Important Industry Update: SAG-AFTRA Ends 500-Mile Travel Waiver
What Actors Need to Know About This Change
and How It May Affect Casting Opportunities
Starting January 1, 2025, SAG-AFTRA officially ended the 500-mile travel waiver for television and theatrical productions. If you're a working actor who has relied on "modified local hire" status to book roles outside your home base, this is an important update that could impact how you approach future job opportunities, and how you market yourself.
🌍 What Was the 500-Mile Travel Waiver?
The waiver was designed in the 90s to help regional actors land work on productions filming in nearby cities. It incentivized productions by allowing them to avoid covering travel and lodging costs for actors who lived within 500 miles of the filming location.
This made it possible for actors to present themselves as "local hires" even if they didn’t technically live in the city where the project was shooting.
🔁 What’s Changing in 2025?
Beginning in the new year:
The 500-mile rule will no longer apply to anyone.
If you do not live in the production’s shooting location, you will be considered a distant hire.
Productions will now be required to cover travel and lodging for any non-local SAG-AFTRA members. This means they may hire fewer distant performers to keep costs down.
🗳 Why the Change?
The Chicago Local Board voted to end the waiver, with the belief that travel-related provisions in the union’s collective bargaining agreement should be applied equally to all members, no matter where they live.
🎭 What This Means for You
For many actors, especially those who built careers by working within a wide regional range, this shift could affect:
Where you’re able to work without being classified as a distant hire.
How you market yourself on your website, resume, and submissions.
The likelihood of getting cast in projects where productions prefer true local hires to save on travel expenses.
🎯 How Do Productions Know Where You Live?
Productions determine your location based on several factors, and they typically want clear, verifiable information from your official SAG-AFTRA file
SAG-AFTRA members have a primary residence on file with the union. This is often the first reference point for determining where you live.
Make sure your address on file with the union is accurate and reflects where you can legitimately be hired as a local.
💡 What You Can Do
Be Honest About Where You're Based Don’t claim to be local unless you can actually get to set easily and reliably without travel or housing assistance.
List Multiple Locations (If Legitimate)If you have places you regularly stay (e.g., family in LA, a roommate in Atlanta), you can list multiple base cities on your resume or website—but only if you can actually work locally from those places.
Be Proactive in Submissions If you're applying to jobs in other markets, make it clear you can work as a local hire, and be prepared to back that up with details or logistics.
We're here to help! If you'd like to update your website or resume to better reflect your current location or booking preferences, reach out to us anytime.
Stay informed. Stay flexible. Stay ready!
We’ll continue to share updates as the industry evolves.
