Category Archives: Acting

Finally Having Our Brunch (or Almost All The Mentees Together Again)

Posted on September 19, 2019 | Comments Off on Finally Having Our Brunch (or Almost All The Mentees Together Again)

I am the one who organizes the meetings/brunches for my mentoring group. I used to be very on top of organizing them, but as the years have gone on I have gotten a bit worse at coordinating. Fortunately, the group understands that things come up and that’s why we have stopped doing our brunches every other month and now try to do them 3 or 4 times a year. But I still feel a bit guilty when our brunches are overdue and I haven’t been able to coordinate it.

This time, the brunch would have happened right in the middle of the election, so I knew it was going to have to be pushed back. Everyone else had conflicts in August, so that delay was for the best. When we were trying to figure out what dates would work in September, there was one date that seemed to work for almost all of us. So it was easy to pick which date we would end up meeting. We ended up having 5 out of the 6 people in our group there that day.

We went to our usual brunch place, Rush St., which has been a good place for us to meet over the years. But it is a sports bar/restaurant, and since it is football season there were a lot of people inside watching the game. We had a reservation for the group and they were able to seat us on the patio, so it was much quieter for us. We usually sit outside, so it was also a nice change from our routine and we got to enjoy the nice day we were having.

As our meetings usually go, we all went around and took turns sharing what we had been up to since our last meeting. Since it had been a while, we all had a lot to share. We don’t always share work-related things as the group has become close friends. But a lot of things we shared were about our careers. And as always, I was so inspired hearing what everyone else had been up to. It’s so interesting to be able to watch someone’s career grow over the years and see what is behind the idea of an overnight success story.

When it was my turn, I mainly shared things about the election. Since most of the group are not actors, they weren’t seeing the stories that I had been seeing every day. So I also filled them in on some of the crazy things that happened as well. I think they were all pretty shocked about how things went and the stories that came out. But at least now being past the election things are a bit funnier and not as stressful for me. I also shared about the little things I had been doing for my career, but they all understood that the election dominated my time and I hadn’t had time to do much else.

Even with all the things we had to share among the group, we still had plenty of time to be silly and socialize. And I think we have found a great way to balance out the point of these meetings and making them more of a hangout. Once we finished going over our individual updates, it just naturally turns into a hangout and it’s so nice that we can do that. And sometimes someone will add a career update or ask for advice while we are doing more socializing, but that’s fine. We have reached a comfort level with each other that we don’t have to feel as strict with how our meetings go. When we started out, we also have more people and we had to make sure that the meetings didn’t last for hours. Now with only 6 of us in the group, it’s easier.

We ended up being at brunch for longer than expected, but I think we all missed each other and we wanted to take advantage of being together. And to have 5 of us at the meeting is hard to coordinate so we wanted to make sure we spent time together. Maybe one day we will be able to figure out a day and time that works out for all of us, but with everyone having such busy lives it’s not easy. But we try our best to make it and it makes me so happy to see everyone else being as committed to maintaining these meetings as I am.

At the rate we’ve been going, I don’t know if we’ll have another brunch before the end of the year. Maybe we could figure something out in December, but it’s so hard with the holidays. So if this is the last mentee meeting of the year, we ended on a high note. And if we have one more, I know it will be just as great as this meeting was.

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Default ThumbnailLast Mentoring Group Brunch For The Year (or Switching Things Up For Next Year) Default Thumbnail4 Years Of My Mentoring Circle (or Celebrating With Brunch) Default ThumbnailAnother Evening Of Mentees (or Advice and Socializing) Default ThumbnailFinally Seeing My Mentoring Group Again (or Our First Brunch Of 2020) Default ThumbnailAnother Delayed Brunch (or I Wish I Had More Accomplishments) Default ThumbnailAnother Business Brunch (or A Delayed Mentoring Circle Meeting)

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Starting My Delegate Term (or The First Of Several Meetings)

Posted on September 11, 2019 | Comments Off on Starting My Delegate Term (or The First Of Several Meetings)

I probably spoke too soon when I said that things would be a bit calmer for me now that election season is done. I’m still doing a lot of work for my slate and our social media, but I knew that would be happening. But I guess I forgot about the prep work for the election taking as much time as it does. I knew there would be a few meetings, but this year there was an extra meeting added in beside the ones I have attended before.

