Tag Archives: meeting

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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A Low Key Union Working Meeting (or Getting To Fully Focus On What’s Being Said)

Posted on March 5, 2019 | Comments Off on A Low Key Union Working Meeting (or Getting To Fully Focus On What’s Being Said)

This past Monday there was a Union Working meeting. I knew it was going to be a bit different from other meetings that we’ve had because it was going to be a bit more of an interactive meeting and not people sitting and listening to what is happening. But even with the differences, I was told I would still be running the live stream so I came to the meeting prepared to do just that. It’s not a lot of effort for me to do it, but I still make sure I have everything ready to go when I leave for the meeting and get there early to do some setup.

It ended up being not as crowded as a meeting as we usually have. We figured that some people might have been recovering from being out late the night before if they had Oscar events that they went to. We also knew that some of the regular attendees were in New York because they are on the commercials contract negotiating committee and they were already starting their work in New York where everything happens. But it was nice to have a smaller group because it had a different feeling from the normal meetings and it really felt like a collaboration session.

I started doing the live stream when the meeting started and the first person who spoke was a representative from SAG-AFTRA who was updating us on multiple things that are happening regarding the commercial contract. After a little bit of them talking, we realized that the information that was being shared needed to stay with those in the meeting and we couldn’t have it public information. So I stopped the live stream and deleted the video that posts on our Facebook group when I do the live streams. I apologized to everyone in the group that I had to remove it because of confidentiality issues, and I think that most people understood.

Since I wasn’t worried about the live stream and making sure things are in frame or seeing what questions people were posting to have asked, I was able to put all my focus and attention on the meeting and what was happening. I was able to really take in all the information that was being shared and the ideas that others were asking about. We have several different things that we are taking action on right now. Most of them that are in person are things I cannot participate in because I work when they are happening. But I like to know what’s going on in case I can attend or to be able to share with others who I know work different times than I do.

A good amount of the time in the meeting was with the SAG-AFTRA representative sharing different things and answering questions we had about them. Some of the people in the meeting had ideas of things they wanted to do and they didn’t understand why the union couldn’t do the same. We get that the union has to follow certain regulations and they have more restrictions acting as a union compared to us acting as individuals. But it’s nice to know the reasons why they can’t do things or for us to know what we might want to focus on because we know the union won’t be able to do it.

The last part of the meeting was about the different videos that Union Working has been putting out. We’ve had some amazing celebrities share their stories about why working union is important to them and sharing their support for all actors who are fighting to keep work union. There was some discussion about sharing the videos and what some of the upcoming things will be, but that was pretty quick. People did share their ideas of what we can do to continue to share what is happening since many actors aren’t aware of all the issues, and it did give me some ideas of things I might start trying to do. It was nice to be able to hear what others have been doing that has worked or hasn’t so I can think about how I want to focus on sharing things.

While the meeting wasn’t as information packed as it always is, there was still a lot of information shared. And I do wish that more people had been there, but there also was something special about having a small group. I think it made people feel more free to talk (especially if they don’t love speaking in front of a lot of people) and more people had the chance to talk. It was a nice change from the standard meetings and hopefully we can do more of these smaller groups from time to time between our larger meetings in the future.

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More Union Working (or Influencers And Contracts)

Posted on September 14, 2018 | Comments Off on More Union Working (or Influencers And Contracts)

This week was another meeting of the Union Working group. Ever since I joined the group, we have been focused on the next contract negotiation for the commercial contract of SAG-AFTRA. Contract negotiations only happen every few years so they are extremely important. We want to make sure that we ask for the things we need and don’t waste time or hold out for things that aren’t as important. And it’s tough to know sometimes what matters and what doesn’t, which is why it is so important for as many actors to participate as possible.

To prepare for our negotiations, we have meetings called W&Ws (or Wages and Working Conditions). Those meetings are when any member of SAG-AFTRA in good standing can come and present something that they would like to see in the next contract. As long as it is something that is allowed, it is considered. Not everything will get into the contracts or be presented at negations, but if you don’t share it during the W&Ws and you are the only person with that concern you know that it will be extremely unlikely that it will be in the next contract.

