an array of formats from simple Tweets to
Insta Stories.
An influencer’s social media post is essentially an ad
placement but there’s no standardisation around pricing. Indeed, it’s the wild
west of advertising. Some influencers may be underpaid for their services,
while others will over charge.
Some actually charge nothing at all; you may be able to work
out a quid pro quo kind of incentive that gives them something in return for free
publicity.
A starting point is the one cent per follower rule (or $100
per 10,000 follower). From there, you can adjust and take other factors into
consideration, such as engagement rate, budget, campaign length, and other
partnership specifics.
According to one report, https://www.webfx.com/influencer-marketing-pricing.html
on average influencers will charge:
Facebook influencer: $25 per 1000 followers
Instagram Influencer: $10 per 1000 followers
Snapchat Influencer: $10 per 1000 followers
YouTube Influencer: $20 per 1000 followers
You don’t have to book a Kardashian to amplify your audience.
Influencers are usually placed into three categories based on audience size:
Micro influencers, Power and Macro influencers. For a breakdown of these head
to https://tinuiti.com/blog/paid-social/how-much-do-influencers-charge/.
Regardless of what social media influencer rates are,
however, it’s important to look at them from a purely financial standpoint –
just like you would an ad placement. Good questions to ask are, what’s the
potential reach and return and investment? Does their audience line up with
your target market, Could you reach that audience another way? Have they done
something similar and what have the results been?
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