SAG-AFTRA recently announced that its National Board has approved a new “Influencer Agreement,” allowing a new pathway for influencers to become members of the union and thereby receive member benefits, such as health and pension benefits should they qualify.

The Influencer Agreement, which was promulgated by the union and not the result of a collective bargaining process, will (according to SAG’s announcement) cover “content created by certain types of influencers when they are paid to advertise products or services.”  Details about the new Influencer Agreement are forthcoming.  However, we understand that that the Influencer Agreement will include the following key requirements:

•  The influencer must have a corporate entity;
•  There must be an agreement between the influencer and the advertiser that spells out the deliverables, payments and other terms relating to the influencer’s services;
• The influencer must retain ownership of the intellectual property rights in the deliverables;
• The influencer and the advertiser can freely bargain compensation for the influencer’s services;
• Twenty percent (20%) of the influencer’s compensation will be allocated to union-covered services and subject to pension and health contributions; and
• Only the influencer, and no one else, may appear in the deliverables.

In addition to this new Influencer Agreement, the union plans to issue a new “Influencer Waiver” under the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contract.  We anticipate that this Influencer Waiver will mirror many of the provisions under the new Influencer Agreement. 

All of the above is based on preliminary reports and, of course, the devil is in the details.  We'll be sure to keep you updated as soon as the new Influencer Agreement and Influencer Waiver are made public.