The past few Union Working meetings have been about preparing for the W&Ws. They can sound very intimidating and members who haven’t been involved in the union might be scared to attend. And Union Working has been working on educating other members on these meetings, what they can expect, and what they need to have prepared if they are going to present an idea. I think that more actors are understanding they power they have as union members and I hope that many people will take advantage of this and go to at least 1 of the W&Ws.

This meeting was another one to prepare for contract negotiations and the meetings that lead up to it. Since we were sharing basic information on what the meetings are like (and not ideas of what we want in the next contract), I was able to live stream a lot of the meeting for our Facebook group.

It’s a pretty easy job for me to run the live stream, but I know that it is appreciated by the core members of Union Working that I do it. And at this meeting, we had several presentations and I was able to ask a question that was asked on the live stream from a member who was watching in Portland. That was actually very exciting because it proved that the live stream is important and the message of Union Working is being shared in our locals and not just in Los Angeles.

And having more actors from the other locals was another big thing that was discussed at the meeting. Union Working is mainly in Los Angeles right now and we don’t want that to be the case. We want members of SAG-AFTRA all over the country to be involved even if they can’t be at the meetings. They can watch most of our meetings on the live stream and I can always work on finding out better ways to keep things interactive with those watching while at the meeting. I would  love it if I had to keep track of questions from members all over the country while at the meeting so I could ask them on behalf of those members. I want to make sure everyone can be involved if they want to no matter where they live.

And since we are trying to spread to other locations, we are asking SAG-AFTRA members all over to please follow us on social media. If you are an actor (even if you aren’t in the union yet), please follow our social media to stay informed about things happening with Union Working. A lot of great information is shared and we just want people to know what is going on.

Another big thing that was discussed at the meeting was the idea of influencers and how so many of those projects could be union so those influencers would have the same rights and protections as all actors. Many of those influencers create their own content while partnering with a brand (basically making their own commercials). There have been some steps made toward helping influencers understand what being in the union would do for them, but there is a lot of work to still do there. And the issue of influencers is one that is important to me.

While I don’t have millions of followers on social media, I do get companies approaching me to do sponsored content. I rarely do sponsored things on here or social media, but sometimes I will. But when those companies ask me to do a video as well as a post, I can’t do them unless they are going to make those union. I cannot and will not do a commercial for a brand that is not a union project. That is against Global Rule One and I do not want to work against my union. And I know that the more that influencers know what’s going on and what their options are, the more likely that brands that approach me will understand I will only do video for them if they do it through the union.

While I have been a union member for a few different contract negotiations, this is the most prepared I feel for one. I am trying to work my schedule out so I can attend at least one of the W&W meetings. I don’t have anything to contribute, but I do want to watch it happen and learn what other members are concerned about. And something someone says may spark something in my mind that I will want to bring up. But the most important thing to me is that I show up and make an effort to participate. And I hope that many other members will do the same this year and we have a high attendance rate at these meetings coming up.

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Listening About The Union (or Showing Up No Matter What)

Posted on June 28, 2018 | Comments Off on Listening About The Union (or Showing Up No Matter What)

I am almost always looking forward to any opportunity I have for any union related things. If there is a mixer, educational session, or event and I can be there I go. There have been the rare times that either something conflicted with something and I had to pick which I would go with or I was sick and couldn’t go, but those are not the norm at all. And when I knew we had a Union Working meeting this week, I was excited to get to go.

Not only was I excited to go, I knew I needed to go. I have been running the Facebook Live video of the meetings for a while now and while it is an easy job I do take that responsibility seriously. I have friends who depend on those videos because either they work during the times we have the meetings or they currently aren’t in LA. I’m glad that I’m able to help out and I know that even though I think it’s easy that it is a big deal to some of the leaders of the group (it takes the responsibility off of them so they can focus on more important things). So I know the meetings are something I need to go to besides just want to go to.

