The 2026 SAG-AFTRA Contract: A Complete Background Breakdown

Wages and Minimums

The general minimum rate for background actors goes up 3%. That brings stand-ins to a $270/8 minimum and background actors to $231/8. Build the new floor into any budget that runs past July 1.

New and Increased Daily Adjustments

A handful of allowances are new or going up, and most of them are easy to miss until they hit a voucher:

• Body make-up rises from $19 to $21.50.
• Extensive hair and make-up carries a new $35 adjustment when a background actor is asked to report with self-styled period looks or other-than-ordinary make-up per producer instructions.
• Corsets carry a new $21.50 daily adjustment.
• Stand-in double duty adds a new $27 adjustment when a stand-in is also required to perform background duties.

Fittings

The minimum call for a background actor fitted on a day prior to work increases from 2 hours to 3 hours. That raises the minimum payout for any prior-day fitting, so factor it into fitting-day budgets and scheduling.

Late Fees and Penalties

Penalties get stricter, which raises the cost of slow paperwork:

• The daily late fee rises from $3 to $5.
• The maximum late penalty under Schedule X-I climbs from $75 to $125.
• A new 5th-and-beyond half-hour meal-penalty tier of $15 per half-hour is added specifically for background actors.

This is one area where clean, on-time processing directly protects the budget.

Working Conditions

Several updates raise the baseline for how background and stand-ins are treated on set:

• Photo doubling is clarified as a special ability under both Schedule X-I and X-II, with a $10 adjustment in X-I.
• Wet, snow, or smoke work now requires producers to provide a private place to change into dry clothes at mealtime and at dismissal.
• Meal access: when a meal is not catered and is not available within a 5-minute walk, the meal period extends to 45 minutes.
• Walkaway meals: producers must notify background actors the night prior if no meal will be provided.
• Crowd waivers for scenes involving undirected large crowds in their normal activities will now be granted automatically.
• Call-time notice: producers will make best efforts to provide notice by 8 p.m. the day prior.
• Wi-Fi parity: background actors get the same Wi-Fi access as other union employees on set.
• New York transportation: Grand Central Station is added as a required drop-off point for transportation after night work.

Minimum Coverage Caps

The background coverage cap for television programs increases from 25 to 26. The 85-background-actor theatrical cap is now clarified to apply to high-budget streaming projects with a budget of $30 million or more and a runtime of 85 minutes or more.

Casting and Submissions

Producers and casting agencies may not charge background actors a fee to access casting notices.

AI and Digital Replicas

This is one of the most significant areas of the new contract, and background actors are now explicitly covered:

• Digital replicas created without a scan still qualify as Employment-Based Digital Replicas, with full protections.
• Producers must have an articulable business reason to scan a background actor.
• Biometric data, including fingerprints, palmprints, and iris scans, cannot be used for any purpose unrelated to the production.
• A minor background actor's digital replica cannot be used to depict them as nude or in simulated sexual activity.
• Producers must limit access to digital replicas and use commercially reasonable security measures.

For productions, that means scan policies and data handling deserve a fresh look before cameras roll.

Intimacy Coordinators

Producers will use best efforts to engage an Intimacy Coordinator for scenes involving nudity or simulated sex involving background actors, and background actors may request access to the Intimacy Coordinator without fear of retaliation.

Nudity (Stand-Ins)

Producers may not request that a stand-in work nude or simulate sex acts.

Training Days

If a background actor is required to report for safety, harassment-prevention, or other required training on a non-work day, they will be paid for 4 hours at one-half the background-actor rate.

Disability Accommodations

Producers must provide background actors with written information on how to request disability accommodations, included with start paperwork.

Holidays

Work after midnight into a holiday is clarified as payable at double time for background actors.

What This Means for Your Production

Taken together, these updates raise the floor for background and stand-in conditions, tighten penalty structures, and codify meaningful protections around AI, biometric data, and on-set safety. None of it is disruptive on its own, but it adds up across departments. For any show in pre-production now, budgets, call-sheet workflows, scan policies, and AD protocols all deserve a fresh look before July 1.

The rules around background change with every contract cycle, and keeping up with them is a big part of what we do at Everyset. We work with productions across the country and at every major studio, and we maintain a close working relationship with SAG-AFTRA, so we can help you read the language correctly and apply it to your specific show. When the landscape shifts, we want to be the team you can call to make sense of it.If you have questions about how any of these provisions affect a specific production or shoot day, feel free to reach out to me directly. I'm always glad to talk it through.