Member Advisory on Talent Agents

April 21, 2002 - This is a historical document posted here for the sole purpose of notifying the SAG membership of the National Board's actions immediately following the membership's rejection of the proposed 2002 agency franchise agreement. For clarification and additional information regarding SAG members' current rights, duties, and obligations with respect to their agents, they should consult the F.A.Q. portion of this section.

The members of Screen Actors Guild have stated clearly that the tentative agreement reached with ATA and NATR is unacceptable. Therefore the new Agency Franchise Agreement will not take effect.

In order that performers may continue in the pursuit of their careers with a minimum of disruption, the National Board of SAG unanimously adopted a motion calling for continued exploration of a variety of options to ensure protection for performers and, during this period, suspension of the member rule requiring that members deal only with franchised agents.

It is important to note that:

• There are some talent agencies that are no longer franchised by Screen Actors Guild. This means that those agents have no legal obligation to abide by the requirements of Rule 16(g), the SAG Agency Franchise Agreement, and that SAG cannot enforce the Agency Franchise Agreement against those agents. The Guild’s leadership will immediately engage in an active campaign to persuade agents to re-sign the Agency Franchise Agreement.
• Although members are permitted during this interim period to be represented by an ATA/NATR Talent Agent, members are advised not to sign individual representation agreements if the terms provide less protection than Rule 16(g), the SAG Agency Franchise Agreement. Examples of agreements which provide less protection are those with: a term longer than 3 years, a commission rate of greater than 10% and payment of commission on compensation including penalties, residuals, per diem, etc.