But before the meeting this week, I was struggling. I was dealing with lots of pain and nausea that I expected would have been over by then. I also was exhausted from a lack of sleep. I’ve been trying to sleep more, but there have been things that kept me up later than I expected (like going out with friends) and because I’m getting good at getting up at the same time every day I’m not sleeping in. So even if I go to bed 2 or 3 hours later than I wanted to, I’m still getting up at the same time and I’m losing that sleep. I usually don’t feel bad if it happens once in a while, but this was several days back to back and it really caught up with me. But I knew I needed to be at the meeting.

Well, when I got to the meeting I found out I actually didn’t have to run the Facebook Live. We can only live-stream certain parts of the meeting because some parts are a bit more confidential (like when we are discussing what we want to bring up in contract negotiations) and this entire meeting was going to be more confidential information. So nothing could be shared publicly and I didn’t have to run the video. I did share to a friend that I might not have come to the meeting if I didn’t think I needed to because of how I was feeling, but I was glad I went because it still was very educational.

The entire meeting was a panel with 4 major agents and how they feel about different things we as actors are concerned about. I can’t go into too many details but most of the things we were asking about were common negotiation issues (pay, union vs. non-union projects, opportunities for all actors). Some of the things discussed were issues that I don’t have personal experience with or have a strong opinion on, but I knew they were important to my fellow actors so I wanted to learn about them. And if I book a really great job those issues could start affecting me so I don’t want to have to play catch up if that does happen.

Recently at the meetings I’ve had to split my focus between whoever is speaking and running the video. I do have technical issues from time to time because cell service isn’t that great where we have the meetings and when the video goes down I need to work on getting it back up. I do still try to listen while I’m fixing it, but I know I’m not paying as much attention as I could. So it was nice to have a meeting where my focus was on the speakers completely and there was nothing else that really was grabbing my focus (although my pain and nausea did from time to time).

As our contract negotiations get closer, there may be more meetings that I cannot do a live video for. So if you are an actor who wants to stay informed I do recommend coming to the meetings. Even when we do stream the meetings there are always things we cannot put in videos so you don’t get the entire meeting online. But I will always go to the meetings prepared to run a live-stream in case we can post things online because I really do believe that an educated union is a strong union.

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Another Union Working Meeting (or Rolling With The Technical Difficulties)

Posted on May 10, 2018 | Comments Off on Another Union Working Meeting (or Rolling With The Technical Difficulties)

I had another Union Working meeting this week. These meetings are about every other month and I really do look forward to them each time I realize there is another meeting coming up. I’m learning a ton about the union by being at these meetings. They are able to go into detail about things that I didn’t understand before or that the union really can’t discuss. But that’s the benefit to being a group that isn’t union official. We have a ton of people who are board members and on committees so we are getting accurate information. We just don’t have the formalities of being an official union event.

For the past few meetings, I’ve been in charge of running the Facebook Live for the portion of the meeting we can share (there are some things discussed that are only for union members so we don’t make it available online to the public). It’s a pretty easy job for me to do so I’m happy that I can help out and allow the people who run the meeting to focus on much more important things. And I’ve got a pretty decent setup with my iPad, tripod, and tablet holder for my tripod. But as it seems like a lot of things have been for me lately, things just didn’t go as planned this time.

There is no wi-fi for us to use where we hold the meetings, so I have to use a hotspot from my phone. It’s not that difficult to set up usually but I still get to the meetings early to set up everything so I’m ready to start the live video once the meeting begins. But this time, I just couldn’t get my iPad to connect to my phone. I restarted both devices multiple times and it just didn’t want to work. Since the meeting was about to start, I decided I needed to run the video off of my phone. The holder I have on my tripod doesn’t quite fit my phone, but I managed to make it work.

I’ll admit that I was a bit distracted during the meeting because of the technical issues. I was checking my phone to make sure the video was still going and I had to look harder at it to read the comments that people watching were making since it’s a much smaller screen than I’m used to. But I tried to make sure that even though I was distracted more than normal that I was still paying attention so I could get some great information out of the meeting.

The meetings are usually pretty structured evenings. There is an agenda to go over and because there is so much information and so little time they are pretty on top of making sure that we stay on track. I don’t know if this meeting didn’t have as much of an agenda or what but it seemed like a much more casual and conversational meeting. We did cover a lot of information, but there was so much more back and forth conversation between everyone in the room than I’m used to. But it was pretty awesome to watch that happen because you could see the moments when others in the room understood something for the first time.

