SAG-AFTRA First Union Named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies

Today, Fast Company named SAG-AFTRA to its annual World’s Most Innovative Companies list. SAG-AFTRA is the first union to receive this distinction from Fast Company ranking 7th on the list of the 10 Most Innovative Film and Television companies. Fast Company’s 2022 list honors businesses that are making the largest impact in their industries and culture as a whole. 

“SAG-AFTRA is honored to be recognized for our efforts to protect people working in television, film and media at such a pivotal moment for these industries,” said SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland.  “The technological transformations fueled by the pandemic continue to threaten workers everywhere, particularly in entertainment. That’s why we worked to broker groundbreaking agreements to keep our members safe from COVID-19 and capture the benefits of changing technologies. SAG-AFTRA will continue to levy our advocacy and bargaining powers to stay on the cutting edge and capture the immediate and long term gains facilitated by new technologies.”

“The world’s most innovative companies play an essential role in addressing the most pressing issues facing society, whether they’re fighting climate change by spurring decarbonization efforts, ameliorating the strain on supply chains, or helping us reconnect with one another over shared passions,” said Fast Company Deputy Editor David Lidsky.

In addition to the World's Most Innovative Companies, 528 organizations are recognized across 52 categories. 

During the past year, SAG-AFTRA has taken major steps to help entertainers and creators stay safe and keep working while also working to make the industry more inclusive: 

• Returning creators to work — SAG-AFTRA worked with the DGA, IATSE, Teamsters, the Basic Crafts and AMPTP to evolve the Return to Work Agreement the organizations had previously agreed upon to reflect the existence of vaccines and other scientific advancements. The Return to Work protocols were successful at keeping members safe and working. Due to the successful agreement, SAG-AFTRA covered over 77,000 more jobs in the first four months of 2021 than in 2020, representing a growth of more than $140 million in earnings during that time.

• Developing groundbreaking programs to help grow the intimacy coordinator profession — After announcing the entertainment industry’s first Standards & Protocols for the Use of Intimacy Coordinators, SAG-AFTRA unveiled the first industrywide accreditation for intimacy coordinator training programs and a registry that will create a pipeline of these professionals.

• Launching a new sexual harassment reporting app — SAG-AFTRA announced a tool that will allow members to report harassment right from their smartphones. SAG-AFTRA Safe Place, a new reporting platform available through the SAG-AFTRA member mobile app and at sagaftrasafeplace.org, makes it easy for members to discreetly and securely report incidents of sexual harassment.

• Taking residual payments to the digital age — SAG-AFTRA initiated a direct deposit process that automates the payment process, saving money on labor and creating a more efficient and reliable system that gets money into members’ pockets quicker and more securely. Before the pandemic, approximately 16,000 members were enrolled for direct deposit — that number has grown to more than 25,000. Prior to the pandemic, the number of direct deposit gross payments was just over $118 million — now they have processed more than $500 million in residuals.

• Making it easier for casting directors to clear SAG-AFTRA members for work — The union's online Cast Clearance Portal drastically reduces the time it takes to clear performers. Since its launch more than 35,000 performers have been cleared online for work — representing 45% of the total clearances completed.

• Convening the Labor Innovation & Technology Summit – SAG-AFTRA joined with the AFL-CIO to found the Labor Innovation & Technology Summit hosting an annual series of workshops centering humane technology in the attention economy and the future of work. Panel discussions dissected the current state of the entertainment industry and technology’s effect on streaming and the industry’s changing business models, volumetric video, automation, AI, unions’ roles in the future of work and much more. Check out the summit here.

• Taking steps to make entertainment more inclusive — SAG-AFTRA hosted a weeklong series of virtual events to help identify, understand, and combat discrimination in the entertainment and media industry. This series of panels, presentations, conversations and keynotes, led by SAG-AFTRA members and affinity organizations, brought together actors, broadcasters, academics, labor leaders, and professionals to discuss how to advance equality on screen, in production and recording studios, in the newsroom and throughout the entertainment and media industry.

• Launching campaigns to educate lawmakers on unfair public policies — SAG-AFTRA, Music Artists Coalition, Black Music Action Coalition and California Labor Federation joined to back the Free Artists from Industry Restrictions (FAIR) Act, which would prevent production companies and record labels from holding artists off the job market for extended periods of time. In addition, SAG-AFTRA and the Hip Hop Alliance, an affiliate of the United Coalition for Humanity, joined together to build a better future for hip hop artists, and the entire music industry by engaging with the hip-hop and R&B community to promote fair wages, fair royalties and strong health and retirement benefits for artists.

Fast Company’s editors and writers sought out the most groundbreaking businesses across the globe and industries. They also judged nominations received through their application process.

Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2022) is available online here, as well as in-app form via iTunes, and on newsstands beginning March 15. The hashtag is #FCMostInnovative.

About SAG-AFTRA

SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.