Tag Archives: vote

Trying To Help My Fellow Members (or 2 Weeks And 2 Roundtables)

Posted on November 29, 2023 | Comments Off

I’ve written a lot about my union service lately for a lot of reasons. One is that there hasn’t been any work since we have been on strike. But the bigger one is that I have been passionate about union service since I got involved. It’s really easy to not pay that much attention to what is going on and not worry about voting or anything else like that. But it’s so important to know what is happening because if we are lucky, these contracts and elected officials will be the ones who can make a big difference in our working conditions and pay.

As soon as the strike was suspended, there was a lot of discussion about the contract ratification vote. These usually happen during the summer when the new contract is decided (since we don’t normally go on strike and take 118 days to get a new contract). But the process is the same as it normally is. We received the summary of what changes will be coming in the new contract. There are informational sessions held so we can learn more and get our questions answered. And then we vote. For every contract I’ve voted on for SAG-AFTRA, the vote passes and the contract is ratified.

But this time, things don’t feel as simple as they usually are. I don’t know if members are more involved now that we’ve had a long strike if the idea of AI is worrying them, or what else might be triggering. But this contract ratification vote has been a lot more contentious than the others. The union has been trying to alleviate fears as much as they can. They have been doing more informational sessions than I remember from the past. The lawyers rushed to complete the full memorandum of agreement, which typically isn’t done until after the vote is completed. They have been putting out as much information as possible to make sure the misinformation is corrected. For example, I’ve heard some members worry that there will be no more background jobs because of AI. But not only does the new contract prohibit productions from using AI instead of the minimum number of covered background, we got the minimum number increased!

After seeing the misinformation going around online, I knew I had to do something. So I teamed up with another delegate, David Blue, and we decided to create some livestreams to get the correct information out to members. These were going to be similar to the You Are The Union livestreams I did a few years ago, but we were just going to focus on the new contract. We invited members of the Negotiating Committee to answer questions that members had about the new contract. Because of some of the conversations we had seen on social media, we were very cautious about making sure things would stay respectful and calm. And the first livestream we did was magical! It went better than we could have expected or hoped for and we knew that we got a lot of information out that needed to be there. And the comments we were getting after it was done showed us that other members felt the same way.

Because that went so well and people were asking for us to do another, we hosted another livestream this week. And that was just as successful as the first!

From the time that David and I decided to do these livestreams to the time that we hosted the second was just under 2 weeks. It was a crazy whirlwind time, but it was worth it. I know we don’t have as big of a reach as some other people might have, but we’ve had over 1,000 views on the first livestream replay already and it’s still being shared online!

If you are a SAG-AFTRA member and you have some questions about the contract, please check out the replays of the livestreams that we did. We created a YouTube channel just to host them.

Votes are due by December 5th, so you’ve got just under a week to get your vote in. And it’s a much easier ballot than officer elections because it’s online and you are only voting for one thing. I’m not going to try to convince anyone how to vote because that’s not my right. If you want to know my opinions about certain issues, I’m happy to share those. But everyone has to vote the way they believe and make sure they are being an informed voter.

And in less than a week, I guess we will see what happens. But no matter what, I’m so proud of what we were able to accomplish with these livestreams and how many members we were able to help.

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Tagged acting, election, SAG-AFTRA, strike, union, vote

The Strike Is Over! (or It’s Now Time To Vote And Pass The Contract)

Posted on November 15, 2023 | 1 comment

After 118 days of SAG-AFTRA being on strike, the strike finally ended last week! I don’t think that anyone thought it would take this long to get to a deal when the strike started. I feel very certain that we had to go on strike because what was offered to us was not reasonable, but I really hoped it would be a short strike. It was shorter than the writer’s strike, but I never thought it would last over 100 days.

Nobody wanted to go on strike, but I will say that the solidarity that I saw on the picket lines was very inspiring. All of us were working together for a common goal. That’s a rarity for this industry. We all understood why we were on strike and why it was necessary. I went to the picket lines as often as I could, which wasn’t as much as I would have liked. But I made sure I supported my union and fellow members online when I couldn’t be there in person.

I knew that our Negotiating Committee was working hard on a deal when the other side was willing to meet with them. Of course, the other side didn’t want to meet that often and it took over 100 days from the start of the strike to the next time they met. This wasn’t our choice, but it was what we had to accept. And when they were meeting, those negotiating for us knew what our priorities were and what protections we would need. Finally, we had a tentative deal which was agreed to by every member of our Negotiating Committee.

