The Screen Actors Guild's 2003 Commercials Contract, which has been extended to 2008, covers infomercials shot on film, although the guild also has a separate five-page agreement that deals with them specifically. It's called the Screen Actors Guild Infomercial Letter of Agreement 2006, and it remains in effect until the Commercials Contract is renegotiated in 2008 (copies are available from SAG for members and producers). The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has jurisdiction over infomercials shot on tape and digitally. Its rates are the same as SAG's, but AFTRA covers infomercials under its Network Code.
You may think infomercials are not produced as frequently today as they were in the past, but not according to Sandy Kincaid, SAG's national director of commercial and industrial contracts, who says, "We're not seeing any real change in activity." There is work out there, so let's examine the contract.
On Page 1 of the letter of agreement, we see that the rates for an on-camera performer are $1,134.20 for the first day of work and $567.10 for each additional day. As infomercials are usually longer than standard commercials, more than one day of shooting is possible. Under-five performers get $534.65 per day; background performers, referred to as "extras" in the letter of agreement, get $127.20 per day; and off-camera announcers get $567.10 per four-hour session.
If a performer works more than an eight-hour day, then the ninth and 10th hours are paid at overtime rates: $106.35 per hour for on-camera principals, $100.30 per hour for under-fives, and $23.65 per hour for extras. Hours beyond that are paid at double time. Off-camera announcers get $106.35 for each hour after four hours in the booth; for standard commercials they get another session fee if they go past two hours.
There is a 21-month window in which producers can air an infomercial. They can start running it at any time within that period and have the right to air it for 90 days, which need not be consecutive. According to Kincaid, "That initial session payment covers that first 90 days, even if it's six or nine months down the road." So residuals won't be paid until those 90 days have passed. Standard commercials, on the other hand, pay residuals for actual use.
As with standard commercials, extras don't receive residuals, regardless of how often the infomercial runs. Under-fives and off-camera announcers in infomercials do get residuals, which are equal to the first session fee, for each subsequent 90-day airing cycle.
There is no exclusivity in the infomercials agreement, so if you're pitching a slicer-dicer on an infomercial, you can pitch one in a standard commercial too. Some producers may want to negotiate exclusivity with you, in which case your agent will, hopefully, get you some significant dough. That exclusivity "would only be in the infomercial arena," says Kincaid, so you can still do that slicer-dicer commercial, just not another slicer-dicer infomercial.
An infomercial can be shown on basic cable or on broadcast television (referred to as VHF/UHF broadcast television in the letter of agreement), but double scale applies if it's shown on both. Should the infomercial be shown on broadcast TV in prime time or on two or more "interconnected" stations -- stations owned by the same company -- the performers are paid according to the applicable SAG television contract rate for that use rather than at the infomercial rate.
If an excerpt from the infomercial is broadcast in a different medium, the producers must first ask permission of both you and SAG, then the rates in the contract covering that medium apply. If the producers forget to ask your permission, then you would receive not less than triple the scale rate of the SAG agreement that applies to the offending broadcast. So if your infomercial gets edited down to a one-minute commercial and no one asks you or SAG, your ship may have come in.
Finally, pay attention to Section 7 on Page 3 of the SAG Infomercial Letter of Agreement, "Overscale Contracts," which allows producers to prepay money due you for replays, provided such language is in your individual overscale contract. This means your agent can negotiate a figure above scale and get you the dough up-front. Nice work if you can get it.