The Screen Actors Guild and its Australian counterpart, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, on Sept. 12 confirmed a deal under SAG's Global Rule One that will exempt Australian SAG members, as well as low-budget, indigenous productions, from the new policy in certain circumstances.
Under the agreement—the first negotiated compromise to arise from SAG's radical GRO policy, which went into effect May 1 and dictates that SAG provisions apply no matter where its members work—Australian citizens, permanent residents, New Zealand citizens, and non-U.S. citizens working on Australian productions will be exempt.
Citizens and residents of the U.S. will be permitted to participate in "lower-budget" Australian productions under the agreement without attracting GRO conditions, provided that pension payments are made in accordance with SAG basic agreements.
Earlier this week, the Screen Producers Association of Australia indicated that this means pension payments for U.S. SAG members appearing in Australian films will rise from 9 percent to 13.8 percent, subject to government approval. (It should be noted, however, that SAG's 13.8 percent contribution includes both pension and health contributions, whereas the Australian 9 percent is exclusively a pension contribution.)
That "lower-budget" threshold also has yet to be confirmed, but is believed to be less than AUS$15 million ($8.3 million) for indigenous film productions and less than AUS$5 million ($2.8 million) for indigenous telefilms.
SAG Global Rule One co-chair Karen Austin said in a statement: "GRO was initiated to assure that SAG members receive their union's protection worldwide. The Australians have been terrific. The cooperation SAG has received from the MEAA is absolute evidence that performers unions working together can achieve enhanced protection for all artists."
Added Susan Lyons, MEAA federal equity president, "This agreement… acknowledges the importance of protecting the rights [that] U.S. performers enjoy in their profession without negatively impacting on the work and conditions in our own part of the world."
SAG senior adviser John McGuire stressed that the goal of the agreement is to avoid "negatively impacting another performers union's indigenous productions."
Australia was arguably the most vocal opponent to SAG's GRO announcement due to its potential impact on the local production sector, which can be heavily reliant on Australian SAG members and doesn't have the same policies regarding residuals.
Earlier this year, during the Festival de Cannes, key English-speaking territories jointly denounced the policy as not legally binding.
Peter Kiefer contributed to this report.