The next step was for the Negotiating Committee to bring the deal to the National Board for them to decide if the deal was approved for the membership to vote on. That vote passed, with 86% of the National Board approving it. That is higher than many of our past contracts, so I’m really excited about that. And now, all 160,000 members will have an opportunity to vote to hopefully ratify this new contract.

We have a few weeks to vote, and I am taking my time to make sure I understand the new contract. I feel very certain that I will be voting yes because there are so many amazing things in this contract. It’s not everything we wanted and it’s not perfect, but no negotiation ends with one side getting every single thing they asked for.

Some people wanted to make AI forbidden in the new contract. But what we got was that AI can only be used with our consent when we are told exactly what it is used for. And if we are not on set because they are using an AI version of us, we have to be paid our day rate just like we would if we were on camera. That’s amazing to me! We also got increases in our residuals and new streaming bonuses for high-performing shows. We never had those bonuses before so that is an entirely new way we can make money with our contracts. And the one I’m most excited about is the new rules for self-tape auditions. We now have to have at least 48 hours (not counting weekends and holidays) for self-tape auditions. I’ve had some in the past that had less than 24 hours before they were due. We now have a restriction on how many pages these auditions can be. And we cannot be required to do any fancy camerawork or editing for an audition. Those are awesome because I’ve seen some crazy self-tape instructions that say you have to film in multiple locations.

I know the contract isn’t the easiest thing to read and all members should educate themselves about it before voting. I attended a Zoom informational session about it that happened earlier this week, and I know there will be more coming up. There’s also an in-person informational session later this week that members can register for. Things are being announced as they are scheduled, so I expect there will be more than what has been announced so far so all members should have a chance to learn more about the contract and get their questions answered.

I do hope that this contract is voted up and ratified. If we don’t, going back to the table means we will lose some of the things we have won. And as I said, it’s not perfect, but it’s got some great things in it. And when we negotiate again in less than 3 years, we will be in a much stronger spot to get even more protections for all members and make our profession even stronger.

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Tagged acting, SAG-AFTRA, strike, union, vote

Finishing Up Election Season (or This Was Very Different From The Norm)

Posted on September 13, 2023 | Comments Off

The SAG-AFTRA elections ended last week. I’ve been a part of 5 election seasons now, and this one was so different from what I’m used to. It was so different that it doesn’t feel right that it’s over now. But I am glad it’s done so the union can move on to the next thing. I tried to enjoy every moment of the election season because I feel it might not be like this again.

The first 3 election seasons I was a part of were pretty similar. There were 2 major parties running for the various positions, so it felt similar to what national politics are like. The slate I’m a part of, Unite For Strength, would help to organize things so we could campaign as a group. There were different events that we would go to and pass out flyers. And things could get very intense from time to time, but I didn’t mind that too much since I was passionate about what I believe in and I wanted to help the cause. Our election in 2021 was different because nothing was happening in person. The events we would pass out flyers at weren’t happening. So much was happening on social media, which made my volunteer position with the slate a little extra stressful. But again, my passion helped me to continue working on things, and I was proud to be a part of something I really believed in.

This year, things changed even more. Some things stayed the same, such as not having a lot of in-person campaigning opportunities. Most of the work we did this election season was done either online or by us as individuals reaching out to people we knew personally. I think a lot of us got to meet more members than normal because of the strike, but because of election guidelines, you could not discuss the elections while picketing.

But the biggest change we had this year was having a unified slate between the 2 major parties. Having a unified slate was so important for a lot of reasons. Our focus should be on the strike and not the election, so not having the usual back-and-forth between candidates wouldn’t be the most productive use of our time. I also think having a lot of leadership changes in the middle of a strike would weaken our position, so keeping as many people as possible in their previously election positions was important. And I think many of us were starting to feel like the way elections had been going and how divisive they have been was wearing us down and not benefitting us or the union as a whole. I know that we can’t always agree on everything, but to have as many disagreements as we have had the last few election seasons was not something that needed to continue.

We did still have other candidates running against the unified slate. They called themselves independent, but they worked as a slate together so they weren’t exactly independent. But even with them running against us, it didn’t feel like it did in the past with 2 major slates running against each other. They did put out some press and articles that weren’t kind about us, but it wasn’t getting a lot of traction so there weren’t arguments that I heard coming from other members who were deciding on who to vote for. Everything seemed so much more calm and simple.