A lot of the discussion was related to the election that will be happening in a little over a year and how things have happened in the past and how things should possibly change for the future. I don’t have a strong opinion on a lot of election related things that were discussed because they were mainly things that were about board members and what is currently being done. But I was glad I could hear both sides of the debate so I could know what is the current situation and what others think is wrong and what it should possibly look like in the future.

And as always with these meetings, we discussed the current commercial contract and the upcoming negotiations. Commercials are changing so much and we want to make sure that our contracts reflect that. Online commercials aren’t super new, but they are new enough that there are so many things in those contracts that weren’t figured out in the past. So to know what situations other actors are encountering at auditions or on set can help us know what we want to negotiate for. It also makes me more aware of some things that I want to look out for when I’m working.

Even though there wasn’t a big agenda for the meeting, the 2 hours that we were there covered a lot of information and discussion. Several people mentioned how conversational everything seemed and that it was a nice change from when it is more of a lecture type meeting. There clearly are times where the discussion needs to be a bit more formal and structured, but it was nice to have something that was a bit more freeform when it can happen.

Our next meeting will be most likely toward the end of June and I’ll try to post on social media about it. While we have had some meetings that are only for union members, most of the time they are open to everyone!

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Another Delayed Brunch (or I Wish I Had More Accomplishments)

Posted on April 24, 2018 | 1 comment

I’ve been doing my meeting with my WIF mentoring group for a few years now. At the beginning we were really good about meeting every other month as a group (when we started, the alternate months were meetings with our mentors). When we were on our own, we still were pretty good about maintaining our every other month meetings and they seemed to be much easier to schedule. But lately, we’ve been having some issues with scheduling which is fine. The reasons have been because everyone is getting very busy with some awesome career stuff, but we are still trying to make an effort. So after a few reschedules recently, we finally had our 2nd brunch of the year this past weekend.

I’ve struggled a bit lately in our brunch meetings with what I have to share with the group. I always feel like I’ve had a lack of progress compared to everyone else, but I also know that it’s not good for me to compare myself to the others. We all are on our own paths and are at different stages in our careers. So there’s really no way I can look at what someone else is doing and compare my accomplishments to theirs. Even so, it was a bit frustrating that I didn’t have really anything related to acting to share with the group this time. I know that the point of our meetings isn’t just for me to share what’s happening in my life but for me to support the others in the group, but there is almost a sense of feeling left out when I don’t have good things to share.

I did share about some craziness that’s been happening with my day jobs and how I’m doing social media management as a side job right now. I know that sometimes I think that there isn’t much happening in my life until I look back at various blog posts, but I think this time there really wasn’t much related to my acting career since the group met back in January. I’ve started to wonder if I haven’t been focusing on it enough, but I know that I’m staying involved in the union and other actor related things with various groups and meetings I’m attending. That counts for something even if I’m not auditioning a lot. I would like to get back into class eventually, but until I’m in a better place financially I can’t afford to do that. But maybe this feeling of left out will help kick my butt into gear into figuring out what else I can do that is not dependent on me having auditions.

Even with my negative feelings about my personal accomplishments, I was so happy to be at our brunch so I could hear about the accomplishments that everyone else had! Because we’ve been meeting for so long, when someone has a big breakthrough it sometimes feels like I’ve had the breakthrough too because we’ve been going on the journey with them. I love getting to hear that someone had an amazing meeting with a producer, is getting financial backing for their project, or that they just had fun on set. I’m not feeling jealous of any of them at all. My feelings of being left out are more to do with my lack of accomplishments and not at all about their successes. I guess if I must have any negative thoughts, I’m glad that they are just a me issue and it’s not about anyone in the group.

The other thing that made me so happy with this past brunch was that we had almost everyone in the group there. We were only missing one person and it felt amazing to have all of us who could make it at brunch. Of course, we all would love it if we all could make it but we know how tough that is with our schedules. But getting to see everyone I did see and seeing how excited they all were to see each other really made me so happy and grateful for the group that we have.

