"The Dairy of a Wedding Planner"

Thanks to Brandi Ford I am now "Taft-Hartlied".  It was a fun role. I only had a speech. It was not as easy as I thought since there was no partner and thus no cues!  Here I am looking askance at the pregnant bride!
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                        VIDEO:  Episode 2, Wedding Nazi's
              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpqgml7wkwI



Thanks to Brandi Ford I am now SAG-E,  it took three years to achieve that.  All agree not to join unless it's for the "right" role. Once a member one can no longer do Non-union work.
It is funny because when I was a kid in a liberal (politically) household, Taft-Hartly was railed against as a union busting legislation.  SAG will be happy to get my $2400.00 !
                              When to join SAG?
This has always been a difficult decision. I made a post on AAs Showfax, a site where actors can post questions and get some fine answers form more seasones actors I mad a post asking if I ought to add
SAG-E to my resume.  I did mention that I was now eligible to join.
                Here is one in depth response from "WTJ."
"SAGe on your resume means you are allowed to join SAG at any time. But it doesn't necessary mean you are able to join or that you are willing to pay the membership fee to join. It is quite expensive to join SAG.
It makes no difference for non-union auditions or jobs. SAGe and non-union are the same thing. But for a union job it could make quite a difference.



Let's say, for example, you audition for a day player role on CSI Miami and the producer likes your audition and wants to hire you. The producer now has a dilemma. If he hires you and you don't join SAG immediately, and you do the job, he is subject to a stiff fine from the union. Frequently an audition is held on Monday for a role that shoots Wednesday or Thursday. That's not much time. Are you sure SAG has their records in order so you can join at the drop of a hat? How sure can the producer be? How can he be sure you really will pay the membership fee when you are getting paid only $809 for the day. Even months down the road, the residuals for that one day of work is not likely to pay enough to cover the fee.



At the audition you can always say you have the money and will join if you get the part. But it is unlikely the producer will even be at the audition. You will probably be on tape being filmed by a 20 year old assistant that has nothing to do with decision making. The producer will watch the audition tapes later in the day or the next day. And even if the producer is there he most certainly has life experience with people saying they will do something that they don't do.
Some actors put SAG on their resume when they are really only SAG eligible. They are willing and able to join right away. They do this so CD's will not worry about their union status. The danger of doing this is that the CD may check with the union to see if the actor really is in the union.
I worked in an agent's office and sometimes the CD notices would tell us to submit only SAG actors. They would specify "No non-union and no SAG eligible actors." They simply did not want to deal with Taft Hartleys or the possibility of union fines. Why should they? They don't need to. They have more actors than they will ever need for day player or co-star roles which is the only roles you are likely to be considered for without major credits. The bigger roles come later when you have more credits.
So you very likely will not even be considered for serious SAG projects as a non-union or SAG eligible actor. You will miss being called in altogether. You won't even know the opportunities you are missing because you won't even be considered.
Professional actors are union actors. They are in the union. They aren't teetering back and forth. They hard charge for the big union projects and the big bucks. They don't mess around.
I'm not saying join the union. I don't know how you got your SAG eligible status. If you got it by doing a few lines, or even one line on prime time network TV, that's great. If you got it by doing a SAG commercial, that's good too. You were Taft Hartleyed for that and you are therefore SAG eligible. But if you got your SAGe through the voucher system doing extra work you still haven't got even one decent SAG TV or movie credit.
But then again, Jerry, at your age it's well past time to stop fooling around. Most SAG actors that are 50+ have dozens of major SAG credits listed on IMDb. Even if they've only added one or two credits a year for 30 or 40 years they've built up a ton of stuff. CD's actually expect to see that with older actors. But that doesn't mean you should get despondent going up against those guys. But you really have to shine. And the only way to shine is to be a great actor and be fully union otherwise you will not be brought in to audition for good stuff very often.

I would say, use your intuition. Is it time to join? Do you have an agent? Are you getting good pay doing non-union jobs? What does your gut feeling tell you?
I know you have a hard time resisting those student films that you book so easily. I get the feeling you still do extra work even though you don't like it. It's hard to do but sometimes you simply have to let go of the little, silly, stupid stuff. Yeah, that's right, I said it. It's stupid stuff. Those things may have had some value at one time in the beginning but not any more.
Maybe now it's time to go for the gold and only the gold even if there is danger and high risk. Holding on to the past can be a real drag that never allows you to shine like a star. "






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                                                                  MY RESPONSE

                     I will try to cover a few of your points.

1. My excellent agent says not to join 'til you have to.

2. The student film I am on now should be good quality. I have seen his work. I am the lead too, that helps. It has been very physical. The "stunts" are easy, but the takes are endless. I do feel it.
I took the gig cause I was very free.
3.Background? NO. the only reason would be for SAG vouchers and that need has been met. Would I do BG? I guess so, but under very special circumstances.

4. I was Taft-Hartlied and had a few good lines,

I know once in the union I cannot take NU work. I hate to be inactive for long. My gut feeling might be to go for it, but my excellent agents opinion matters a lot.

Thanks for your in depth reply.
                                "I am too old to wait for success, so I am going ahead with out it!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8jE6JQSJIo

http://jerryestensenioractor.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-have-been-acting-for-less-than-3.html

I study with Brian Reise.