And when the ballots were counted this past Friday, almost all the seats that our Unity slate ran for won! There were a few spots that we didn’t win, but it was only a handful. We didn’t get one of the National Board seats and 4 of the Local Board seats. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get the Local Board seat I ran for. I am sad about this because I really did want this, but I know that we couldn’t win everything. The 4 independents who won those Local Board seats are all very well-known actors, and many members vote for people they know. But I did win my delegate seat again so I will be a part of the National Convention! I’m so happy that I get to be a part of Convention again and I hope that I will also get a chance to be on some more committees.

I’m so glad that things turned out as well as they did for this election season. It wasn’t everything I wanted, but it was so close to that. And I really am grateful for how calm things were. It did feel weird and it almost doesn’t feel like we just had an election, but it was so nice to have things this way compared to how they have been in the past. And who knows, maybe in 2 years we will have a calm election again!

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Tagged election, SAG-AFTRA, union, vote

Having Election Night Alone (or Seeing If My Hard Work Paid Off)

Posted on September 7, 2021 | Comments Off

There is so much I stress about during union election season, but sometimes the most stressful thing is waiting while ballots are being counted to see the results. I usually end up having a very late night to see the end of the ballot counting and sometimes I’m so exhausted that things don’t click with me until the next morning. And this year, I knew watching the ballots being counted would be a different thing than normal since it was being done over Zoom.

There were pros and cons to the counting being done online. I didn’t like that I was at home alone watching everything and I didn’t have my friends there to reassure me or to joke with while we wait for everything to be done. But the biggest advantage was that I got to watch while I was working because I could keep the Zoom screen small on my screen while I’m working. I actually was able to watch from almost the start when the ballots were picked up from the post office and brought over to the union. I know it doesn’t sound exciting, but it was cool to see since it’s something I’ve never been an observer for in the past.

I wasn’t able to watch all of the counting process because I was working from 9-5. When I could check the screen, I did. And when people were asking questions on Zoom about the process, I listened. But for those 8 hours, I mainly worked with the occasional check-in on the process. I was also texting and messaging with friends who were watching the entire time.

For all the times in the past that I was an observer for the ballot counting, I was only in the local count room. I was automatically allowed in there because I was on the local ballot (which includes National Board, Local Board, and Delegates). The national count room was for the national president and secretary-treasurer, and to be allowed in that room you had to either be a candidate or listed as a proxy for a candidate. This year, I knew I’d be watching in the local room since that’s the standard for me. But I was selected to be a proxy for one of our candidates in the national room so I was able to be in both (not at the same time, but I switched back and forth).

When I was able to watch, I did try to pay attention to how the ballots were looking to me. The local ballots were harder since there are so many candidates, so I could never tell if someone was voting for me. But on the national ballots, it was easy to see what was happening. And things were looking very close to me. I started to think it might be a split ballot with one slate getting president and the other getting secretary-treasurer. I wasn’t sure if we’d have a very late night or not, but we ended up getting the national results pretty early compared to past years. And I was right, we had a split ballot with Fran Drescher and Joely Fisher winning.

After we knew the results for the national count, we had to wait until the union announced it before we shared the news, but that was easier to do since I wasn’t seeing anyone in person. I switched back to the local count room to see how things were going and to watch the end of those results. When I was back watching the local count, the election committee was working on the questionable ballots and trying to figure out the voter’s intent. Some of these were clear and some were really odd. It’s frustrating when you think that they are voting for the people you are supporting and the election committee can’t agree on what the intent was. I did see the committee debate a few times about votes that they had to decide if the intent was to vote for me or someone else. That was a bit weird.

And in the end, sadly my slate didn’t do as well as we hoped. We didn’t win the local officers and we didn’t get as many board seats as we would have liked. I didn’t get elected to Local Board, which was tough. I knew that it was not going to be easy for me to be elected to the board, but I really had hoped that somehow I would win a seat. But I did win my delegate seat again, so that was good news.

It’s always tough when you don’t do as well in an election as you hoped. And this time, it hit me harder than ever before. Maybe it’s because I did more work for the campaign than in past years. Maybe feelings from the pandemic added to my emotions. Maybe I was affected by watching the count alone at home more than I thought. It doesn’t really matter why, but I honestly was heartbroken when seeing the results. I know that we can’t win everything and having balance is important, but the other side has a significant majority now and it will be harder for us to make an impact in the way we had hoped.

I think I’m still dealing with feeling sad about the results. I know that now it’s time to get back to work and we have to start preparing for the National Convention, but I also need to sit with my feelings and process what happened. The one thing that does help me feel better is that I don’t have any regrets about what I did during this election season. There is nothing I didn’t do that I wanted to do. There is nothing I did that I questioned. I did everything I wanted to do and knowing that I did that made me happy.