We really are striving to have another meeting in 2 months, but we are also aware that we may need an extra month or two to get everything scheduled. At least we all understand the situation and nobody was upset that we missed having our brunch last month (they are all just grateful that I am willing to schedule and organize our brunches so they continue). And while I can’t control if I have any auditions or bookings before our next meeting, hopefully I can figure out something else to move my career forward that I can share next time.

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Learning So Much From Union Working (or Getting Ready For Contract Negotiations)

Posted on March 29, 2018 | 2 comments

I know I’ve said this so many times, but I’m seriously so grateful that I’m a part of the Union Working group. Every time I’m at a meeting, I always walk away with so much knowledge and a better understanding of what is happening in my industry. There is so much information out there and it can be tough to figure things out on your own. So to have a group that can explain things and help you figure out what you want to focus on is so important to me.

And the meeting this week was another one full of information and I left feeling so empowered and ready to get to work on things. While we did have some of the standard discussions that we have at all Union Working meetings, the focus of this meeting was a mock W&W session. W&W stands for Wages and Working Conditions and these are meetings that the union has leading up to contract negotiations. These meetings are formal events for union members to come and discuss what changes they want to see in the next contract. We have these meetings for all different contracts but the next one coming up will be our commercials contract.

I have not attended a W&W meeting before. I have wanted to but I’ve had a few things stop me. Sometimes, my work schedule just doesn’t work with when the meetings are. I really can’t take time off work right now to attend, so if there aren’t meetings that are when I’m not working I can’t go. But also I’ve been scared to attend. It seems a bit overwhelming and while I want to be more involved in the union attending these meetings seems like a huge step. And I’m aware of how silly that probably sounds because I can always attend a meeting and just observe. I don’t have to propose any changes but I could hear what others think need to change.

But I think the team at Union Working get that the meetings can be overwhelming so they created this mock W&W session. Because W&W sessions are closed to the public (and our mock session was closed to all but paid union members), I can’t share too much of what was discussed. But I can share that we went over how to present an idea at a W&W, the rules for discussion and debate, and the feedback we may get when presenting an idea or debating one so we don’t get thrown off if it happens. All of these things were really great to learn about because you never know when you might be inspired to present something at a W&W and you want to be prepared and able to maximize your time that you are allowed to speak.

We didn’t get to do too many different ideas in our mock W&W session because the one that was presented was something that so many people in the group wanted to discuss. We didn’t have the time limits that you would have in a real session and some people were given opportunities to rephrase what they were saying to make sure they followed the guidelines of how we need to present them. I didn’t speak during the mock session, but I was paying attention to everything that was happening. And the more I listened the more I realized that all my fears about attending a W&W session in the past were silly and that I should have attending them before.

I still can’t guarantee that any sessions will be during times that I’m not working, but I’m going to make a much better effort to look into it so I can hopefully go at least once. I still don’t have anything I want to say about changes that I think should be in our next contract, but I do what to hear what others think. It’s also a great time to get even more educated about the current contract because when people propose a contract change, one of the first things that is discussed is what the facts are about the current contract. There is always a chance someone is proposing something that is already in the contract so you would learn about that. To me, so much of being a good union member is being an educated union member.

While I wasn’t feeling physically the best at the meeting, I’m so grateful I was there. There were so many things discussed that I am glad I got to hear about. I left feeling physically low but mentally on a high note. I know that there were some great ideas that others brought up that have given me things to think about. And like I said, the biggest thing to me is being as educated as I can and I know that being in a room with so many incredible people really are helping me understand as much as I can.

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More Union Education (or Making Sure Ads Go Union)

Posted on February 15, 2018 | 3 comments

You may have noticed that I am posting more and more about union events. I’ve been saying for a while that I wanted to become more involved in the union and I’m finally taking advantage of that! My schedule is fairly regular so I can make plans to attend different meetings and events and I love how this makes me feel continuously involved in union happenings and not that I’m on the outskirts. And this week was another week where I was at union headquarters for another meeting!

