This union represents technical employees for stage and motion pictures, including property technicians, electricians, carpenters, riggers, audio visual technicians, and wardrobe personnel. SAG - Screen Actors Guild This union, founded in 1933, represents actors in feature films, short films, and certain digital projects. SSDC - Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Union which represents choreographers and directors for Broadway, national tours, regional theatres, dinner theatres and summer stock, as well as choreographers for television, music video and film. WGA - Writers Guild of America Established in 1933, this union represents approximately 8,000 writers of film, television and interactive games. Sometimes, performers look at getting into a union as a goal in itself.
Union membership seems somehow to create an air of legitimacy or professionalism for the performer.
The stark reality of joining a union is often that one's opportunities sometimes initially become more limited. On the other hand, if you're working regularly in non-union positions and you're looking for new challenges and creative experiences above and beyond what you have been able to accomplish so far, perhaps union employment is right for you. If you're accustomed to playing first chair in a non-union orchestra, you may lose that status when you join the union. If you've been doing lead roles for years in non-union theatre productions, you may find yourself in the chorus once again in union shows. There's no rule that says it has to work out that way.