ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a closer look at those unions the production manager (PM) must deal with most often. It also discusses the process by which the PM may become a union member. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) was a performers' union that represented a wide variety of talent, including actors in radio and television, radio and television announcers and newspersons, singers and recording artists (both royalty artists and background singers), promo and voice-over announcers and other performers in commercials, stuntpersons and specialty acts. On March 30, 2012, AFTRA and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) had voted to merge and form SAG-AFTRA. The chapter presents a step-by-step description of the communication process between the production company and the SAG-AFTRA, as required by the SAG-AFTRA. The extracts are quoted from SAG-AFTRA documents, such as the Television/Theatrical Production Checklist, which the SAG-AFTRA sends to the signatory production company.
