Hi Bonnie,
We’ve been in contact before through castings, classes, and now your awesome BonBlasts. I’m sorry to drop in on you so suddenly, but I was wondering if you could answer a couple questions RE: my duties as a CD on a SAG ULB short.
- Do I need to have actors sign in on the Exhibit E form?
- Where do I send the completed copy of the Exhibit E’s once the auditions are over?
- Do I still need to Station 12 the actors even though it’s a ULB?
- Anything else I should be aware of?
Thanks so much, Bonnie! Normally, I do the commercial side of casting, but I know with ULB the rules are a bit flexible. Please advise and thank you once again for your time!
Awesome! Thanks for writing and congrats on the film casting gig! Now, here’s where it’s gonna be tough for me, because I haven’t cast anything under the Ultra Low Budget agreement since 2005, the year the contract was created. So, I’m gonna have to remember back to quite a few years ago, plus things may have changed since I last worked at that budget level.
Here’s what I do know: Exhibit E is for commercial audition sign-in only, so you won’t use that. There’s actually a sign-in form provided in your ULB signatory packet that you should use. Looking at the copy I have, it’s just called the “SAG Theatrical & Television Sign-In” and I know my copy is from pre-merger, so there may be a different title on the document they currently want you to use. I’d check with your producer’s signatory packet and use whatever was provided by the union in that production paperwork kit.
For the microbudget projects, where you’ll be doing no Taft-Hartley (because it falls below the budget level at which that’s possible, which is the case on Ultra Low, whether it’s a feature, webseries, pilot, or short shooting under that contract), you actually don’t turn in much at SAG (SAG-AFTRA, now, of course).
Because you can use union members and nonunion actors on ULB projects and there is no Taft-Hartley triggered by doing so, and because it’s assumed at this budget level that there will not likely be distribution or residuals paid out (and if that eventuality does come to pass, there’s another bit of paperwork involved, at which time you WILL have to turn over those documents), you actually just keep everything on file in-house at your casting office.
There is no need to clear anyone through Station 12, as your cast can include nonunion actors, and while the union would love for all its members to be paid-up, you don’t have to clear them as such for a project at the ULB level. Again, this is based on my recollection of work on the ULB contract in 2005 (and maybe stretching into 2006), but that’s been a long time, so there could be different requirements for turning in paperwork these days (but I doubt it).
So, check with the union to be 100% sure, of course, but I believe you just use the sign-in sheet provided in the ULB paperwork, and then you keep everything on file in-house in case the project “bumps up” to a contract tier at which everything has to be turned in at SAG-AFTRA. Once it’s been a few years and the project has done its time on the festival circuit without tier-jumping, you can archive the paperwork (keep a scanned copy and shred the originals) just in case, but only in rare circumstances are you asked to hand over materials from the auditioning and casting process of projects at such a low budget level.
Sure hope that helps, even though it’s “memories from the foggy past” for me. 😉 Congrats on your gig and stay in touch! Always great to hear from you.
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001650.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.