Beasts of the Southern Wild Not Eligible for SAG

Well, a big wrench has been thrown in the cog of the Beasts of the Southern Wild machine. Unless they raise the actors salaries now, which involves international agreements, the film is considered too low budget under the SAG's Low Budget Feature Agreement. Zehn decided to cast locals who had never acted, and he is now paying the price unless the distributors decide to bump up pay. Either way, while this doesn't stop Oscar nods for Quvenzhane Wallis or Dwight Henry, it does in fact make it harder to do so. 64 performances have gotten an Oscar nod without SAG, but for a small budget feature like Beasts, this means a lot more campaigning, and a lot less press, which is not what it needs to stay competitive. We'll have to wait and see how this one pans out, hopefully for its actors, it will not affect their Oscar chances.