So many of the meetings and events I’ve been going to lately have been about commercials. This is a pretty current issue for a few reasons. First, the union will be negotiating the new commercial contract next year so we are getting prepared for that. But also, commercials have always been both union and non-union, but we are starting to see more non-union than before. Many jobs are still union, but we want to make sure they stay that way and that we get even more union commercials.

SAG-AFTRA has an entire committee dedicated to keeping commercials union and that was what this meeting was about. Members of the committee as well as union staff were there to explain more about the plan to get more commercials to be union work and what things have been happening so far.

While I’ve been at several events regarding union commercials, I learned new things at this meeting. These meetings are a response to the growing problem of non-union work and because of what members say in them the union can know what our specific issues are and how to remedy that.

I’ve been pretty lucky. While I don’t audition for commercials a lot, my agents have never asked me to violate union rules and audition for non-union work. In fact, when a commercial lied about being union and when I found out, my agents told me to leave because they didn’t want me to run into any issues. Not all actors are that lucky and they were discussing how their agents are encouraging them to work non-union even though they are union members.

But even though I’ve been lucky since becoming a union member, I know the issues of non-union commercials from before I joined SAG-AFTRA. When I was non-union, I did a commercial that paid pretty decently. It was super easy work and with what I made I paid my rent and bills for a month! I was so excited! But I didn’t realize that because my contract allowed the ad agency to use the commercial in perpetuity (which is common in non-union work), I had no idea then that I would have something that has been on tv for 11 years! It’s a haircare commercial/informercial and I see it on tv all the time. If this was union, I would be making residuals and still be getting paid. But because it was non-union and I didn’t have the protection of SAG-AFTRA and the contracts we have, I only got that 1 payment that doesn’t seem that much when you think about it being split over 11 years.

Because of my experience with non-union work, I’m passionate about making sure that other actors don’t have the same issue. If they aren’t in SAG-AFTRA and chose to do a non-union work, I want them to know what things to look for in a contract so they are making an educated decision. But I am even more passionate about helping commercials be union so that actors will have the protections that we have in our contracts. And that’s why I love getting to know more about the Ads Go Union campaign in meetings and being able to share what I learn with you all. This time, we got more information on recent things that the campaign has done and promoted to other members.

Even if I don’t book another commercial in my entire career, this issue is going to be an important one for me. I know first-hand how easily actors who don’t know better can get into a contract that they may regret later. And I want to see more union work so that my union brothers and sisters have more opportunities to do what they love. For me, my union dedication is all about education and seeing others succeed. And hopefully I will succeed as well.

I am looking to branch out a bit more and find union events about other issues so I can learn more about other union things I may want to get involved in. But for now, I’m just so happy that I’ve been able to get involved in the commercial recapturing initiative and that I will be able to find ways to help out other actors. I do plan on attending more and more events and I will keep finding ways to be involved and to make sure that all actors are educated on the issues.

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First Union Working Meeting Of 2018 (or Union Strong For All)

Posted on February 7, 2018 | 1 comment

It feels like it’s been a while since I’ve had a meeting with the Union Working group, but I think that’s because things have been so busy for me lately! But at the same time, it doesn’t feel like it’s been that long because I’ve seen so many of the other group members at other events (both social and union related). I feel so connected to this group and I love that.

But since the group hadn’t had an official meeting in a few months, I was so glad that we had a meeting this week. There have been so many things that I have learned about the union that I wanted to connect to my knowledge that I get in the group and I was so antsy to see what I was going to learn this time. And because I love the group so much, I am always trying to get more people involved. I wish that there was a group like this when I joined the union because I was scared to be involved when I first joined. But a group like this is a great way to ease into getting involved in union issues.

I invited so many actor friends to go to the meeting and a bunch of them were hoping to make it. I totally understand how tough it can be to schedule around day jobs to attend events, so I also tried to let people know that we try to live stream as much of the meeting as we could in the Facebook group. But I was so excited when my friend Sarah said she could make it! Sarah and I were in the UCB class together and I don’t think we had seen each other in person since class! And she’s going to be joining the union soon so I thought it would be perfect for her to attend the meeting and hopefully get more involved in the group.

