South African Guild of Actors
SAGA acts as a unified voice to protect actors’ rights, enhance working conditions, and improve compensation, while lobbying for legislative reform
Personal Managers Association
The PMA is a membership organisation for talent agencies. It supports performers across all media, with the aim of strengthening the creative sector.
Industry Regulation – the origin story
Why is regulation needed?
Competition Commission made easy
Some wording
Labour law made easy
Some wording about what is on this page and why to read it.
Exemption and Negotiation made easy.
ACTION! is about finding a legal process to agree minimum rates and recommended contract terms for actors and performers. Two Industry professional bodies — SAGA and PMA — engaged with the Competition Commission after learning that even discussing standardised rates can raise competition-law risk. The aim is not to bypass the law, but to use a formal mechanism—an exemption—to create a safe space for fair and transparent negotiation.
SAGA and the PMA have committed to a multi-year process, to move our industry to a formal, accountable process around how actors are paid.
ACTION! is about creating fair recommended terms and rates through a lawful pathway—so we can negotiate without being silenced by competition-law risk. You can help keep the industry transparent and balanced through your membership of SAGA or The PMA.
Most actors and performers are treated as independent contractors, not employees—so the protections people expect at work don’t apply in the same way. the rule of “self-regulation” means there’s no real consequence when powerful players ignore suggested standards. That leaves actors with take-it-or-leave-it contracts and expensive, slow court routes if something goes wrong.
Even though we’re individuals, the law can treat actors as competitors—because we may compete for the same role. That means if we coordinate on minimum rates, it can be reported as price-fixing.
The problem is simple: the creative economy of screen and stage performance runs on unwritten understandings—suggested rates, common practices, and guidelines. This relies on everyone playing fair. In reality, there is no legal enforceability for usual “workplace standards”. We need to change that.
The Competition Commission exemption is the legal tool that allows structured discussions about recommended minimum rates and recommended contract terms. It does not magically make anything enforceable—but it gives us a lawful space to negotiate properly. It also comes with conditions like fairness, transparency, and reporting, and it runs for a limited period (described as five years).