Actors Want to Be Paid for Auditions — and Their Contract Already Guarantees It
Under the banner of “Auditions Are Work,” a group of SAG-AFTRA members are organizing to enforce a little-known provision of their contract that guarantees pay for auditions. With many actors spending hours each week auditioning, there’s a lot to gain.
With self-taping taking an hour of labor at minimum, actors devote significant time and effort to the audition process.(innovatedcaptures / Getty Images)
When Thomas Ochoa signed with a theatrical agent, his representative reminded him to prioritize auditions. Be available for auditions; don’t miss them or turn them down; and if you must take a vacation or attend to family, try to do so during slow periods in the industry. It was standard advice for an actor.
“The most consistent work that an actor does is auditioning,” says Ochoa, whose credits include iCarly and Me Time. Given that he often performs as a drag queen, that work can be particularly time-consuming: even if he were to speak only one word in an audition, if the producers want him to be in character, it requires several hours of preparation.
While not every actor spends as much time on costume preparation as Ochoa does, they still devote significant time to the audition process. Now, with the advent of self-taping — a shift from the traditional casting call that, while already in practice before the pandemic, became the norm with the onset of COVID-19 — the costs are significant.
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