GSA Contract Update

Limits initial contract term up to 1 year (18 months); subsequent term up to 3 years.

Agents may be offering contracts that are between 1 to 3 year initial contracts. Note that in California, State Law may permit a maximum term of seven (7) years on an initial contract.

Your agent may collect no more than 10% of your commissionable income, and even then only in certain areas. Across-the-board commissions are not permitted under either SAG or AFTRA agency regulations.

SAG Commission Rules are here:

AFTRA Commission Rules are here:

GSA contracts appear, generally, to be offering contracts with a 10% commission cap--however many of these non-conforming contracts (i.e. not union approved documents) may attempt to commission all of your income, across the board, in all areas, in perpetuity, including in markets that have been traditionally non-commissionable. (see additional discussion, below, under ‘Limitations on Commissions’ tab). No union member, working in any field in which SAG-AFTRA has exercised jurisdiction, should agree to any contract with a rate of commission higher than 10%.

Check authorizations under the Union are always revocable at the performer's option.

With GSAs, some check authorizations may be irrevocable.

Under Scope of Agreement, this needs changing: Rule 16(g) applies throughout the country to all agents who represent Union performers. Agency contracts are limited to areas in which the Union has exercised jurisdiction. Agency contracts are generally limited to the market where the agent has his franchise. Union performers have always been permitted to have different representation (i.e., a different agent for commercials and TV/Theatricals) in different areas of the country (e.g. New York and LA)

To: Union regulations apply throughout the country to all agents who represent Union performers. Agency contracts are limited to areas in which the Union has exercised jurisdiction. Agency contracts are generally limited to the market where the agent has his franchise. Union performers have always been permitted to have different representation (i.e., a different agent for commercials and TV/Theatricals) in different areas of the country (e.g. New York and LA)

GSAs may demand worldwide representation in all areas, including, but not limited to, your work as a writer, composer, editor, author, lyricist, musician, artist, performer, designer, consultant, cameraman, technician, director, producer, associate producer, supervisor, executive, and in any other capacity in the entertainment, literary and related fields. Because of the broad scope of some of the GSAs (which allows the agent to exclusively represent the performer in areas which include, but are not limited to: writer, composer, editor, author, lyricist, musician, artist, performer, designer, consultant, cameraman, technician, director, producer, associate producer, supervisor, executive, and in any other capacity in the entertainment, literary and related fields throughout the world, including but not limited to merchandising, testimonials, advertising, infomercials, commercial tie-ups, CD-ROMS, CD-Is, interactive media or any other technology now in existence or hereafter utilized), the performer may be prohibited from securing separate representation for different areas of work (e.g. a separate agent for commercials and TV/theatricals) or in different markets. The performer may also be restricted from engaging the services of a personal manager or an attorney in some instances.

Under SAG and AFTRA agency regulations, only some areas of your earned income are commissionable; many areas are not, and have never been. For a breakdown of how commission obligations work in your area, (your obligations are based on how and where your agent was franchised), please refer to these charts, which are organized by geographic region:

SAG Commission Rules are here:

AFTRA Commission Rules are here:

Please note that in all areas of the country, renegotiated commercials contracts are not commissionable unless the employment contract provides for overscale residuals. Union rules also prohibit commission on traditionally non-commissionable items such as travel and living expenses (per diems), mileage, and all penalty payments (e.g. late pay, meal period violations, forced calls, rest period violations, etc).

All of the performer’s income may be commissionable. All original employment may be commissionable at scale.

Agents may commission, at scale, every dollar earned by the performer, including all of the following:

An agent may not commission employment secured after the expiration of the agency relationship (or work procured after the agency relationship is over). An agent may commission changes in the performer’s salary (on an existing job) that were secured after the expiration of the agency relationship, if these changes were negotiated by the agent.

GSA terms may allow an agent to claim commission on any modifications, renewals, additions, substitutions, supplements, replacements, or extensions of any existing contract, whether negotiated during the term of the contract or after the term of the contract.

No requirement for a Union performer to personally indemnify an agent for the acts of the performer’s company.

Union performer may be required to personally indemnify agent in instances where performer’s company enters into agreement with agent and breaches said agreement Performer may remain primarily liable, as well as jointly and severally liable with his/her company, for all actions of his/her company.

Union rules require that all disputes and controversies of every kind and nature whatsoever between an agent and a union performer must be submitted to the union-regulated, and relatively inexpensive, arbitration procedure. The union also offers free mediation services to our franchised agents and members prior to proceeding to arbitration.

Controversies arising between a performer and an agent under a non-confirming contract such as a GSA would likely need to be submitted to the Labor Commissioner's Office (in CA) [or to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) in NY], and would be decided under applicable State law. Union-regulated dispute resolution would likely no longer be available to protect the performer should this occur. Moreover, the union would not be a party to such litigation, and any applicable fees/wait times to issue a decision would be outside of the union’s control. Some agents may also attempt to file in civil court, which could prove to be very expensive.

Union performers may arbitrate an agent's material breach of the agency representation contract, and seek, as a remedy, annulment of said agency contract.

Union performers may not be able to claim an agent's material breach of an agency contract as grounds for terminating said contract. Also, Union performers may be limited in filing a claim alleging breach or a failure to perform within a set time period (e.g. 10 days) and may be required to allow agent time to cure it.

Performer may terminate a TV/Theatrical agency contract if the performer has not worked more than ten (10) days within the previous ninety-one (91) days prior to the date of termination. Performer may also terminate a Commercials agency contract if the performer has not earned more than $4000 within the last ninety-one (91) days.

Performer may not be able to terminate a non-conforming contract, such as a GSA, if the performer has received any bona fide offer of employment of any kind within the last four (4) months. Any such offer of employment may not necessarily take into account the performer’s level of prestige and experience in the entertainment industry.