When I was attending Great Neck high school I played piano in a dance band made up of other students in the school. We got weekend jobs playing at dances or nightclubs on Long Island. I never felt like a real professional until I joined the musicians union Local 802 AF of M (American Federation of Musicians) and could flash my union card with pride. It made me feel grown up. Even more than shaving did. It wasn't until I got my card that I felt like a real professional musician.

Not being a member of Actor's Equity or Screen Actors Guild, I can only imagine the desirability such membership must have for the non-union member wishing to join. Such membership must seem endowed with magical properties that can seem to open the door to a career to the lucky person who possesses it.

One of the most frequently asked, if not the first, question posed by the actor who is new to the business "is How do I get into the union?" By union, course they mean Actors Equity Association. That is the first, or primary union an actor joins when he comes to New York. It then becomes his parent union. From that he can join sister unions such as SAG (Screen Actors Guild), AFTRA (American Federation of Radio and Television Actors), AGVA (American Guild of Variety Artists), AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists), or HAU (Hebrew Actors Union) if he needs to work in areas covered by their jurisdiction.

You need to belong to SAG if you are a doing any sort of film work in New York. In Los Angeles they have SEG (Screen Extras Guild) as well for people who just do extra work in a film. Although we don't have SEG in New York we do have AFTRA if you are doing television or radio work, AGVA if you are performing at Radio City Music Hall or in Los Vegas or Atlantic City in any sort of musical revue that does not infringe on Equity's jurisdiction of spoken lines. You'll need to belong to AGMA if you are singing in any opera chorus or are a member of the corps de ballet and HAU if you are a Yiddish actor (or acting in Yiddish) in anything that would fall under their jurisdiction.

Of all the Unions Equity and SAG are the hardest to get into. You can get into Actors Equity by either one of three ways. The first way is to be offered a job that requires an Equity contract in an Equity show. Not a showcase but an actual commercial production. It doesn't matter if it is Off-B'way., Broadway, Summer stock, Regional or Dinner Theater just as long as everyone working in it is under Equity's jurisdiction. Then you would pay your initiation fee of $500.00 and become a member. This of course is the most prestigious way.

The second way of joining Equity would be to join a sister union, (any of the other previously mentioned) wait a full year, during which you will have to have worked under that unions jurisdiction, and then pay an initiation fee which would be half of the normal fee. This is of course in addition to the full initiation fee you already paid your parent union. Equity then would not be your primary union but you could work under it's jurisdiction in an Equity property. Then you would pay Equity a portion of the normal Equity dues plus you would pay full dues to your parent union.

The third way of becoming an Equity member is through the Member's Candidate Program. You would have to work as an apprentice in an Equity production house, such as a recognized summer stock theater, and earn 40 to 50 weeks of credit before being allowed to buy your Equity card for the full initiation fee. Then Equity would be your parent union. Getting 40 to 50 weeks credit can take years. Just think 5 summers of summer stock at 8 weeks per summer will give you only 40 weeks. That's what I call paying your dues. I you opt for entrance into Equity after the 40 weeks you then have to pass an examination about Actors Equity and pay some sort of additional fee. If you write to Actors Equity Association, (they are in the Manhattan directory) they have literature about the membership candidate program.

Joining Screen Actors Guild is just as, if not more, difficult to do as joining Equity and has similar requirements. You have to have worked as an extra for at least three days or done an over 5, (over five lines of dialogue) or appeared as a principal in a union film to buy your SAG card and become a member. Like Actors Equity you can get in through a sister union as well by waiting one year after joining one of the other unions and paying SAG a portion of it's normal initiation fee, which I believe is now $800.00

If you really want to become an Equity member you could do so by following one of the three plans that we've already discussed but personally I think that is a bit premature for an actor starting out in New York who is relatively new to the business. If you join now you will be cheating yourself of valuable performing experience and opportunities that you will no longer have when you are Equity. Please do not think that this makes me anti union. Not at all. I just think that joining a union is something that one does at @B(last) not at @B(first.)

First, get some summer stock and dinner theatre under your belt. There are a great many opportunities to do this even if you are non-union for there as many (if not more) non-union summer stock and dinner theatres as there are union. First, get some experience making non-union student films. NYU has casting notices for these every week in Backstage. What better way of learning basic camera technique. First, do some cruises, performing in revues, and have a good time while learning strenuous dance combinations (if you dance) or challenging vocal or choral arrangements (if you are a singer). First, do some dramatic showcases and learn the art of ensemble playing and learn how to get a long with different directors. First, do some backers auditions and learn the art of learning material almost overnight.

Remember once you are an Equity member you no longer can do any of those things if it is connected with non-union employment. Once you're in the union you are there as a full professional who has paid his dues and is now demanding an honest wage for an honest day's work. You may have to join the great ranks of unemployed Equity members and be just another number standing on line at an Equity Principal Interview competing with myriads of others for one small part. That goes with the territory, and is one of the privileges your Equity card gives you. The right to compete with others for union approved work.

Also remember that Unions were formed to protect hard working actors, who throughout history, have always been taken advantage of by unscrupulous people capitalizing on the performer's inborn need to express his God given talent. Non-union employment is fine for someone starting out who has to learn the ropes and gather some credits and experience along the way. Then, and only then, are you ready to join the union.

By the way, even if you are non-union you can sometimes audition for Equity productions by waiting until all the Equity people have been seen. Sometimes you'll be lucky and get that chance of a lifetime if some kind Equity deputy says that everyone has been seen and he gives you permission. If you're not that lucky you still can join another union, satisfy the basic requirements and wait the year. Remember, all good things come to him who waits.