Why I Turned Down an Acting Job

I really love to work. There have been very few times where I have
turned down a job that was offered to me. I turned one down today.

I was contacted by an agent about being hired for an in-house video. That means it is not being seen by the general public,
but instead, only for the employees of the company.

There were no lines in the video, I just needed to look like a doctor. I asked if this was a Union job. I was told that
since it was just in-house there was no Union jurisdiction for this job. That did not sound quite right to me.
I was also told that since it was only for in-house usage, no one outside the company would even see the video.

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and The American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have a very strict policy about the jobs we accept.
Union members are only allowed to work on Union acting jobs. The Unions don’t care about accepting
commercial modeling work, but the acting jobs need to be Union gigs.

I contacted my local SAG-AFTRA office, explained the details, and was told, that this definitely
falls under the guidelines of a Union job. Since the company was not paying Union wages, or
following Union guidelines I would not accept the booking.

So, even though no one would even know if I did this job, still, I will not break Union
rules, and had to turn this job down.

Let me know your thoughts. Have you ever turned down a job? Add a new comment below.

About the Author: Aaron Marcus

Aaron Marcus has been a full-time actor and commercial model for over 33 years. His new book, How to Become a Successful Actor and Model is an Amazon Best Seller. Aaron has given his seminar: "Book the Job" over 700 times spanning 3 continents. He also offers online workshops. Aaron saves 5 days each month to give private on-line coaching sessions.