Normally, there is an orientation meeting for the convention and that’s the only main union meeting regarding it. That’s normally combined with a local board meeting so it’s a pretty long meeting. This time, the orientation is going to be a webinar online and there will be a board meeting later that night (and I’m hoping to still attend that as an observer). But they added an extra meeting this week all about convention resolutions.

Resolutions are the different changes to the union constitution that we vote on during the convention. There can be a lot of resolutions to consider and some of them are not voted on if they are something that the delegates don’t have authority over or if they would be breaking a contract or law. But we still go through lots of resolutions that are submitted by delegates around the country. While I haven’t personally submitted one before, I have looked into doing them. But many of the resolutions I have thought of cannot be voted on for one reason or another. Having people in my slate who can advise us if a resolution can be voted on or not is just another benefit to being a part of a slate.

But not everyone has that support or they want to discuss their resolutions with a larger group. So the local officers created a delegate caucus where resolutions could be discussed among delegates and one of our legal representatives could advise about the legality of the idea.

They did cover some things about the convention that I know they will discuss at the orientation such as the basics of the schedule and what events are happening on what day. But I know that information will be explained in more detail during the orientation webinar. There were a lot of people with resolutions to discuss so they wanted to limit convention discussion time to get through as many resolutions as possible.

Some of the resolutions were ones that are already online and can be endorsed and others were new ideas. Nothing official happened at the meeting, it was more of a workshopping of the resolutions. We did raise our hands if we would consider supporting it, but it was not the same as an official endorsement. But it still helped the people working on the resolutions to see what the temperature of the room was for their idea. If they knew that nobody would support it, maybe they would reconsider submitting it. And while we want everyone to submit the resolutions they want to be considered at the convention, the more resolutions we have the less time we have to discuss and debate.

I knew there was a chance the meeting would get political and tense, and it did happen a bit. It wasn’t as bad as the campaign stuff was, but some resolutions were very clearly against one group or person. I tried to not be biased when I listened, but it was hard when I knew exactly what the person was trying to say without actually saying it. It helped that nothing was official at the meeting so I didn’t feel pressured to vote one way or another and know that it would be a real decision. I know I need to research the resolutions before convention before I feel comfortable voting.

All the resolutions have to be submitted this week and then I can take the time to research them before the convention in a month. And I know I have a lot of people I can turn to and ask questions about them if I’m not clear what they mean or what would happen if it was voted up or down. And I do take voting on the resolutions seriously because I know that they are important. I take the time researching and I decide how I want to vote. I do get recommendations from others, but I still decide for myself how I want to vote.

I know the convention will be here before I know it and I know that I’ll be probably doing a lot of work to get ready for it over the next few weeks. I can’t wait for the convention because it really is something that I enjoy and I love getting to spend those days working with my fellow members. Even when it’s crazy and political, it’s such an incredible feeling being in that room. And doing all this prep work is getting me even more excited and ready for it!

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

Posted on August 30, 2019 | Comments Off on Late Night Election Results (or All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go)

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.

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Union Working Town Hall (or Getting Close To The End Of Election Season)

Posted on August 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Union Working Town Hall (or Getting Close To The End Of Election Season)

Last week was the first Union Working President Town Hall. It was a really great event and I was so glad I got to attend. I knew this was something that they wanted to do for the last election, but it wasn’t able to be done for a few different reasons. But they were able to coordinate it for this election and I was excited to see how it all turned out.

At the last Union Working meeting, all meeting attendees were able to brainstorm to help come up with questions that we wanted all candidates to answer. There would be 5 questions that all 5 candidates would answer (the 3 candidates who were at the town hall and the other 2 would be submitting their answers and they would be posted online). There were lots of different categories that people wanted the candidates to discuss, and I had no idea how it would be narrowed down. Even though I am involved quite a bit with Union Working, I wasn’t involved at all with selecting the questions or with planning the town hall. The only thing I did was help them with the soundcheck the day of because they needed a third person to help test out a microphone. So I was not sure what I would be hearing when I arrived that day.

I am not going to pretend that I don’t have a bias. Obviously, I do and I think that Gabrielle Carteris did an amazing job. She was prepared, had a lot of information in her answers about things that we have done and what we want to do, and she was able to communicate her ideas clearly and eloquently. I was so proud that she is currently my union president and I really hope that she wins reelection because I want her to represent the union for another 2 years.

