In union television and theatrical film, stand-ins work at a higher rate than general background actors. Until July 2017, stand-ins also worked at a higher rate than photo doubles. Once SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP reached a new Television/Theatrical Agreement in July 2017, SAG-AFTRA members were told that photo doubles were now to receive the stand-in rate.

But stand-ins in the New York area started to wonder what that meant for their wages when they did photo-double work. Because they’re already making the stand-in rate, when stand-ins also work as photo doubles on the same day, what rate would they earn?

When the summary of the 2017 Television/Theatrical Agreement came out later that summer, puzzlingly, questions to union officials did not yield a decisive answer about the rate for stand-ins also photo doubling in the New York area. Some officials deflected to the “memorandum of agreement (MOA),” a document that shows the actual wording of the new contract, but which was not even available when the agreement was ratified by SAG-AFTRA members in August 2017! In fact, the MOA was not drafted until September 29, 2017 (more than a month after SAG-AFTRA members ratified the agreement), and the MOA did not go online on the SAG-AFTRA website until circa December 11, 2017. So, stand-ins who did photo-double work were left without clear answers about their rate until mid-December, more than five months after SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP reached their agreement.

To add insult to injury, the MOA’s wording released in December 2017 did nothing to answer the question on the wage stand-ins doing photo-double work would get in the New York area. In fact, it would seem that when these stand-ins do photo-double work, it would be business as usual for them, because none of the contract language around stand-ins working as photo doubles changed.

So, if it’s business as usual, what’s the rate a stand-in who photo-doubles in the New York area supposed to be? That question is actually a very compelling one. It’s compelling not just because photo doubles are now being paid more, but also because SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP didn’t change the old, strange formula dating back to 2005 used for paying stand-ins who do photographic doubling — and that formula may have been long misinterpreted. Read on.

Common Practice vs. Contract Language

Before July 2017, it was common to pay stand-ins who do photo-double work on the same day a $10 adjustment on their stand-in rate. The argument was that at that time, photo doubling meant a $10 adjustment for general background actors, so $10 should be the adjustment for stand-ins, too.

However, while it was common to pay stand-ins who do photo-double work a $10 adjustment, that practice in the New York area did not reconcile with the actual contract language.

Stand-ins, photo doubles, and general background actors who work in the New York area are covered under Schedule X, Part 2, of the Television/Theatrical Agreement (aka “the 2005 Basic Agreement”). There are two passages that pertain to “photographic doubling”: One passage for general background actors who do photographic doubling, and another passage for special ability background actors who do photographic doubling. Stand-in work is classified in Schedule X, Part 2, as special ability background work, so the latter passage applies when a stand-in does photo-doubling.

The 2017 MOA addressed the former situation: general background actors who work as photo doubles. This is the change in contract language that the 2017 MOA put forth under Schedule X, Part 2:

A general background actor required to do photographic doubling shall be paid the special ability background actor stand-in rate.

The 2017 MOA did not address the latter situation of special ability background actors who work as photo doubles. This means that the contract language under Schedule X, Part 2, remained intact for stand-ins who do photo-double work. What was that passage exactly? It reads:

A special ability background actor assigned to do photographic doubling shall receive, in addition to his basic rate, the difference between the general background actor rate and the special ability background actor rate.

Now, as a point of comparison, stand-ins in the Los Angeles area are under Schedule X, Part 1 (not Part 2). Their terms are a bit different than those for the New York area. For one, stand-in work is not classified as special ability work under Schedule X, Part 1. Instead, it simply is classified as a rate higher than the background actor’s rate. As for photo doubling, background actors working as photo doubles are subject to this passage in Schedule X, Part 1:

A background actor required to do photographic doubling shall be entitled to a Special Ability adjustment.

As for the “Special Ability adjustment,” it is clearly defined in Schedule X, Part 1:

The rate for special ability work shall be $10 above the general background actor rate […]

So, essentially, if you are a stand-in in the Los Angeles area, and if you are also asked to photo double work, then you are entitled to the Special Ability adjustment for that photo-double work, and that adjustment is $10.

But that rate is not so clearly defined for stand-ins working in the New York area. In fact, rather than explicitly saying the rate special ability background actors (stand-ins included) should receive when doing photo-double work, Schedule X, Part 2, lists a formula. That formula is described in this passage:

A special ability background actor assigned to do photographic doubling shall receive, in addition to his basic rate, the difference between the general background actor rate and the special ability background actor rate.

That formula was left untouched in the 2017 Television/Theatrical Agreement. And if you look closely, you will see that stand-ins who do photo-double work in the New York area are working below their minimum wage when they are given only a $10 adjustment for their photo-double work. Here’s why.

A Little Algebra

If you look at the formula, it says that when a stand-in (who is classified as a special ability background actor) does photo-double work, he gets his “basic rate.” In addition, he receives an adjustment. That adjustment is equal to the special ability background actor rate minus the general background actor rate.

However, there is not one single special ability background actor rate. While most special ability background actors receive a $10 adjustment for their special ability, stand-ins currently receive a $28 adjustment for their special ability. Furthermore, if you are asked to drive horses or other types of animals, your special ability adjustment is $20 if you drive four horses or animals, $30 if you drive six horses or animals, and on up the more pairs of animals you add. So there is clearly more than one special ability background actor rate — nay — clearly more than two special ability background actor rates. Theoretically, there are boundless special ability background actor rates (depending on the number of animals driven).