And in 2 years when it’s the next election season, I know I’ll be fully in it again and ready to go. And hopefully we will do better then, but now we are just focused on our union service and working hard for all members.

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Tagged acting, election, SAG-AFTRA, union, vote

Election Day (or Just Vote)

Posted on November 3, 2020 | Comments Off

I’ve written about the importance of voting on here the other day. I’m not going to go into those same discussions again in this post. But since today is Election Day, I’m asking all of you again to please just vote.

I’m sure many of you have already voted either by mail or early in-person. And thank you for doing that. Voting is always important, but I think most of you would agree that this election is critical. There are so many things happening in our country that could be fixed or worked on if our elected leaders wanted to do so. But right now, many elected leaders do not see those issues the same way. For example, the extra unemployment could have been extended but the politicians in charge did not see that as something they needed to do. In fact, they have said they wanted to wait until after the election. So they felt like people getting a few hundred dollars a week was more than enough and it didn’t matter (for example, I’m only getting $200 a week right now which doesn’t even cover my rent).

There has been a lot of stress leading up to this election. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to feel after it’s all done. I didn’t do as much as I could have to help get the vote out, but I did as much as I could handle. I wish I had the ability to do phone and text banking like many of my friends did. And I looked into writing postcards. But honestly, my mental health couldn’t take it. And I had to be ok with that. I focused on what I could do, such as reaching out to my friends and posting on social media and amplifying voices that were more informed than mine.

And because so many of us haven’t been working, we’ve had more time than ever to worry about this election. While I don’t expect us to know who won by the end of tonight, by tonight there will be very little that we can do. All that is left is making sure that all the votes are counted and that the courts don’t stop counting ballots that arrived on time because of an arbitrary deadline. I think everyone would love to know for sure who won tonight, but that’s never really the case. So I’m mentally prepared for several days of uncertainty.

Since there will likely be uncertainty, I am doing things to make the time a bit easier on me. And one step I can do is to write these blog posts in advance. I have the next few days planned out and will likely be writing them before this post goes live. So I want to explain that the next few days will probably not mention the election or current events. I might re-write posts or move things around if I feel up for it, but I’m allowing myself to not have to worry about blogging for the next few days. I do have some fun things to write about and I’m looking forward to sharing them. And when we have more news about the outcome of the election and I can put my thoughts together, I will write about it then. But I don’t want to write a bunch of posts saying I don’t know what’s going to happen or speculating. So until there is something to write about, I don’t think I will be writing much about the election again.

So this is my last time asking you all to please vote. Being apolitical or not voting is not a sign of anything other than that you are perfectly fine with how everything is happening right now. You don’t have to have a perfect candidate to vote for them. You just have to vote for the one you feel would do a better job running our country. If you aren’t registered to vote, please check your state as many states do allow Election Day registration. If you haven’t voted in multiple elections and are embarrassed to be a first-time voter, don’t be. It doesn’t matter what you have done before now, it matters what you do this time. So vote. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. And let’s hope that this election will be one that helps our country move forward and start to improve.

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Tagged election, politics, vote

Almost Election Day (or I’m Asking You All To Please Vote)

Posted on October 29, 2020 | Comments Off

We are less than a week away from Election Day. Honestly, I’m ready for the presidential campaign to be done. It feels like it’s been going on since the last election. And that’s partially true since Trump started his re-election campaign right after he was elected. And this election has been very overwhelming. There are so many things we are all aware of as a country with what happened that might not need to have happened. We have seen how other countries have worked with slowing the pandemic and it’s frustrating to see that our national leadership isn’t doing the same. And since so many of us are out of work, we all have more time to be informed about the news each day.

Election Day feels like a very different thing this time. Normally, it felt like most people would go out to vote on Election Day. I always voted by mail, but I know a lot of people who never did that before. This year, people are calling Election Day the deadline to vote, not the date to vote. I can’t think of any of my friends in California that are voting in person. Everyone is voting by mail and almost all of us have been dropping off our ballots in a ballot box instead of mailing them back.

And I think most of us are aware that we probably won’t know who won by the end of Election Day. The projections that the various news agencies put out are just projections, not totals. Typically, it takes a few days (if not longer) after Election Day to finish counting ballots. And this is because, in most states, they cannot start counting ballots until the morning of Election Day. I don’t think states should be counting and announcing what is happening with the mail-in ballots before Election Day, but I do think it makes sense to allow states to start going through them and counting. Especially because some politicians are starting to say that they do not believe ballots should be counted after Election Day. I’m not even talking about ballots that are mailed before Election Day and arrive after. This is about ballots that are ready to be counted on Election Day but because of time they are not counted before midnight. Let’s say there are 10 million mail-in ballots but only enough time to count 7 million before midnight. Should those 3 million votes not count? Should your vote be a luck of the draw if it’s considered? No. Every vote should be counted. And there is no need for us to know who won immediately. In the last several elections, we didn’t know right away. So why do we need to know that night now?

And for ballots that are mailed back before Election Day, there are issues with those too. Many states have decided that if a ballot is postmarked before Election Day but does not arrive on time, it is not valid. And considering how slow the mail is these days, I think a lot of ballots that are mailed won’t make it in time. For example, when I mail things to my family it’s usually there within a day or two. The last time I mailed something to my parents, it took almost 3 weeks. The slow mail is the reason I used a ballot box this time. And I’m lucky in LA that we have so many ballot boxes. Other states are making it very difficult to return a ballot. For example, in Texas, they are restricting ballot boxes to 1 per county. Some counties have millions of people or are very large and people have to drive miles to get to the box. And if you mail your ballot back, it can only arrive the day after Election Day to count, so many people are dropping them off. That has lead to lines at the ballot boxes that can take hours to get through. And not everyone can take the day to drop off a ballot (or wait in line to vote in person). So making it harder to vote is also potentially preventing people from voting.

But even with all the difficulties that there might be voting this year, I want to encourage you all to vote. Actually, because of the difficulties I want people to vote. We can make voting easier for everyone if we have politicians in office who believe in doing that. Texas didn’t have to make things difficult. They made that decision and said it would be fine. Hopefully, those who are upset with these new policies will vote in people who want to make voting accessible to all. It’s not just about voting for the president (although that is important). It’s about voting for the people who will be making the decisions in your state, city, and district. You want people in office who represent you and that you agree with. And that only happens if you vote. If you don’t take this chance, you are silencing your voice for what you want.

If you have a mail-in ballot, please do not mail it back. Even if you have to drive a bit to a ballot box, it’s the only way now to guarantee your ballot will arrive on time and can be counted. If you are voting in person and if your state has early voting you may want to do that to avoid the lines that might be happening on Election Day. I know the lines for early voting are happening too, but you can time early voting around your schedule so hopefully, you can go on a day that you have more availability.

And I hope that no matter what way this election turns out, that we can find a way to come together again. The split in our country has gone too far and we need to find a way to work on supporting each other. Just because people might not have voted for a politician doesn’t mean that politician can say they aren’t going to help them. Just because you didn’t vote for someone means you should be protesting anything they do and threatening them. We are stronger when we are united and together. And we need to be stronger than we have been in the recent past so we can regain what we have lost this year.

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Tagged election, vote

Driving and Voting (or Having A Fun Afternoon)

Posted on October 20, 2020 | Comments Off

I don’t leave my house that often these days. I do drive my car every few weeks so the battery doesn’t die, but those drives are usually just driving around with no purpose. It gets me out of my house, so I guess that’s something. But I rarely have something I have to do. But this past Friday, I actually had a few things to do and it got me driving around LA.

First, I had to drive to the valley to see 2 different friends who both had things for me. We still kept our distance and wore masks, but it was so nice to see friends in person. That’s really a rare treat these days. And even though I didn’t see either friend that long, the minutes I did spend with them was really nice. I got to catch up with them both and just feel a little bit of normalcy.

I have chatted with friends through social media, texts, phone calls, and video calls. But there is no substitution for seeing someone in person. And it was weird not being able to hug them or be closer when we were talking (plus the weirdness I still feel wearing masks), but this was better than nothing. And it was something that I had been looking forward to for about a week, so it was nice to have something fun in my week to keep me going when I wasn’t feeling so great.

Both of my friends lived within a few minutes of each other, so it was easy to go from one place to the next. And I lucked out with finding great parking at both of their places. Again, the little things make me happy.

Then I drove back home to my side of town for one more important errand. Last week, I worked on my ballot and made sure I got it all done. I always vote by mail, and I usually mail it back. But with the mail being slow these days and how many people might be mailing ballots back, I decided to drop off my ballot. I never have done that before and I didn’t actually realize there were drop off boxes that were not in voting places. I just thought if you dropped off your ballot that you were going to where people voted and there was a box there. I think the boxes are somewhat new to LA, but I’m not sure. I never looked into other options besides putting my ballot in the mail.

