Overview
The SAG-AFTRA Ultra-Low Budget Agreement (UPA) is designed for U.S.-based, non-episodic productions with total budgets under $300,000. It allows you to hire union performers at reduced minimums, while still following union rules for pay, benefits, and reporting.
Wrapbook supports SAG-UPA productions end-to-end: from setting up your project, onboarding performers, and running compliant payroll, to generating the reports you’ll need at wrap.
This guide covers:
Preparing your SAG signatory paperwork
Setting up your company and project in Wrapbook
Onboarding cast and crew
Running SAG-compliant payroll
Pulling final reports for submission to SAG
Step 1: Confirm SAG signatory status
Before you can pay performers through Wrapbook, you’ll need to be signed onto the UPA with SAG-AFTRA.
What SAG requires:
Completed signatory application (submitted 4–6 weeks before shooting)
Production documents: script, Day-Out-of-Days, line-item budget, and pre-production cast list
Signed UPA contract and supporting agreements
Once SAG approves your application, they’ll issue a Production ID and assign you a Business Representative.
Step 2: Create your Wrapbook account
Use the Wrapbook Admin Account Setup guide to set up your Wrapbook admin profile.
Make sure that you confirm your email to activate your account
Step 3: Set up your company & attend an online onboarding session
Before setting up your production company in Wrapbook, be sure you have the following information ready to enter:
SAG-issued Production ID
Assigned Business Representative
EIN
Business address
Details for the bank account that your company will be using to fund payroll
Once you have this information ready, use the Wrapbook Company Setup Guide to add your production company to Wrapbook.
Shortly after you create your company in Wrapbook, you’ll receive information about how to attend an online onboarding session.
This information is typically sent to you via the email that you used to create the account
Attending onboarding is required before your company can run payroll
If you don’t receive information about how to attend an onboarding session, please contact the Support team
Step 4: Create up your SAG-UPA project
After you’ve set up your company In Wrapbook, you’ll need to create a project for your SAG Ultra Low Budget production. We recommend that you review our help article on SAG-AFTRA requirements before creating your first project.
To ensure Wrapbook applies UPA pay scales, fringes, and reporting rules appropriately, use the following steps when creating a project for your SAG Ultra Low Budget production:
In the left-side navigation, select All projects
On the All projects dashboard, click the + Create project button
Enter the Project details
Enter the Workers’ compensation information
Enter the project Payroll information
For the Unions, guilds, & health plans step:
Under Is PHBP involved with this project? click to choose No
Under Are unions or guilds involved with this project? click to choose Yes
Under Which unions & guilds are involved? click to select SAG-AFTRA
In the SAG-AFTRA module:
Click the dropdown menu under Agreement type and select SAG-AFTRA Ultra Low Budget
Enter the Production title
Select the Signatory
Enter the Production ID
Enter your Business representative
Enter a Payroll email
Configure the Paid sick leave policy
Click the Save & continue button
Continue with the remaining project setup steps:
Once project setup is completed, you’ll be able to access and manage your SAG Ultra Low Budget project in Wrapbook.
Step 5: Use the project dashboard to manage your production
From All projects, you can click on the project name to go to its project dashboard.
On the project dashboard you can see an overview of production tasks that you can manage through Wrapbook including:
If accounting features like Cost tracking or the Production Accounting Suite (PAS) are enabled for your company’s Wrapbook account, you’ll see additional overviews on the project dashboard for budget tracking and payables.
Step 6: Upload required files to the project’s Documents
Wrapbook will collect SAG-required data and deliver worker check copies to SAG.
Production administrators are still responsible for collecting and tracking signed Exhibit Gs, which can be uploaded to the project’s Documents
Step 7: Run payroll under SAG-UPA rules
When you run payroll, Wrapbook automatically:
Applies the UPA day minimum (20% of SAG Basic Agreement minimum)
Calculates overtime, premiums, and penalties per SAG rules
Tracks and remits Pension & Health contributions based on your SAG setup
Produces compliant pay stubs for workers
Payroll is typically processed within 1–2 business days once funded.
Step 8: Pull reports for SAG
With Wrapbook, you can regularly pull production reports at the company, project, and payroll levels to get data in real time as needed.
When managing a SAG Ultra Low Budget production, SAG will ask for final deliverables at wrap including:
Final cast list - please send your request for a final cast list to [email protected]
Cost reports - available to companies using Wrapbook’s Production Accounting Suite (PAS)
Wrapbook is here to help!
If you need help setting up or managing your SAG Ultra Low Budget Production in Wrapbook, you can:
Ask Scout, Wrapbook’s AI-powered chat assistant
Available 24/7 directly within your Wrapbook account,Scout can assist with common questions about timecards, payments, project setup, and navigating Wrapbook's features.
When you need additional support or have complex inquiries, Scout makes it easy to escalate to our human support team for personalized assistance. Think of Scout as your first stop for fast, accurate help that keeps you moving forward with your production needs.
Send us a support request
Live support is available between 8AM – 7PM Pacific Time, Monday – Friday, and 8AM - 5PM Sunday.
Email us at [email protected]
Call us via our toll-free phone number 1-833-977-2665
SAG Ultra-Low Budget FAQ
To help you manage your SAG Ultra-Low Budget production in Wrapbook, we’ve put together a list of frequently-asked questions. Click the arrow next to any of the questions below to see the answer.
Who sends the copies of worker checks to SAG?
Wrapbook sends the copies of worker checks directly to SAG, using the SAG payroll email provided during project setup.
What’s the budget cap for the UPA?
$300,000 total, including deferred compensation
How are performers paid?
By day rate:
20% of the SAG Basic Agreement minimum
Overtime (OT) and premiums apply per standard SAG rules
Do non-union performers get SAG benefits?
You’ll need to ask your SAG business rep if the non-union talent on the project should be treated as SAG for P&H purposes.
Does Wrapbook send reports directly to SAG?
Wrapbook generates and stores compliant reports.
You’re responsible for:
Submitting deliverables to SAG
Coordinating with your Business Representative