That there are several special ability background actor rates does not mean to substitute the “general” special ability background actor rate into the formula. Instead, it means to substitute the special ability background actor rate that the special ability background actor is working under. If one was supposed to substitute in only the “general” special ability background actor rate, the contract language would have been clearer, or the rate would be more clearly spelled out as it is for stand-ins working in the Los Angeles area. That it’s not that clearly spelled out implies that the rate for photo doubling in the New York area is intended to be flexible and variable depending on the base rate, not simply the base rate plus a $10 adjustment all the time.

So, here are the monetary implications: “General” special ability background actors currently make $176 (when working on SAG-AFTRA dramatic television and theatrical productions), so when you subtract the general background actor rate of $166 from it, you get an adjustment of $10. But when you subtract the general background actor rate from the stand-in special ability background actor rate of $194, you get an adjustment of $28 rather than $10. What does that mean? It means the adjustment for stand-ins doing photo-double work is not $10 but instead $28 per the contract language that was not changed in the 2017 Television/Theatrical Agreement. It means if you are standing in and photo doubling on the same day, rather than making $204/8 hours ($194 + $10), you should be making $222/8 hours ($194 + $28).

Things get even more interesting and compelling when you look at when you are booked as a photo double, then asked to do stand-in work …

Minima Mean Business

Part of the function of a union is to negotiate minimum wages for its members, and to enforce those minima when signatories do not abide by them.

SAG-AFTRA field and business representatives generally seem to promote that what you are booked as dictates your minimum daily rate. That means that if you were booked as a photo double but were not used, you would be paid as a photo double. However, if you were booked as a general background actor and told production might use you as a photo double, you would only be paid the general background actor rate if they did not end up using you to photo-double.

Furthermore, Schedule X, Part 2, openly promotes that you cannot work below the minimum wages set forth in the Television/Theatrical Agreement. The passage reads:

Minimum Wage Rate Requirements for Registered Background Actors

Producer agrees that no background actor registered with any of the casting agencies referred to in Section 44 hereof shall be hired hereafter to perform any work within the Guild’s jurisdiction at less than the current minimum wage rate for background actors set forth below.

Things get a little interesting if you are booked as a photo double, then are asked to do stand-in work on the same day.

The reason that situation is interesting is because photo doubles are now paid the stand-in rate of $194. And stand-in work is special ability work, which is due a $28 adjustment. So, if you are booked as a photo double, it seems pretty clear that your rate should be $194 for the photo double work plus $28 for the stand-in adjustment, meaning your rate should be $222/8 hours. To pay a photo double less than a $28 adjustment for also standing in is to pay below the minimum wage set forth for stand-in work.

If true, then wouldn’t the reverse apply, if you were booked as a stand-in, then asked to do photo-double work, too?

In the New York area, stand-ins who also do photo-double work on the same day should receive a $28 adjustment for the photo-double work. To pay stand-ins only a $10 adjustment for their photo-double work is arguably paying stand-ins less than their guaranteed minimum wage. This is not just because of the dictates of the above formula, but also because general background actors get a $28 adjustment when they do photo-double work, and presumably photo doubles who stand in receive the stand-in adjustment of $28.

That is to say that the premium for photo-double work is a $28 adjustment, and to pay stand-ins only $10 for the same work would be to pay them below the minimum wage rate for photo-double work.

Practice Does Not Make Perfect

The argument may be that common practice says that stand-ins should receive a $10 adjustment when asked to photo double because “that’s what it’s always been.” But if that holds true, then why was the contract not changed in the 2017 negotiations either to spell out clearly that stand-ins receive a $10 adjustment when photo-doubling or to do away with the misinterpreted formula for paying stand-ins in this situation?

It would seem that the formula from 2005 was never updated while stand-in wages grew at an outsized rate relative to general background actors and photo doubles. No one noticed any payment issue for stand-ins who do photo-double work in the New York area until photo doubles received a surprise wage increase in 2017. That increase led stand-ins in the New York area to seek out the contract language governing their photo-double work and to discover that stand-ins have been usually underpaid relative to the contract language when they did photo-double work on the same day.

Going Forward

Stand-In Central into more detail about the formula in this recent post.

That said, if you find you are in a situation where you are standing in and also photo doubling, immediately make a case with the background PA or assistant director that you should be paid a $28 adjustment (or greater, if you are working on a Legacy A AFTRA television production). Use these this post as well as this post on Stand-In Central as a guide into the argumentation as well as a pointer to the contract language.

If production insists on giving you merely a $10 adjustment for the photo-double work, talk to a field rep or call the New York Local of SAG-AFTRA and ask to speak to the business rep for your film or television production. (Note that the above rate discussion does not apply to stand-in work on television productions under the Network Television Code contract, which is a dramatically different contract covering non-dramatic programming, variety shows, etc.)

Make the case to the field rep and business rep that you are working below the minimum for photo-double work if you are being offered only a $10 adjustment for it when you are also standing in. Also, ask the reps for contract language that supports their claims should they run contrary to yours or those represented in these posts. (They probably will not have that language it, and they may insist their interpretation comes from the lawyers — whom you should ask to speak to for clarity.)

Fight for your pay! Good luck!

Have you received an adjustment in the New York area of more than $10 for photo double work when you’re standing in? If so, share your insights below!