Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Because independent films are more popular than ever before, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is running ads such as this one in Filmmaker magazine and film festival programs to publicize its recently modified “Low Budget Agreements.” First instituted in 1969, the agreements mark the union’s effort to recognize the financial realities of the indie film industry. Still, the ads were not designed just for directors or actors, who ostensibly think about things like performance quality. They are aimed at the people who control the purse strings: producers, who generally decide whether a given film will use union talent or not. So if the ads are funny at first glance and jarring at second, it shows only that SAG’s becoming savvy. The union understands that even low-budget filmmaking is becoming a business first and an art form second.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate