This explains SAG-AFTRA's general rules as they appear in the union's agreements and help pages. It isn't legal advice, and the low budget agreements vary, so confirm the terms for your project with your SAG-AFTRA representative.
Why the rule exists at all
The name comes from the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, known as the Taft-Hartley Act, which reshaped how unions can require membership. As the NLRB describes current federal law, a union-security agreement can require employees to become members and start paying dues within 30 days of being hired. On a SAG-AFTRA set, that's why a producer can hire a non-member at all, and why the performer gets 30 days before membership becomes a condition of more union work.
The union's side of the bargain is preference of employment. Section 14 of the Codified Basic Agreement says that when hiring day performers, three-day performers, and most freelance performers, the producer gives preference to "qualified professional performers" who are reasonably and readily available. A qualified professional performer is defined as someone who has worked as a motion picture performer at least once in the three years before the proposed job. Freelance and three-day performers guaranteed at least double scale fall outside that preference.
Taft-Hartley is how you document a hire that falls outside the preference, or inside one of its exceptions.
Where preference applies
The preference applies within zones measured from named cities. The 2014 agreement lists Los Angeles and New York at 300 miles, Phoenix and Tucson at 150 miles, and 100 miles around Albuquerque, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Hawaii, Houston, Kissimmee, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. It adds 100 miles around any new union branch office and 50 miles around any production location the producer uses in the United States.
That last zone is the one people miss. A film shooting in rural Montana is still inside a 50-mile preference zone around its own location.
Reasons that hold up
Section 14.D lists the hires that are automatically outside the preference. Paraphrased:
| Exception | What it looks like on a real show |
|---|---|
| A recognized "name" specialty group | A known band playing itself in a bar scene |
| A person portraying themselves | A famous chef, athlete, or local figure appearing as themselves |
| Background actors upgraded for unscripted lines | An extra given a line by the director on the day |
| Military or government personnel where rules require them | Service members handling equipment on a base |
| Special skills, abilities, or unusual appearance not available among professionals | A working rodeo rider for a bronc scene, a fluent speaker of a rare language |
| First studio-zone job for someone trained and pursuing an acting career | A graduating conservatory actor, with the facts in writing to the union |
| Children under 18 | A 12-year-old cast from a school play |
| Owners or operators of special vehicles or equipment | The owner of a restored 1931 fire truck who has to drive it |
| Stunt coordinators | |
| Body doubles |
For the first five categories, the agreement says preference still applies to that same performer's later jobs with the producer. You can't cast the rodeo rider in a speaking role in your next film on the same justification.
The producer also has to report each hire under these exceptions promptly, with the reason. SAGindie puts it more bluntly than the contract: if you need "a seven-foot-tall redhead who can play banjo and speak Portuguese" and can't find a union actor to fit, you can Taft-Hartley that person, but being blonde and pretty isn't a special skill.
Filing the report
SAG-AFTRA's help center says the report is due within 15 days of the performer's initial work date. Your business representative provides the form. The report generally goes in with the performer's photo and resume and the reason for the hire.
A worked example. A Moderate Low Budget feature shooting in Albuquerque casts Rosa Delgado, a retired high school wrestling coach, as the wrestling coach in Scenes 12, 13, and 40. She has never acted. Casting checks her through Station 12 and she comes back as a non-member.
| Field | Entry |
|---|---|
| Performer | Rosa Delgado |
| Role | Coach Ramirez (Sc. 12, 13, 40) |
| Contract | Day performer, $449 per day |
| First work date | Tuesday, November 3, 2026 |
| Reason | Special skill and experience: 22 years coaching wrestling, runs the practice scenes and teaches the cast technique on camera. Professional performers with this background not readily available within the zone. |
| Attachments | Photo, coaching resume |
| Due | Wednesday, November 18, 2026 |
The reason names a skill the scenes use on camera. "Director's choice" or "great look" doesn't do that. If Rosa works November 3 and 4, it's still one hire and one report.
What getting it wrong costs
Section 14.F sets liquidated damages per breach, because actual damages to the union are hard to measure:
| Performer type | Liquidated damages per breach |
|---|---|
| Day performer | $500 |
| Three-day performer | $600 |
| Freelance performer | $800 |
Those are the figures in the 2014 Codified Basic Agreement. Later memoranda of agreement amend that contract, so confirm current amounts with SAG-AFTRA. The damages double for willful misrepresentation or falsified facts. Hiring someone in violation is one breach no matter how many days they work, but each separate hiring of the same person is another breach.
So a producer who hires four non-members as day performers with no valid reason faces 4 x $500 = $2,000. If the reports claimed special skills that didn't exist, that's 4 x $1,000 = $4,000. On an indie, a claim like that often lands after wrap, when the money is gone.
Which agreements use it
Taft-Hartley depends on the agreement, and SAGindie's comparison is the clearest summary:
| Agreement | Non-members |
|---|---|
| Micro-Budget | All principals covered; work doesn't count toward union eligibility |
| Student Film, Ultra Low Budget | Only professional performers covered; non-professionals can be cast without Taft-Hartley; non-members can pursue eligibility through an employment verification request |
| Short Project | All principals covered; non-members can pursue eligibility through an employment verification request |
| Moderate Low Budget, Low Budget Theatrical | All principals covered; Taft-Hartley reports required for non-members |
On the Ultra Low Budget Agreement, that flexibility is one of the main reasons indie producers pick it. On a Moderate Low film, budget the time for reports the same way you'd budget time for Exhibit G. The low budget agreements guide compares the rest of each agreement's terms.
What happens to the performer
Once Taft-Hartleyed, the performer is SAG-AFTRA eligible. They can keep working union jobs for 30 days from that first job without joining. After that they're a must-join: they have to join before taking another union job, which means paying the initiation fee and dues and following the union's rule against non-union work.
Casting should tell performers this before the offer. A local non-actor who books one day on your film may not care. A young actor building a career will, and their agent will want the date of the first job written down. Put the first work date and union status on the cast deal memo.
Background actors are handled differently. As the Taft-Hartley glossary entry notes, SAG-AFTRA's joining rules require three days of background work under a union agreement for eligibility, so one day doesn't make an extra eligible. On agreements that cover background, the preference applies to a set number of background actors per day in background zones, such as the first 30 on the Low Budget Theatrical Agreement. The extras casting director tracks those counts.
Right-to-work states
The Taft-Hartley Act also lets states ban union-security agreements, which is what right-to-work states have done. A performer's obligations to the union in those states can differ from the 30-day must-join rule, and the producer's obligations under the signed agreement don't go away. If you're shooting in Georgia or Texas and a question comes up about a performer's status, call the SAG-AFTRA local office instead of guessing.
A checklist for casting
- Before an offer, clear the performer through Station 12.
- If they're a non-member, decide which Section 14.D reason applies, and write it down in a sentence you'd be comfortable reading to the union.
- Note the first work date and the 15-day deadline on the cast list.
- Get photo and resume with the signed deal memo.
- File the report and keep a copy with the date sent.
- Tell the performer their eligibility status and the 30-day window.
The casting director usually runs steps 1 through 4, but the producer signs the agreement, so the producer owns the deadline.