In an acknowledgement of the shifting balance of power and attention in today’s media landscape, SAG-AFTRA is stepping up its efforts to represent and support influencers.
National board members of the union unanimously voted to create an influencer and digital creator committee during the organization’s latest two-day plenary, SAG-AFTRA announced on Sunday, as the labor group eyes an expansion into the digital performance space beyond branded content.
The committee is intended to serve as a voice for digital creators and influencers within the labor group, according to national executive director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. “During the theatrical strike, creators of influencers stepped up in big ways to stand by our members on strike,” he says, pointing to those who agreed to abide by the union’s 2023 dictates to turn down work from struck companies. “I think that just really cemented for us the obvious connection and nexus there.”
In 2021, SAG-AFTRA introduced an influencer agreement and waiver under its commercials contracts that allowed digital creators a pathway to join the union. But those deals only cover work in the branded content space not the original creative content being rolled out on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.
As time passed, “It really became clear that if we’re going to continue to expand, and especially outside of the branded content space, we needed to have a formal structure in the union so that members who do this work could come together and give us guidance and leadership,” says Crabtree-Ireland. The goal, he says, is to eventually find a means for the union to directly cover non-branded content.
Patrick Janelle, a New York-based travel and lifestyle influencer, has been tapped to chair the new group, which will start by gauging support needs for creators. In a statement, Janelle says he sees “a significant need to build standards for this multi-billion dollar creator economy and an opportunity to create meaningful infrastructure and support for the talent who form the foundation.”
The committee will include a diverse array of creators who operate on every major platform, adds Janelle. “Together, with our collective experiences and unique perspectives, we will build tangible tools, provide resources and develop industry standards, creating meaningful support for creators who are at various stages in their careers,” he says.
SAG-AFTRA does not have an estimate of the number of influencers that it counts amongst its 160,000-odd members, or at least the number who produce shortform content on digital platforms as their primary job. But thousands of union members have worked under the influencer waiver and agreement since they were introduced a few years ago, Crabtree-Ireland says.
But it’s clear the nearly 100-year-old union — the Screen Actors Guild was formed in 1933, AFTRA a couple of decades later — sees influencers and the platforms they work on as a key component of its future.
For Janelle’s part, he thinks the organization’s experience can help regulate the Wild West of work for digital platforms. Says Janelle, “I am confident that with the weight of this organization … we can make significant contributions toward ensuring that creators are able to build more stable, safe and sustainable careers.”