After each candidate answered the 5 questions that all candidates had (and they had these questions ahead of time so they were able to prepare their answers and have their answers written down and have notes), then it was time for questions from the audience. These questions were submitted ahead of time so they were vetted, but they were not things the candidates were able to prepare for. Again, I thought Gabrielle did a great job. There were some questions that she couldn’t answer because they aren’t things she is directly involved in (like being a trustee to our pension), but she was open to saying she didn’t have the answer. Being able to say that is something I admire.

One of the other candidates, Jane Austin, did a good job as well. While I am not supporting her for president, I thought she had good answers to the 5 questions that all candidates were asked. She brought up some of her personal experiences to explain why she thinks certain things need to change within the union. I don’t feel like she was ever attacking anyone, which I can respect. She also brought up some new ideas that I hadn’t heard anyone else discuss before. I really enjoyed hearing what she had to say and thought she did a great job.

I don’t want to say much about the third candidate because I don’t have much nice to say about them. I will say a few things. They made a few jokes that I am aware of were jokes, but they were not the most tasteful things to say. They were a bit sexist and not something I would want someone who wants to represent me to say. They also joked about showing up to the town hall unprepared. Again, even if it’s a joke I don’t want someone who is going to lead a negotiation for a contract to meet with studios and producers to joke about being unprepared. They didn’t have a lot of concrete examples of things they wanted to do to change things within the union and they did attack specific people. It, unfortunately, ended the evening on a negative note.

This town hall was not live-streamed so I didn’t have to worry about working while at it. That decision had been made by Union Working ahead of time because they knew that some confidential things may be discussed. I was grateful that I didn’t have to focus on that because I was dealing with some horrible nausea while at the meeting. And I was also trying to take notes on my phone when I wasn’t feeling as sick. While there wasn’t a live-stream or any sort of recording allowed, all the candidates put their answers to the 5 main questions on the Union Working website so all members around the country could see them.

I know that some people reading this may have seen the news about things that happened at the meeting or about how someone made a recording even though they had signed an agreement that they understood that no recordings were allowed. I’m extremely disappointed someone decided to go against the policies that Union Working set for the town hall. This event was something they were generous enough to create for all members. We all should respect their rules and policies that they set and I hate that someone felt that they should disrespect them for whatever reason. I hope that whoever made that recording is found out because they should not be allowed at other events that are not open to the public. If they want to break the rules, then they shouldn’t be at meetings that have those rules.

But I want to end this post on a more positive note. The town hall was a big success in my opinion. The members who were there got to hear from 3 candidates back to back and were able to compare their answers to the same questions. Members around the country were able to read those answers. Over 100 members were able to be at this event and be involved in a great evening and get educated on the issues and hopefully be more motivated to vote. And one week from today, we will find out the results of this election.

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It’s Another Quick Post Day (or I’m In Countdown Mode)

Posted on August 8, 2019 | 1 comment

I’ve written about how the election season has been stressful and much more involved than I expected. I love it, but it also takes a lot out of me. My time is stretched thin, I am emotionally drained, I’m tired, and sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy. But all the negatives are worth it because of all the positives I get out of it.

It was only last week that I had to write about how it had to be a quick post due to time constraints. And I’m in that spot again today. I’ve been working hard with everything that I’ve been doing and that has required me to put blogging a bit on the back burner. I haven’t wanted to do that, but I’ve had to because other things take priority. I wanted to work on my blog posts ahead of time so that I wouldn’t have this time crunch, but I just didn’t have that option. When I thought I would have free time, I ended up having more projects that I had to do. And when I did finally have free time, I just had to crash and not do anything.

I have learned how important self-care is and I am glad that I have prioritized myself during what has become a stressful time for me. I know that if I wasn’t doing that, I would be struggling so much more than I am right now. And I have a lot of things that are helping me stay balanced and sane. I have amazing people on my slate that help me with the workload (even though there are several things that I do have to do no matter what). And I prioritize my workouts and make everything else that I do work around those.

