Wage Provisions for SAG-AFTRA’s Proposed TV & Theatrical Agreements and How They Would Impact Stand-In Work

As reported last week on Stand-In Central, SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP reached a tentative agreement around their Theatrical and Television Agreements.  Many stand-ins in TV and film work under these collective bargaining agreements, which were set to expire on June 30, 2026.

Since that post, SAG-AFTRA’s National Board has approved the tentative agreements, so SAG-AFTRA members will vote on whether to ratify them as successor agreements.

SAG-AFTRA published a summary of the provisions of the new agreements that, if ratified, will go into effect. Here are wage-related changes stand-ins would see in the event of ratification.

Note: As of publication, SAG-AFTRA has not published the tentative memorandum of agreement, which contains the proposed contract language. The summary is just that — a summary — and not the actual contract language.  The memorandum of agreement may provide more specific details around the reported proposed provisions that the summary leaves out.

Basics

SAG-AFTRA members have from May 14 until June 4 (5pm Pacific Time) to case their vote in the referendum whether to ratify (“vote yes”) or not-ratify (“vote no”) the tentative agreements.   A simple majority of votes in either direction decides.

In the event of ratification, the successor agreements will effectively go into effect on July 1, 2026.

Rather than expiring three years later (as these past agreements had), they will expire four years later, on June 30, 2030.

Wage-Related Information

Base Wages

Stand-ins will receive wage increases on their current base rates.  These wage increases are 3% each year, on July 1.

So, for July 1, 2026, the wage for most stand-ins working in TV or film under these agreements will go from $262 for 8 hours, to about $270 for 8 hours.

Double-Duty Adjustment

Stand-ins required to do what is colloquially known as “double duty” — doing stand-in work and also background actor work — will receive a $27 adjustment to their base pay.

Before, stand-ins also doing background actor work saw no required adjustment to their pay.

Photo-Doubling Adjustment for California Stand-Ins

With respect to photodoubling, stand-ins working in California (under these agreements’ Schedule X, Part I) will receive “parity” with those in the New York Zone (who work under these agreements’ Schedule X, Part II).

In particular, the language in Schedule X, Part I, will clarify that stand-ins who also photo double will receive a $10 adjustment to their stand-in rate (as such stand-ins do in the New York Zone).

Holiday Pay When Working into a Holiday Morning

Stand-ins working past midnight into a contractually defined holiday will receive double time for their time after midnight.

For example, Good Friday is defined in the contracts as a holiday. Working from Thursday and into the early hours of Good Friday would constitute double time for the time working actually on Good Friday.

New Meal Penalty Tier

As for meal penalties, they remain the same, except for fifth and subsequent meal penalties will be at $15.

Before, fifth and higher meal penalties were the same as the third and fourth meal penalties, which is $12.50.

Per Diems

The expiring agreements contained no language requiring the payment of per diems to stand-ins when working at an “overnight location” (basically, staying in lodging while working on location).

New language will require the Producer to pay a per diem to stand-ins working at overnight locations, starting at $75. This amount will increase on July 1, 2028, to $80 ($17 for breakfast, $24 for lunch, $39 for dinner).

(SAG-AFTRA has long maintained that these per diem payments should be made in cash upfront with limited exceptions, though many Producers add the payments to paychecks, where they sometimes get wrongly taxed. Grieve to SAG-AFTRA immediately if a Producer attempts to pay per diem in a later paycheck.)

Late Fees

Stand-ins paid late will receive $5 per late day, rather than $3 per late day.

For those stand-ins working in California under these agreements’ Schedule X, Part I, they have a maximum in late fees that go up to $125 from $75.

Safety or Harassment Training Compensation

In the event a Producer requires a stand-in to attend a safety or harassment training on a day the stand-in is not working, the stand-in will be paid for four hours, but at half the background actor’s rate.

It appears the stand-in rate does not apply in calculating this compensation for the affected stand-in.

Other Gains

The proposed agreements have other changes that may affect stand-ins — notably, a proposed plan to merge the SAG–Producers Pension Plan and the AFTRA Retirement Plan. If such merger happens, it would not be immediately upon ratification, and it would be subject to the decisions of a number of parties and laws.

Have a read of the a summary of the provisions of the new agreements to get a sense of other changes to work in the TV and film industry.

Do you like these provisions? Do these provisions bother you? Post your opinions in the comments box below!