There are so many drop-off box locations around LA. I could have found one in the valley near my friends’ homes, but I didn’t think about doing that until after. I just did a search online to find the one closest to me (if you live in LA, you can use this page to search for them) and saw a few options. And the one that I knew would be easy to get to and have easy parking would be at the library near my house. Besides being near my house, it was right off of the freeway that I would be on to get home. So it was the perfect stop for me on my afternoon.

I know there are still people who will be doing in-person voting, but I think a lot more will be doing voting by mail. And that was clear when I parked at the library to drop my ballot off. There were at least 20 people that I saw while I was there (I did sit in my car for a few minutes to finish a phone call). Everyone was standing back and waiting for others to drop off their ballot to give a little space. And most people were doing some type of ballot selfie or photo when voting, and everyone was patient for that too. I waited until there wasn’t anyone else waiting and then went to take a quick voting photo before putting the ballot in.

I also have signed up for text alerts so I will know that my ballot has been received and counted. I don’t know how often they pick up the ballots from the boxes, but there’s still plenty of time so I know I’ll get those texts soon.

I know I could have spread out these different outings on different days to have more excuses to leave my house, but it just felt right to have a full afternoon. I felt relaxed knowing that I got things done that I needed to do and I felt so happy that I got to have a bit of social time. I am really learning how to appreciate all the little things so much more. 8 months ago, voting and seeing friends would have made me happy but not this happy. Now, doing these things really made my week.

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Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged driving, election, friends, vote

Another Night Of Debate Watching (or Trying To Have Some Fun With This)

Posted on October 9, 2020 | Comments Off

Just like with the Presidental Debate, I had a plan to watch the VP Debate. And my plan was pretty much the same for both debates. I was going to watch it through Crooked Media‘s YouTube channel so I could see their Slack conversation and I had my own FB Messenger group to message with during the debate. I find it so helpful to have people to talk to while watching debates. Sometimes for making jokes and being silly, but sometimes for asking if someone knows if something is true or not.

Also, debates can be frustrating and upsetting, depending on what they may say. If someone is saying a complete lie, it’s hard not to react to it. If someone says something that you know is against everything they said before, you want to call them out. Having people to chat with, even over text, really helps me get out whatever emotions I might feel during the debate.

For the VP Debate, there was a good mix of getting out frustration and telling jokes. Hearing Pence say that Trump has taken this pandemic seriously since January when he was calling it a hoax well beyond then was frustrating. Whenever Pence was asked about his administration, he seemed to ignore that question and just say that the American people are doing the right thing. For example, when he was asked about wearing masks, he didn’t say anything about anyone in the White House wearing masks and only that the people will do the right thing. That’s also ignoring the people claiming that wearing a mask right now violates their rights or is discrimination.

And Pence kept interrupting Harris and the moderator. My messaging group is all women, and we all have experienced men interrupting and talking over us. We were all so frustrated watching it happen. Thank goodness Harris did try to explain that she was speaking so he shouldn’t be interrupting her. But I know that so many women online were posting about how we have experienced this so much and how we wish men wouldn’t do this to us.

Even though there were a lot of things to be frustrated at, I think our message group had a lot of silliness going on too. You have to find comedy in these things otherwise you will be overwhelmed watching them. And there were a lot of moments to laugh at. But nothing was a bigger moment than the fly on Pence’s head.

I don’t know why everyone found the fly so funny, but it became one of the biggest moments of the debate. There were so many jokes being posted and I was enjoying all of them. I kept seeing a lot of posts about how the fly had been on the screen long enough to be eligible for SAG-AFTRA (even though that’s not how it works), and I decided to create something to go with that.

I lucked out that I found an image of a union card that didn’t have a member name or number on it, so it was really easy for me to come up with this tweet.

I posted it in a few places and everyone seemed to get a good laugh out of it. I also saw posts saying that the fly should be up for a SAG Award now or asking if the fly will be in the In Memorium segment at the next SAG Awards since flies don’t live that long. I know that having a fly on someone’s head wasn’t the most important thing we heard, but it was the moment that stuck with most of us and gave so many of us a much-needed laugh.

There is supposed to be another Presidental Debate in a week, but I don’t know if it will be happening. Because Trump was diagnosed with COVID, the group organizing the debates said that they would be doing it virtually for the next one. Trump has said that he will not be participating because the debate is only trying to protect Biden, which they are because Trump shouldn’t be wanting to expose others to this disease. But I know that Trump also changes his mind a lot so even though as I am writing this he says he will not attend and will do a private rally instead, that can change by the time the debate is supposed to happen (or by the time this post goes live).