I also have had some other things come into my life that should be taking up my time that I have had to ask for more time with. I hate to ask for extra time because I don’t want to feel like a bother or make something question offering the opportunity to me, but I can’t keep adding things to my plate. Fortunately, everyone has been very understanding and I should be able to wait until the election is done before I put my focus onto those things

And speaking of the election being over, we are into the final countdown! We are telling members that they need to mail their ballots by August 24rd to have them into the post office by the deadline. Ballots are counted on the 28th and we don’t want people to mail them in too late to be counted. So we have just over 2 weeks left for people to mail them back before we are done and about 2 1/2 weeks before it is completely done.

I know that it will fly by and take forever. There is so much work to be done and not enough time to do it all. But also it seems overwhelming to get everything completed. And when it is over, I’m sure I will look back at this time as some sort of fever dream and wonder if this was all real. It has been so bizarre and crazy. It has been exactly what I was expected and not at all what I was expecting. Even though this is my 3rd election cycle, this is the most involved I’ve been and I have seen a very different side of union politics. It has made me want to continue to be involved with my union and I want to be elected to the local board even more now than ever.

If you are a member of SAG-AFTRA, please remember to vote. I am #87 and #373 on the ballot and would really appreciate your vote. And I would love votes for my entire slate as well. Thanks in advance for the support!

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More Election Fun For Me (or I’m Running For 2 Things)

Posted on July 12, 2019 | 2 comments

We are in the middle of SAG-AFTRA elections and it’s been a very exciting and stressful time for me. I love getting to be more involved with the elections and I’m still so honored that the members who are in charge of my slate believe in me enough to run the social media. It’s hard to stay on top of some things and we have some crazy deadlines, but it’s still more fun than stress when I balance it all out. And I’m looking forward to things that I have planned for our social media after the election season is done too!

I knew that I’d be running for delegate again this election. If I get elected it will be my 3rd term as a delegate and I hope that I do win my spot again. I have loved going to the National Convention and getting to play a role in shaping our union and representing my fellow actors. I know that it’s not a guarantee that I will be elected so I am working on making sure I don’t slack off with my campaigning efforts. And I don’t just want to be elected alone, I want to make sure that my slate is elected too.

I love being a part of a slate. I know that not everyone loves the idea of slates (which are like political parties), but for me, it’s something I enjoy. I love the support of having a team working with me for the election season and having people I can turn to when I need help or have questions. And I get to watch how others lead and learn as well. It’s been a great educational tool for me and I still look up to so many people in my slate and can’t believe I get to work with them.

When you are a part of a slate, you have enough candidates for the positions that will be filled. I know realistically that we won’t win every spot, but you want to have the same number running so that you have the most potential to win positions and you don’t want to split votes if you have too many people running for something. That’s the same with national politics too. Each party only has 1 candidate because you don’t want your party to be split voting for 2 people. So when you want to run with a slate, you do have to plan out what you can run for.

The last election, I expressed interest in running for a local board position as well as a delegate. But there wasn’t an opening for me. That didn’t upset me or make me feel unmotivated. I understand the politics side of these elections and know why that decision was made. And I was determined to ask again in the future and I did just that this election season. Because I am more involved in the slate this year, I knew early on that it wasn’t clear just yet if there would be a spot for me to run for local board. I was told to just hold on and they would let me know one way or another as soon as they could.

When the deadline for submitting a petition was getting close, I figured all the spots were filled and I would be running as a delegate. Just like last time, I wasn’t upset or sad. I was determined to do the best I could and help my slate get elected and then in 2 years I’d try again.

But then I got a surprise when I got the email that there was a spot for me to run for a local board position! I immediately filled out my petition and got my signatures so I could run because I didn’t want to miss the deadline. Thankfully because of how quickly those on my slate are with signing petitions, I had the required number within an hour or so! After getting my statement and photo submitted, everything was approved and I am 0fficially running for both a delegate and local board seat for SAG-AFTRA with Unite For Strength!

I hope that I win both the seats I am running for. I want to be able to do more than I have been able to do before. I am so motivated to help my fellow members and to be a source of information when others have questions about what is going on. And I know that I can still do this if I’m not elected, but I can do so much more if I am.

And I love the candidates we have running on our slate this time. Gabrielle Carteris has been doing an amazing job as our national president and she has accomplished so much so far. She is running for re-election and I can’t wait to see what she can do with the next term. And for the national secretary/treasurer spot we have Camryn Manheim. She has been an incredible advocate for members before and she wants to continue doing that and to help make our union the strongest it can be. And for the national board, local board, and delegate spots we have such a diverse group of candidates. We represent every category, age group, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and career level. I know one of the things Unite For Strength takes pride in is how diverse we are, and our candidates show just that.

