Cheyenne Jackson started posting other actors’ headshots on Instagram over the weekend. Every one of them is close to losing SAG-AFTRA health insurance.
He calls the series “One Job Away.” Each post shows an actor’s face, credits, contacts and how far they are from the union health plan’s earnings minimum, so a casting director might book them.
“I know what it feels like to be one job away…and what it means when someone actually comes through,” Jackson wrote in the first post, BroadwayWorld reported. “Sometimes we all need somebody to put our name in the room.”
How Kathy Bates Got Cheyenne Jackson a Role on ‘Matlock’
Jackson has been in more than 40 TV series. Last year he still came up about $6,000 short, he told Variety. The plan covers his husband and their two kids.
“I was one gig short of getting my insurance,” he said. “We really rely on the SAG insurance. It’s really good.”
So he reached out to Kathy Bates, his old “American Horror Story” castmate. He told Variety he said, “Listen, I’m in trouble and I could really use your help.”
Bates came back with an offer, he recalled. “The good news is, I got you a role on ‘Matlock,'” she told him. “The bad news is, you have five lines and you don’t have a name.”
He took it. “I played no-name detective,” Jackson said. His scene: “I searched a crime scene and I said, ‘Hey, Sergeant, we got some blood over here.'”
The SAG-AFTRA Health Plan’s $28,090 Earnings Minimum
The SAG-AFTRA Health Plan generally requires minimum covered earnings during a four-quarter base period. An alternative is 108 eligibility days, calculated from covered session earnings. That does not necessarily mean 108 days worked. The earnings threshold is $28,090 for benefit periods beginning in 2026. It rises to $28,933 for periods beginning in 2027.
Jackson told Variety that some of his residual income does not help him qualify for coverage. His broader concern is having to meet an annual earnings threshold, even after years in television.
“I don’t want to play a blame game,” he said. “What I do want to do is start engaging in a bigger conversation because clearly the system is not working right now.”
Daniel Franzese, Jai Rodriguez and Other Actors in ‘One Job Away’
Submissions came in fast. Jackson said he got “hundreds” in less than a day, Variety reported. He posted the first batch during a layover in Atlanta, then set up a separate account and an email address after his DMs filled up, KTLA reported.
“I don’t want anyone to get lost in the DMs,” he wrote.
The actors he’s featured include Daniel Franzese of “Mean Girls,” Jai Rodriguez of “Rent” and the original “Queer Eye,” and Tony nominee Eden Espinosa. Broadway producer Dominick Laruffa Jr. is $2,471.19 away. Juston Graber was $198.48 short. Jamie Lee Curtis has reposted some of the posts.
Peppermint, who starred in “Head Over Heels” on Broadway, responded too. “I wish they would just change the system,” she said. “This annual game is a demented recipe for disaster. And the insurance isn’t even great.”
Drake Bell went public earlier this month. He posted that he’d made $17,480.53 in covered earnings, short of the $28,933 he needed. “Do not become an actor. Do not join SAG,” he wrote.
Jack Haven of “Atypical” posted a video saying they needed $4,000 by the end of the month to get coverage starting in January, The Independent reported.
Actors can find the campaign’s submission details through its new Instagram account, @one.job.away, KTLA reported.
