Before a dedicated deal, SAG-AFTRA's low-budget net had no floor

The figure or the record

Before SAG-AFTRA's dedicated vertical-programs agreement, productions with the smallest budgets signed the union's Micro-Budget Project Agreement, in force for projects commencing 1 December 2020 or later. A contract bulletin dated February 2021 describes it as a 'streamlined signatory process for independent producers,' capped at projects 'budgeted at $20,000 or less per picture or per episode.' The bulletin lists what qualifies — live action, scripted or unscripted entertainment content that would otherwise sign a Short Project, Student Film or new media agreement — and what does not: animation, branded content, commercials, nudity or hazardous stunts among them.

What the documents establish

The underlying Micro-Budget Project Agreement, dated December 2020, confirms the bulletin's terms and adds detail the bulletin omits: permitted exhibition is limited to film festivals, free-to-consumer platforms where the producer takes no distribution fee, Academy consideration screenings, industry showcases, one unpaid public-access run and classroom use. It names the pre-existing instruments the Micro sits alongside — the Short Project Agreement, Ultra Low Budget Project Agreement, Student Film Agreement and two new media agreements — and states that signing does not itself create union membership eligibility.

Scope and caveats

Neither document sets a minimum wage or day rate. The bulletin says 'most terms will be subject to negotiation between producer and performer,' and the agreement's only wage instruction is that the producer must separately comply with federal and state minimum-wage and workers' compensation law. Critically, the permitted-exhibition list excludes paid, coin-unlock or subscription distribution of the kind vertical drama apps use — this was a free-to-consumer instrument, not one built for a monetised platform. That gap is precisely what a dedicated verticals agreement would need to close.

What to watch

Editorially, the comparison worth holding onto is what a 2026 verticals agreement adds that this 2020 instrument did not: a paid-distribution pathway, and whether it introduces an actual wage floor where the Micro-Budget Agreement offered none.

• Does the newer vertical-specific agreement cover paid, coin-unlock distribution that this free-to-consumer instrument excluded?
• Does it set any fixed minimum fee, where the Micro-Budget Agreement left pay entirely to negotiation?
• Which productions continue to sign the older Short Project or Ultra Low Budget agreements instead, and why?

Read on its own terms, the pre-2026 low-budget landscape gave SAG-AFTRA signatory status without a price floor, which is a different thing from the union setting a rate for the format at all.