• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, November 5, 2015

In a series of tweets (see a couple here and here) directed at Droga5, the Screen Actors Guild is calling out the agency, and others, for working with non-union actors in some of their work. 

In a blog post about the campaign, SAG wrote, "Some agencies have a double standard. They pay market rates for union directors, actors and crews -- when they need to. Other times, they're hiring nonprofessional actors and paying substandard wages without benefits to them, while working with union crews." 

Hey, if it were up to me and you didn't have to hire more costly union workers then why do so? 

In a statement, Droga5 explained its position on the issue, saying, "At Droga5 we are not signatory to the SAG commercials contract and are within our rights to engage in non-union shoots. However, we always use SAG performers in the SAG productions we manage, which include any commercial for a SAG-signatory client or feature any SAG celebrity talent. In those instances we abide by SAG rules and pay SAG wages across the board. We do not use SAG performers in non-union productions."