We hear a lot about how actors are paid (or overpaid) enormous salaries. Here, as a beacon of light, are some interesting stats from a report just released by the Screen Actors Guild…
23% of SAG members did not work during 1996-2000 and that 36% have worked less than five days in those five years. At the Hollywood branch, 26,331 of 63,745 members (41.3%) worked at least 30 days in 1996-2000, while another 2,217 (3.5%) had qualified for 10 years of pension and health benefits and another 2,011 (3.2%) had worked 10 or more days in 2000. Stats for all 117,135 SAG members showed 38.7% had worked 30 days, while another 3.4% qualified for 10 years of P&H and another 2.9% had worked 10 days in 2000.
Now, these numbers are a bit misleading because the Screen Actors Guild roster includes a number of people who consider themselves primarily writers or directors or something else. They may not have worked under the SAG contract during a given period because they were tidily-employed in another capacity…or were acting on the stage or even on a TV show covered by AFTRA Still, we have here some sobering figures to anyone who thinks acting is an easy way to Big Bucks. Not if you don't work for five years, it isn't.