I don’t know if I hope there will be another debate or not. The last Presidental Debate wasn’t good. There was no information really shared because of how often there were interruptions. It was not a good moment for this country. And I don’t know if any other debates would be better. But if there is another one, at least I have a good system figured out to make them a bit more entertaining.

Comments Off on Another Night Of Debate Watching (or Trying To Have Some Fun With This)

Posted in Tough Stuff

Tagged election, politics, vote

Celebrating A New Contract (or Feeling Good About This Accomplishment)

Posted on July 24, 2020 | Comments Off

I wrote about my union contract ratification vote before. This is something we do every 3 years for our TV/Theatrical contract (we have ratification votes on contracts every 3 years, but they happen often since we have so many contracts). But this time, it felt different. I don’t know why it got as contentious as it did, but it was a very odd feeling. I know that there are some people who had heard misinformation about the contract (for example, hearing that we lost all minimums on the contract when it was only for a very small and specific category), so some people were being very vocal against the contract and then changed their minds when they looked more into it.

And educating members so they would look more into it was something I took seriously. Even though I was for the contract, that didn’t mean I didn’t look into it and investigate every part of it. There were parts that I didn’t love as much as others and there were a few things that I wish we could have gotten more into the contract. But overall, it was an amazing contract. We are really working toward putting residuals in things that are more common, like streaming. And we got a lot of protections on set for actors who are doing more vulnerable scenes like nudity or simulated sex. And whenever I heard a member saying they were voting no for a reason that wasn’t factual, I gave them the facts. I said that I understood if they still wanted to vote no, but I wanted them to make that choice on what the contract really said and not the misinformation.

I’ve never been this involved in a contract ratification vote before. And part of that is due to my work with running our social media. Every day, multiple times a day, I would check Twitter and Instagram to see what others were posting about the contract. There were specific hashtags I checked constantly. I wanted to share posts about people excited about the contract or answer questions that some people might have had. But that also meant I would be seeing the posts that were against the contract or were negative. And seeing those every day wasn’t easy. But I tried to keep my focus on the positive ones.

The ratification vote was due on Wednesday, and we all were working hard up until the last minute. Since the voting was done online, we didn’t want to miss a minute to make sure that members were making an educated vote. Of course, I was hoping they would vote to approve, but I also wanted everyone to be educated even if that meant they voted no. And when voting was done, we really had no clue if it would pass or not.

It felt like we waited a long time for the results to come in. I was on a Zoom call with some of my friends from the union about 2 hours after the end of the vote and we were still waiting to hear what happened. And maybe 2 1/2 hours after the end of the vote, we finally saw the press release with the results.

The contract passed! It was 74.22% to 25.78%. And while that was exciting, what I was most excited about was the number of members who voted. In the past, it’s usually between 15-16% of the membership that votes. That number is really low and we have worked hard to try to get more members to be involved and to vote. And this time, we had about 27% of the membership voting! Yes, I know that number is still really low and 2/3rds of the membership did not participate, but we still almost doubled what we typically have. As much as I would have liked to have over 50% participating, this is a good step toward that and hopefully, we will be there in the future.

After I found out the contract passed, I was a bit of an emotional wreck. I worked harder on this vote than I have on any other. I was very involved and very aware of what both sides were saying. I didn’t feel certain it would pass even though I was extremely hopeful that it would. And this wasn’t just my effort. Hundreds of people worked hard to make this happen. I am so grateful to everyone who got the message out and voted. This was huge. And I am so proud of what we as a union accomplished.

Now, we just have to hope that we can reopen things soon so we can start working on this contract. I hope that I have a chance to do that soon. We worked hard for this, and I can’t wait to get to use it!

Comments Off on Celebrating A New Contract (or Feeling Good About This Accomplishment)

Posted in Acting, Celebrations

Tagged acting, election, SAG-AFTRA, union, unite for strength, vote

Late Night Election Results (or All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go)

Posted on August 30, 2019 | Comments Off

Wednesday was the day that the union elections were officially done. The ballots were collected from the post office at 6:30 am and brought to the union headquarters where they were opened and counted by the secure election service that is used (ballots are not counted by union members). I was not a part of the group that was there starting at 6:30 am, but I wanted to be a part of the counting like I had for the other 2 elections.

Both elections I had been a part of previously had very different timelines. The first election took until about midnight for us to get answers on who won and the second election was done before I got to the union! I know that there is no way to know what to expect, but I assumed it would be something in between what the timeline was for the past few times.

