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Because so many studios, producers, and directors exploited the desperation of actors in the early days of show business, actors banded together and formed unions to protect themselves. The various actors’ unions have increased pay for actors (including lucrative residual payments — also known as royalties — for reruns and broadcasts in different countries), protected actors’ rights to work in clean and sanitary working conditions, restricted the time limits that actors can be expected to work each day, provided legal counsel, and even offered health and retirement plans.

Although a union’s main job is to protect your rights and ensure that you’re paid fairly, unions also offer a variety of other services that can make your quest for an acting career much simpler. Many unions offer seminars and workshops to help their members find work; they maintain bulletin boards where actors can post classified advertisements, buying or selling various items or advertising the availability of rooms or apartments; and they furnish libraries where members can borrow and study scripts. As a union member, you may qualify for a whole range of additional benefits, including credit union membership, health insurance, pension plans, and even access to a retirement home. Be sure to find these things out when you’re applying for membership and take advantage of whatever services your union offers.

If you’re just getting started in acting, you may not want to join any union right away because joining the union effectively eliminates you from working on non-union productions. As a beginner, you may want to get experience working in the more numerous (but lower paying) non-union productions first. You don’t have to join a union to work as an actor, but the highest-paying and most prestigious acting roles almost always go to union members, so when you’ve reached a point where you can vie for those roles, joining a union is a wise thing to do. Ultimately your goal is to get into the union.

Be prepared — when you decide to join a union, the cost to join may be fairly expensive. Also, after joining a union, you must pay dues regularly (probably semi-annually), but the regular dues are much less expensive than the initial union membership dues.

If you are aware of a union production that’s breaking a union rule, call the union (even if you’re not a union member) and ask them to investigate this problem. The unions are your friends, so treat them with respect and don’t be afraid to ask for their help at any time during your acting career.

The two most popular actors’ unions, which we discuss in the following sections, are

 The Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA)

 Actors’ Equity Association (AEA, also known as Equity)

Working at a union’s office, either as a volunteer or paid employee, is an excellent way to meet actors, writers, casting directors, and producers.