Election season will be over soon, so I won’t be writing about this too much. But I will be sharing things as they happen because I do want to make sure any SAG-AFTRA members reading this can stay informed. And hopefully, when every ballot is counted, there will be lots of reasons for me to celebrate. But I can’t think ahead just yet. For now, I just want to make sure that all members who are eligible to vote do so. If you have questions about the election, my slate, or anything else; please feel free to ask me. I’m here to help however I can and hopefully, I will win my seats so I can do that even more over the next 2 years.

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Back To Union Working (Elections, Contracts, and More)

Posted on June 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Back To Union Working (Elections, Contracts, and More)

I had missed the last Union Working meeting and I honestly missed being able to go. I had something else I had to attend that evening that had to take priority so I knew that I was missing it for a good reason. But that didn’t change the fact that I missed the meeting, the people, and education. I have really come to love the group and value the time I spend at the meetings. I have gone so long without having a group of like-minded people and I don’t want to skip out on seeing them.

So when I knew there was a meeting this week, I made sure I marked it in my calendar right away. I didn’t want to miss it or accidentally schedule something else that evening. The meeting was held at a new location for me and I didn’t know how long it would take me to get there in LA traffic. I ended up giving myself more than enough time and was there over 30 minutes early. But a few of the leaders of the group who are my friends were there that early as well so we took advantage of that time to do our usual friend catch up.

The focus of the Union Working meetings for a long time was the commercial contract negotiation. Now that is done, we have moved on to the next contract negotiation which is the tv and theatrical contract. I’m starting over with my education about the contract just like I had to start with the commercial one. But I know that it’s just a matter of time before I understand it as well as I understand the commercial contract. I just have to be patient with myself and make sure that I take advantage of all the educational opportunities about this contract that I have.

A big chunk of this meeting was about the contract negotiation and explaining why it is so important to be an active participant in the union. We are currently having our wages and working conditions meetings for this contract, but right now all those meetings are during the time that I work. I want to try to make it to one, and I just have to hope that there will be more meetings in the future that are in the evening. But even if I can’t attend any of those meetings, I have other ways to stay educated and involved and I am making sure I focus on that.

Another big topic discussed was the upcoming election. Because Union Working is a non-partisan group, no specific slate or candidates are endorsed. Instead, they encourage people to consider all candidates and to choose who they think would be best. They don’t encourage voting an entire slate because you like one or two people. I do tend to vote my entire slate because I agree with what we stand for, but I don’t expect others to necessarily do the same. And I make sure that when I am at Union Working that I try to stay as neutral as possible.

With this upcoming election, Union Working is trying to organize a town hall with all the candidates for National President. I think that is an amazing idea and I really hope that it can happen. I know that some of the candidates are currently working on either a tv show or film, so it is not easy to schedule one time that everyone can be available. But hopefully, there will be a date that works for everyone so the entire group can hear what everyone says. The idea of the town hall would be that every candidate would be asked the same questions so we could compare their answers to each other. I think that is a great way to do it so that it doesn’t become a debate or that one candidate has the opportunity to answer and others don’t.

There were a few other things discussed in this meeting that need to be kept confidential for certain reasons, but a majority of the meeting was information that can be heard by everyone. So I was running the Facebook Live video like I usually do and made sure that I paid attention to any comments the video was getting so I could ask questions for anyone watching online (this time there weren’t any questions, but I never know when there will be so I stay alert).

The meeting ended exactly on time and I had to rush out of there to get home. I was dealing with some really horrible nausea during the meeting and I just wanted to be home and in my bed. I know I looked sick because a few people asked me if I was ok, but looking sick was the only thing that was really obvious. I didn’t have to leave the room when my nausea hit because the waves were somewhat mild (even though they didn’t stop which made it feel worse). But I did make it through the entire meeting and didn’t miss any of the information which I was grateful for.

The next meeting should be the town hall event and I’m really excited to see that happen. And hopefully it will be a great election season event that helps many people feel excited to vote and it will be a way for them to really understand what the candidates believe in and want to accomplish.