Because I have taken a bit more of a leadership role within my slate this election, I volunteered to be in the room for the last shift to watch the count. That meant being there starting at 4 pm until it was done. We were hoping it would be done around 6 or 7, and there was a party for the slate that started at 7 that I was going to go immediately to after. So when I was done with work on Wednesday, I went straight to the union, dressed for the party, ready to watch the ballot count. I knew I’d be there for a while, but I was excited to get the results and get to the party even if I was going to be a bit late.

When I got there, things were moving along and we were hoping that maybe the official information would be announced by 8. We knew it would be later than we were hoping for, but we still wanted to be done in time to go to the party. There were people from the other slate in the room as well and they had a party to get to too. Even though the election wasn’t the most positive thing, the people in the room were positive and we were all getting along and just waiting on things to be counted.

Once all the ballots that could be counted by the machines were done, then it was time to work on the hand count ballots. That’s when things were a bit more interesting for me as an observer. Even though the candidates were not allowed to make decisions on the ballots, we could watch the election committee decide what marks on ballots might have been mistakes or if someone overvoted and then that section of the ballot was disqualified. The hand count took a while, but this was important work. Fortunately, most of the hand count ballots were easy to understand the intent of the voter. The voter might have exed out a mistake and the computer just can’t recognize that. But since people can see that means they didn’t want to vote for that person, it was an easy fix.

While this hand count was going on, the party for my slate was happening and people were texting me to get updates. We were not allowed to use our phones in the room, so I had to step out every so often to check my phone and text people back. Time flew by and went slowly at the same time and before I knew it, it was already 11 pm which was the time the party was supposed to end and we still didn’t have the results.

I knew at this point that no matter how late the party went, I wasn’t going to go. I was a little upset about that because I was really looking forward to celebrating with everyone. I had worked so hard during this election and I wanted a fun night with the other candidates. We tried to have as much fun as we could in the room watching the ballot count, but I really felt like I was missing out on something that I had looked forward to for this entire election. It didn’t help that the last 90 minutes seemed to take forever and there were a few random delays that we weren’t sure why they were happening.

But in the end, we did finally get the election results around 1:30 in the morning. First, I did get re-elected as a convention delegate. I was so worried I wouldn’t get it, but I am glad I did and I will be representing LA actors at the convention in October. I did not get elected to the local board, but I knew that was a long shot and I wasn’t expecting to be elected. Of course, I would have loved to have gotten a spot on the local board, but it just wasn’t my turn this year. I was very excited to see that I did do much better in the local board election that I expected and I was much higher ranked on the list than I ever thought I would be.

Overall, our slate did not do as well as we hoped. I’m trying to not take this as hard as I have been, but it does feel like I am a bit at fault for this. I know that everyone is responsible for campaigning, but I did run our social media and I keep wondering if there was more that I could have done. But I also don’t have any regrets with what we did so that does make me feel a bit better.

But to end on a positive note, the 2 biggest officer positions that were a part of this election were president and secretary-treasurer. For the past 2 elections, my slate won president and the other slate won secretary-treasurer. And this year, it was so exciting to be in the room when we got the news even before the candidates heard.

Both Gabrielle Carteris and Camryn Manheim from my slate won! I’m so excited to have them as the leaders of our union. I have gotten to know them through this campaign and I know that they will be incredible leaders. Every time I have heard them speak or have been able to work with them, I have been inspired and I know they will do the same for the membership. I am so glad the members were able to see that they make an amazing team and elected them together.

While this is the end of election season, now we have to start getting ready for the convention. And I will still have my work with my slate doing the social media. But at least it will be a little less intense than it has been recently. This election has been crazy, rewarding, intense, stressful, and so many other emotions; but it also has been something that I don’t regret at all. If anything, it has pushed me to do this again and to work harder the next time.

Comments Off on Late Night Election Results (or All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go)

Posted in Acting

Tagged acting, election, SAG-AFTRA, union, vote

Tag Archives: vote

Trying To Help My Fellow Members (or 2 Weeks And 2 Roundtables)

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The Strike Is Over! (or It’s Now Time To Vote And Pass The Contract)

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Finishing Up Election Season (or This Was Very Different From The Norm)

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Having Election Night Alone (or Seeing If My Hard Work Paid Off)

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Election Day (or Just Vote)

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Almost Election Day (or I’m Asking You All To Please Vote)

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Driving and Voting (or Having A Fun Afternoon)

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Another Night Of Debate Watching (or Trying To Have Some Fun With This)

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Celebrating A New Contract (or Feeling Good About This Accomplishment)

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Late Night Election Results (or All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go)

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