A Message From Your Washington-Mid Atlantic Local President

It has been a busy summer in our local, with so many opportunities for background performers. So it’s a good time to review some helpful tips and resources. 
 
Here are our 10 hot tips for background performers in the Washington-Mid Atlantic Local:

1. Be courteous and attentive.
2. Bring along some busy work. Part of working sometimes requires hours of idleness on the set. But do not bring valuables to the set. 
3. Make sure that you arrive on the set on time with required wardrobe and/or props. It is better to arrive early than to report late.
4. Bring money in case of a walkaway lunch. 
5. If there is a problem on set, do not make a scene; ask your questions, document the problem and call SAG-AFTRA’s Washington-Mid Atlantic Local at (301) 657-2560 or reach out to your WMA entertainment contract staff via email to Ryan Hastings at ryan.hastings@sagaftra.org or Colin Bouchard at colin.bouchard@sagaftra.org.
6. If your property was lost or damaged (including your car used for production) a “damage to property” claim must be filed with the production before leaving set that day. The producer should have a claim form available on set. It is always a good idea to check your car for damage before leaving.  
7. The background performers’ payment is to be postmarked by the Friday following the week of employment. For example, if you worked Monday, Aug. 1, then the payment would need to be postmarked by Friday, Aug. 12. You should also account for the time it takes for the check to move through the postal service to estimate the date it will arrive to you. 
8. A claim (other than an upgrade claim, which has 90 days) must be filed with the producer within 30 days of the date of knowledge of the violation, which is, in general, the date of work or the date you have received or should have received your paycheck. This provision means that SAG-AFTRA has 30 days from the date of knowledge of the violation process your claim, investigate the facts and send it to the producer, not that you have 30 days in which to send your claim to SAG-AFTRA. Please notify the union as soon as you realize there has been a violation so that SAG-AFTRA will have sufficient time to file your claim within the 30-day filing limit.
9. Make sure you are registered with all of our local casting directors. You can access our list of local casting directors here.  
10. For further information, please check out Schedule X, Part II of the Background Actor Contract Digest and the SAG-AFTRA Basic Agreement.

As you may know, the SAG-AFTRA background zone, which is the area SAG-AFTRA covers background performers on TV and theatrical productions, extends a radius of 300 air miles from the center of Columbus Circle in New York City. For us, this puts the border of the zone a few miles south of Richmond, Virginia. If you are looking for opportunities for background work, our current major productions include: 

• Swagger in Richmond, which is being cast Kendall Cooper Casting. 
• Flamingo in Baltimore, which is being cast by 4Star Casting. 
• Lioness in the Baltimore area, which is being cast by Bill Marinella Casting North.

I hope you find this information about background work in television and theatrical productions helpful. Enjoy the final weeks of your summer! 

All the best,

Kathryn