Screen Actors Guild

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is an American labor union representing over 200,000 film and television principal performers and background performers worldwide. According to SAG's Mission Statement, the Guild was created to negotiate and enforce reasonable salaries, benefits, and working conditions for its performers; collect compensation for exploitation of recorded performances by its members, and provide protection against unauthorized use of those performances; and preserve and expand work opportunities for its members.

The Guild was founded in 1933 in an effort to end exploitation of actors in Hollywood who were being forced into oppressive multi-year contracts with the major movie studios that did not include restrictions on work hours or minimum rest periods. They often had clauses that automatically renewed at the studios' discretion.  These contracts were notorious for allowing the studios to dictate the public and private lives of the performers who signed them, and most did not have provisions to allow the performer to end the deal.London Academy of Media, Film & TV, The Screen Actors Guild

In addition to its main offices in Hollywood, SAG also maintains local branches in several major US cities, including:  Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Honolulu, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington DC.

Since 1995, the guild has annually awarded the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which are considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards.

The membership of the Screen Actors Guild voted to merge with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists on March 30, 2012. It was later renamed as SAG-AFTRA.

 SAG Presidents 

 1933-1933 Ralph Morgan
 1933-1935 Eddie Cantor
 1935-1938 Robert Montgomery
 1938-1940 Ralph Morgan
 1940-1942 Edward Arnold
 1942-1944 James Cagney
 1944-1946 George Murphy
 1946-1947 Robert Montgomery
 1947-1952 Ronald Reagan

 1952-1957 Walter Pidgeon
 1957-1958 Leon Ames
 1958-1959 Howard Keel
 1959-1960 Ronald Reagan
 1960-1963 George Chandler
 1963-1965 Dana Andrews
 1965-1971 Charlton Heston
 1971-1973 John Gavin
 1973-1975 Dennis Weaver

 1975-1979 Kathleen Nolan
 1979-1981 William Schallert
 1981-1985 Edward Asner
 1985-1988 Patty Duke
 1988-1995 Barry Gordon
 1995-1999 Richard Masur
 1999-2001 William Daniels
 2001-2005 Melissa Gilbert
 2005-2009 Alan Rosenberg
 2009–2012 Ken Howard
Later merged as SAG-AFTRA

 References 

 Other websites 
 Screen Actors Guild official site
 Screen Actors Guild Foundation official site
 Actor Rates 2005-2007
 SAGIndie, the Independent Producers Outreach Program of the Screen Actors Guild
 Screen Actors Guild Awards website
 Hollywood Is a Union Town, published in The Nation, April 2, 1938
 SCREEN ACTORS GUILD ANNOUNCES REFERENDUM BALLOT DATES
 SAG background actors pay calculator 

Category:1933 establishments in California
Category:2010s disestablishments in California
Category:2012 disestablishments in the United States
Category:Los Angeles
Category:Trade unions in the United States