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Default ThumbnailLearning So Much From Union Working (or Getting Ready For Contract Negotiations) Default ThumbnailA Low Key Union Working Meeting (or Getting To Fully Focus On What’s Being Said) Default ThumbnailAnother Night Of Union Working (or Back To Back Union Events) Default ThumbnailMore Union Working (or Influencers And Contracts) Default ThumbnailFirst Union Working Meeting Of 2018 (or Union Strong For All) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Working Meeting (or Rolling With The Technical Difficulties)

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Finding New Ways To Be Creative (or Almost As Good As Acting)

Posted on June 6, 2019 | Comments Off on Finding New Ways To Be Creative (or Almost As Good As Acting)

One of the biggest downsides to pursuing an acting career is that I am not in that much control. I know that I could create my own work, but that still requires things to happen that I don’t control completely. And with bigger auditions and jobs, it depends on me being called in by the casting director to audition and up to multiple people if they want to hire me. Even with all that uncertainty, I love acting more than anything and could not imagine not pursing it.

But I do crave having creativity in my life and I can’t get that always from acting. It’s tough because I’m not creative in other traditional ways. I can’t draw and actually get frustrated because of my lack of drawing abilities. I’m not really a writer even though I write on here and I’m working on a book. Or maybe I am a writer but I don’t find it a creative outlet? Either way, writing doesn’t fill what I am looking for. I’ve tried so many other things that could fill the creative need in my life and I never have found something that fills me like acting does.

I’ve come to the realization that nothing will be as good as acting is for me. I kind of knew that going into trying to find more creativity in my life. If something made me feel as great as acting does, I would go do that instead. But I still hoped I would find something even though I didn’t think it was possible. So I had to change my mindset so I wasn’t looking for a replacement for the creativity of acting. I was looking for something to supplement acting.

I still probably have some searching to do but at least for now I have found a few things that are adding that creativity I crave in my life. First, the work that I’ve been doing for my union slate has been creative when I wasn’t expecting it to be. The direct work that I’m doing isn’t necessarily creative because I am posting on social media. There is a bit of planning that I guess is a creative thing, but I’m not sure. But the unexpected creativity that I have found with that is that I have been working with our graphic designer (who is a close friend of mine) directly to come up with ideas for what we want to post. While I am not the person doing the creation of the graphics, I do get to have some input with what we are doing. And that’s been awesome.

I’ve also done a little bit of work behind the camera. Working behind the camera is not something that I love or want to pursue. But I guess when it’s for something that I am passionate about and want to be a part of no matter what, I do enjoy it. I can’t share too much about what I worked on, but it was with many of my friends. I was in charge of helping with teleprompter work which really has no creativity involved. But I was sitting right below the camera to run it and was very close to what was being filmed. Getting to watch someone work through different takes was something I normally don’t get to experience. While I’m used to different takes when I’m filming something, I usually am a part of that scene too so I can’t just sit back and watch the process. It was almost like getting to watch an acting class with someone who is such a talented actor. The day I was behind the camera was actually a tough day for me before I got there. And while I was there and after I left, I was in a much better mood.

I still want to find other ways I can be creative that I have the ability to control. I don’t know if that means finding things that I haven’t tried that I can do or to find a way to make writing feel more creative. I would love any suggestions you all have because I know that being creative does make me happy and I want to have as much of that as possible.

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Default ThumbnailContinuing To Find Ways To Be Creative (or Podcasts and Online Shows) Default ThumbnailProductive One Way And Slacking In Another (or Working On Finding Time) Default ThumbnailFiguring Out The Next Step (or I Need To Keep Acting) Default ThumbnailBeing Proactive (or Bringing Acting To Me) Default ThumbnailYou Are The Union (or Finding More Ways To Educate Other Union Members) Default ThumbnailFinding More Ways To Help Via Social Media (or Continuing To Share Good Things)

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The Official Start To Election Season (or I Can Finally Share Some Things I’ve Been Working On)

Posted on May 17, 2019 | 2 comments

The SAG-AFTRA election season has finally started for me and my slate! I haven’t been able to put in my petition for delegate yet, but that’s just a technicality. I will be running again and I’m so happy that I will be a part of the Unite for Strength slate again. I love what this slate stands for and the work we have done so far. I really believe in what we are doing and hope that we can continue to do the work we have been doing.

