You Can Make a SAG Feature for less than $10,000

Several indie, low budget filmmakers (we're going to soon stop pushing the differences between the types of indie films there are) are simply afraid (or at least appear to be) of working with the Screen Actor's Guild and their wonderful roster of working, professional actors. Furthermore, many no, low budget filmmakers we know totally avoid SAG, and that is primarily because of a lack of knowledge about the union. We recently worked with SAG on our recently slate of features (one of the leads in Uptown, for example, is SAG, as well as our supporting actor from Cookies & Cream Ardie Fuqua is a longtime SAG card holder, with credits that range from Die Hard With a Vengeance 3 as well as frequent BET and VH-1 appearances), and the experience was harmless. And we are happy with the results of that experience.

Here is SagIndie's interesting article on making a SAG feature film for less than $10 grand.

SAG Indie:

-From his artistic home at THE STELLA ADLER THEATRE, Stan Harrington has been a prolific producer of theatre since 1996. Specializing in guerilla theatre, he has produced, directed, written and acted in many critically acclaimed and award winning plays.In 2003 he created ADLER AFTER DARK, a platform which offers writers an opportunity to present their shows rent free.

In 2005, Stan’s first guerilla feature film, BRED IN THE BONE, shot for a mere $5,000, was named the GRAND PRIZE WINNER, at the ACTION ON FILM, INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL held at the Long Beach Convention Centre in California. As well as BEST IN SHOW, Bred In The Bone also won BEST SCREENPLAY, Stan Harrington, and BEST ACTRESS, Blythe Metz.-

Here is a snippet from this interesting interview.

A lot of low budget filmmakers forgo working through SAG. Why did you decide that going union was an important thing?

"I want SAG involved because it adds credibility to the project. In the past, going SAG was considered prohibitive for most indie and guerrilla filmmakers, but that has changed. Too many people do not educate themselves about all aspects of the process and this, as far as SAG has gone, leads to a lot of misconceptions. The advances that have been achieved by SAGINDIE make it not only possible to shoot under a union contract, but they have also made it desirable and even imperative. No decent actor will work without a SAG agreement and if they do you risk too much for them. Going SAG now is financially viable, preferable and I consider it very much a badge of honor…it says LEGITIMATE!"

To see the full interview click here:

http://www.sagindie.org/spotlight/a-sag-feature-for-less-than-10000