You're presented an extremely cynical viewpoint. 1) IMDB credits are not all equal. If OP received credits for major television shows (which it sounds like), i

You're presented an extremely cynical viewpoint. 1) IMDB credits are not all equal. If OP received credits for major television shows (which it sounds like), it's obviously different than you make a movie yourself. 2) You view pretty standard networking practices as him being a "slimeball". You have no idea if that's how they interpreted his behavior. More likely, they thought he was friendly, outgoing, and ambitious. 3) The Prisoner's Dilemma doesn't entirely apply here, unless you know exactly what the talent pool looks like and where incentives are at. There are tons of hopeful actors who would probably scab work without SAG membership, but the studios will still be plucking from the SAG pool.