I’ve been able to get a little more involved each election cycle. The first election, I ran as a delegate and while I did do some campaign work I really didn’t do much. The second election I did that plus I helped to run some of the leafletting events. It wasn’t a ton of extra work, but it was more than I had done before and I loved getting to do more and understand the election more than I did before. And for my third election, I’m even more involved!

This time, I’m doing everything that I did before and I’m also helping to run the social media pages for Unite for Strength! It’s been something I’ve been doing for a little while, but now that election season has officially started there is a lot more work to do. I’m really loving helping with social media and making sure that we are sharing important information regarding the election, the campaign, and union matters. I love making our twitter feed a great source of news and information since educating other members is a passion of mine. I’ve also been a part of the design ideas that we’ve been using and I love getting to play with that side of my creativity.

But the look of our campaign is really because of my amazing friend Robert. He is an actor and also a graphic designer and he has worked hard and creating amazing graphics for us to use. We got to share one yesterday when we announced that Gabrielle Carteris will be running for re-election as SAG-AFTRA president.

He has created some amazing art for us to use this election season and I’m excited to get to keep posting them online as we get closer to the election. Plus, getting to work on this campaign with several of my friends makes it more fun. It can be (and I’m sure will be) a very stressful time that can have a lot of negativity. But being surrounded by my friends and working hard on a goal with them hopefully will make it a bit better.

This work has been something I’ve been working on for a few weeks, but primarily over the past week. It’s been taking up a lot of my time, but it’s for something I enjoy so I don’t mind. It’s been a good distraction when I’m not feeling my best because everything I’ve been doing has been encouraging and motivating. I always say how I want to be more involved in the union and this is such a great way for me to do this. I know that not everyone I know agrees with my slate or will be voting for it, but that’s to be expected. I just have to keep working with people that I believe in and know that I’m with a slate that does support the same issues I am passionate about. Being involved is so important and for many people that just means voting and making sure their voice is heard in the union. For me, I’m lucky to get to do even more than that.

I’ve been able to be enthusiastic about the work the slate has been doing as well as what I have had the chance to help with. I just haven’t been able to share it that much since many things have been confidential until this week. And there are still more things that will be shared for the next few months when we can. I’m hoping that my enthusiasm about this will be able to continue through election season and beyond. And I hope that others will get just as excited as I am about all of this.

For anyone who is a member of SAG-AFTRA and has questions about Unite for Strength, please feel free to reach out to me. If I can’t answer something, I can connect you to someone who can. And whether or not you are a union member, if you would like to help the slate we are accepting donations for the campaign. It is not cheap to run a campaign (it costs money to have campaign materials and to get it out to the membership). While everyone who is a part of the slate are all contributing, any extra help is always appreciated. I hope many of you will support me and Unite for Strength during this election season and I can’t wait to tell you more about things as I can share them!

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Default ThumbnailThe End Of The Election (or Actors Please Remember To Vote) Default ThumbnailMore Election Fun For Me (or I’m Running For 2 Things) Default ThumbnailElection Campaigning (or Being A Captain And Getting Out There) Default ThumbnailUnion Working Town Hall (or Getting Close To The End Of Election Season) Default ThumbnailElection Season Time (or Being A Part Of Unite For Strength) Default ThumbnailThe End Of My Musical Season (or Finally Enjoying Phantom)

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And Another Union Event (or Education, Fun, and Asking Questions)

Posted on May 7, 2019 | Comments Off on And Another Union Event (or Education, Fun, and Asking Questions)

Just like with my social life and having fun, there are definitely busy times and slow times with union related things. For a while, I felt like I hadn’t been doing much with the union and I haven’t been able to attend events. And now, it seems like there is something every week! I know it will slow down a bit again now, but it’s just going to keep picking up as it gets closer to election season.

So much of the focus lately has been regarding our new commercial contract and the vote on that. But there is a lot of other stuff happening with our union and our industry and that’s what this most recent event was about. It was the Los Angeles general meeting which has different reports from different officers and employees of the union as well as time for a Q&A for any members who want to bring up issues or questions.

I have attended this meeting in the past, but I haven’t been able to attend all of them. So when this meeting was announced, I added it to my calendar right away so I didn’t accidentally schedule something else during it. Even though the meeting wasn’t that close to my house, since it was on a Sunday the traffic wasn’t too bad and I was able to get there right when the event started.

