A Guide to Unions and Guilds in the Film Industry

What is a Movie Union?

With the recent 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes impacting all aspects of production in the entertainment industry, film unions and guilds have clearly demonstrated their importance when it comes to people working in film. You may be wondering, what is a union and what does it do? Unions have been in existence since the Industrial Revolution, when workers needed to band together to make sure that large corporations were treating them appropriately. Unions, organized groups of professionals that look after its members, allow workers to fight for their compensation and hour requirements through collective bargaining, giving them a say in how they conduct their work practices. 

A movie union has a similar concept, the only difference is that the unions are involved in the dealings of the film industry. Movie unions are a big part of working in the industry, with some of them requiring you to join depending on your job. Unions play a crucial role in the industry, especially because working is not restricted to a 9-to-5 day, so it is important that there is a way for entertainment industry workers to have a way to bargain for better working conditions should they need to. It should be clarified that unions, guilds, and societies are all different groups with separate requirements and advantages, though some well-known unions have the word “guild” in their name, like the Writer’s Guild of America. Guilds and societies differ from unions in their ability to protect their members. While in a union you are guaranteed protections, the same is not true for guilds and unions that act more like clubs in the sense that you gain benefits but may not have certain protections.  

Here is a list of some (not all) film industry unions and guilds: 

• American Federation of Musicians (AFM)

• Directors Guild of America (DGA)

• International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)

• Affiliated Property Craftspersons (IATSE Local 44)

• Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839)

• Art Directors Guild (ADG | IATSE Local 800)

• Costume Designers Guild (CDG | IATSE Local 892) 

• International Cinematorgraphers Guild (ICG | IATSE Local 600)

• Make-Up Artists & Hair Stylists Guild (MUAHS | IATSE Local 706)

• Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG | IATSE Local 700)

• Production Sound and Video Engineers Guild (PSVEG | IATSE Local 695)

• Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)

• Producers Guild of America (PGA)

• Teamsters

• Writers Guild of America (WGA)

A Closer Look at Well-Known Movie Unions

Directors Guild of America (DGA)

The DGA was founded in 1936 as the Screen Directors Guild, but merged with the Radio and Television Directors Guild in 1960 to become the DGA. The DGA serves over 19,000 members from the sectors of film, television, radio, news, commercials, and more. 

Writers Guild of America (WGA)

The WGA represents film, television, and new media writers. It is formerly known as the Screen Writers Guild. It is composed of two different unions: The Writers Guild of America East, which is based in New York City, and The Writers Guild of America West, which is based in Los Angeles. 

Producers Guild of America (PGA)

The PGA is a trade organization that includes over 7,000 film, television, and new media producers. PGA is classed as a guild and does not have payment guidelines. It is for producers, line producers, coordinators, and various other producing workers. 

Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)

SAG-AFTRA represents over 160,000 individuals involved in acting, voice acting, recording artists, radio personalities, and journalists. This union has different production agreements for film budgets, so their wage requirements change according to the overall budget of the film, allowing you to have access to top talent even with a low-budget project. 

International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE)

IATSE represents more than 140,000 technicians, artists, and craftspersons and is broken down into about 500 smaller unions, labeled with the particular trade it pertains to and “local” to denote the particular region. 

International Brotherhood of Teamsters 

Teamsters is also known as the Teamsters Union and represents about 1.3 million members throughout multiple industries, including film and television. Teamsters is composed of smaller organizations, including IATSE. 

Benefits of Unions

There are many benefits to being in a union or doing a union film shoot. First, it helps you get an experienced crew and advanced quality of the shoot. The union film production would generally be more professional, and you would have access to more profitable actors, better networking opportunities, as well as having better contracts due to the union nature of the shoot. Not being a member of a union can make it difficult to succeed in a film career, due to certain requirements involved in productions with union cast and crew. Unions can help throughout the hiring process–many unions have an online crew guide you can use to help build your crew, and you can even ask the unions to help you hire your crew.  

Drawbacks of Unions

On the flip side, there are drawbacks to being in a union or working on a union film shoot. Unions require fixed working rates and working hours, which can cause problems with scheduling and budgeting. There is a fixed turnaround time and contract conditions on these sets. Film crew contracts need to be checked by an entertainment lawyer. When hiring union crew, make sure to pay attention to contracts and union guidelines. You can find people through past contacts, agencies, or by advertising the jobs online.  

In extreme cases, unions can cause the entire entertainment industry to pause production. The 2023 WGA strike lasted 148 days, and the SAG-AFTRA strike of the same year lasted 118 days. This prolonged strike period has shown repercussions through the production line even today. With writers and actors using their union rights to strike for better conditions and rules, many of them relating to residual pay and Artificial Intelligence capabilities, many productions either slowed down immensely or stopped completely. Despite this disruption, unions are a great asset for entertainment industry workers, and if not for them, the writers and actors involved in those 2023 strikes would not have had the resources they needed to use their collective bargaining tools to have production companies meet their demands. Unions are meant to benefit the people, and that is what they are here for. 

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