The first hour of the general meeting is a union expo with different committees in the lobby with booths so you can learn more about the committees and what they offer. I did a lap around and was able to say hello to several friends that are leaders of committees. There wasn’t a ton of information I needed to get because I had a lot of the handouts and I know what committees I really want to get more involved in, so I headed into the main meeting room to chat with some more of my friends.

There are no photos allowed during the meeting since there are some confidential things discussed, but before the meeting starts you can take some. There is an official SAG-AFTRA photographer at events like this and she asked my friends and I to gather around for a photo. It was the only picture I got at the meeting so I’m glad I got one.

Although the photo does make me giggle because I am about a full head shorter than every guy around me. I know I have tall friends, but this proves it even more!

When the meeting started, my friends and I found some seats toward the back. I didn’t know how I would feel sitting for so many hours in a row so I wanted to be somewhere I could get up and not disrupt too many people. This ended up working out well for me because I was getting up quite a bit. It wasn’t to stretch but to find people I had to ask questions to. I also thought of something during the meeting that I wanted to ask so I added myself to the speaker list to hopefully be able to ask the question during the Q&A time.

Some big things discussed at the meeting (that I can share) were the new commercial contract and the new payment options that the contract will offer and the new direct deposit system that was set up at the union for residuals. But I think one of the biggest things and possibly the most important was about what the union is doing regarding sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment is not necessarily a new issue, but now people understand how big the issue is. And there are new things the union has been putting in place to help prevent harassment as well as support survivors if it does happen. It is now in our contracts that no meetings are allowed to take place in hotel rooms. What is so great about this being in our contracts is that the actor no longer has to feel responsible for saying no. If they are being asked to meet in a hotel room, they don’t have to worry what the other person will feel with them turning it down. They can put the responsibility on the union and tell the other person that the union does not allow meetings in hotel rooms so they don’t want to break that rule. I know that not everyone understands how important that is, but to have the pressure off of the actor and not having to feel like it is their reason they are saying no is a great thing.

Another thing that the union has done was to create a special hotline with trained professionals for members to report harassment and to get help. That hotline can also direct members to a new free service that provides counseling and helps the member find longer term care and help if needed. I hope to never need the hotline or the free services, but it is good to know that it is there and I’m glad I can direct other members to those options if needed. It helps to not feel as alone if you know there is already something set up for you to use in this type of situation.

There were other things discussed at the meeting like where things are going in the future and some of the new projects that are being worked on, but those are not things I can share just yet. But they did excite me and I’m happy that our union will be leading the way with some things that will benefit more than just our members.

Once all the reports were done, the Q&A started and they had a very organized system for this. If you had a question or a statement, you had to fill out a card and they organized them into categories and people were called to the mike to talk when it was their turn. Some of the categories were about the new contract, issues for background performers, some questions about what exactly was included with the new sexual harassment policies, actors who are also veterans, and the upcoming election.

My question was about something that I felt was missing from the SAG-AFTRA app but there was not time to get to it. Fortunately I found some staff from the communication department when the meeting was done and brought up my concern to them (they would have gotten the information from my speaker card, but I wanted to talk in person if I could). They agreed that some things on the app should be fixed and I’m glad that it is now going to be done. There is so much discussion about the idea that the union is us and not a separate entity and this proved that we do control what happens. It is silly but I felt really powerful knowing that the app is going to have a change because of what I brought up.

I was at the meeting a bit longer than I expected to be there, but I didn’t want to leave early because I did want to hear the concerns of my fellow members. I’m glad I stayed because I did learn a lot about what other people are thinking and I’m going to take those ideas into election season when it starts.

I don’t have any other union events on my calendar right now, but I have a feeling that will probably change soon and I will be in the middle of a busy season for union involvement!

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Default ThumbnailBack To Union Working (Elections, Contracts, and More) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Working Evening (or Doubling Up On Live Streams) Default ThumbnailMore Union Working (or Influencers And Contracts) Default ThumbnailMore Union Education (or Making Sure Ads Go Union) Default ThumbnailAnother Educational Union Event (or Merging My Acting And Blogging) Default ThumbnailLearning A Lot About Healthcare (or More Union Education)

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