Before going to the meeting, my friend (who is one of the core members of the group) asked me if I could help out a bit more at the meeting. I’m always happy to help and he needed me to run the live stream on Facebook for the group. I figured it was a great opportunity to use my newish tripod and iPad stand and I could live stream from my iPad. It would be easier than doing it on my phone (and would keep my phone free for me to take notes). So I spent a lot of the meeting making sure that the live stream was working (we had some WiFi hotspot issues), but it still allowed me to pay attention to what was happening.

This meeting was really interesting for me. With the special guests we had, a lot of the discussion was about influencers and how that affects union work. This was almost the other side of the event I was at last week where it was mainly influencers learning about the union. This time, the union members were learning about influencers.

We also had a guest who discussed how to maximize using Instagram. I’m not the best at Instagram and I’ll admit that I don’t always have the prettiest photos up there. It’s a wide variety of photos and that’s fine if I want it to be that way. But there is a better way to represent my life on social media that could benefit me as an actor (and probably as a blogger too) and I’m going to be more aware of that from now on. I’m not going to make my social media only show the best things of my life because I do believe in staying honest. But I do want to make it look more like the professional that I feel I am in my career. The guest really gave me a lot to think about and I love walking away from our meetings with a little bit of homework so I stay involved and active.

Besides all the amazing guests we had at the meeting, the leaders of Union Working shared this incredible video that they created. While Union Working has been about SAG-AFTRA a lot, we want to be pro-union for all unions. The group is supportive of all unions and we want to make sure that unions are protected. In this political climate, many politicians are anti-union and trying to encourage workers not to unionize. But we know that as a group we are stronger. Unions protect workers and allow us to have collective bargaining to make sure that everyone benefits from contracts. I’m so excited that Union Working is expanding their reach and I can’t wait to see what unions we are able to partner up with.

I know I’ve said this before, but if you are an actor in Los Angeles I highly encourage you all to check the Union Working website, social media, and hopefully attend a meeting. You can also check out the YouTube channel for more videos. If you are an actor somewhere else in the country, still check out the group and maybe you can start a chapter of Union Working where you are. And if you are a member of a union and want to connect with Union Working, reach out on their website and social media. We are all working together to better unions for everyone in all industries.

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Final Union Working Meeting For 2017 (or A Commercial Roundtable)

Posted on November 14, 2017 | 2 comments

I’ve been so lucky to get to be a part of Union Working for a while now. Their meetings are always so inspiring and I’ve learned so much from attending. I’ve made some awesome friends and I’ve been getting more and more involved with the union, which has been a goal of mine for a while. I know that there is much more that I can do, but I’m taking steps in the right direction.

The meetings for Union Working are about every 6 weeks and the meeting this past week was the last one for this year. It seems like a lot of things are winding down because of the holidays but I know that it will be back in the new year. But since this was the last meeting for the year, the group did one of the best meetings they’ve ever had as a 2017 finale.

Usually the meetings have a guest speaker who answers questions from the group about what is happening in the entertainment industry. A lot of the focus is on what is happening with commercials but other things come up too. But for this meeting there was a roundtable discussion. So instead of just one guest there were multiple guests. And the questions were asked to everyone so we could see how different people in the industry have different answers and they got to learn from each other as well.

In the roundtable we had staff from SAG-AFTRA (even though the group is not officially affiliated with the union we do have staff members who have spoken before), casting directors, agents, actors, and even the creator of one of the online submission services that is used for submitting actors for auditions. It was a really great variety in the panel and I was impressed by who they were able to get.

There were a lot of topics that we’ve heard about before, but it’s always great to hear someone else’s perspective. And to listen to the people on the panel debate amongst each other was interesting. Sometimes they helped to form ideas as a group that could help actors together. Or they learned why one idea or another wouldn’t work based on what we as actors have access too. And some of them weren’t aware of all the limits or abilities of the union so I’m glad that information was able to be shared with them.

The idea of this meeting wasn’t necessarily to walk away with actionable steps but to leave with ideas that we can use toward working on things for the future. I was more inspired than ever to keep working hard for my union and to keep trying to bring more people to Union Working meetings. When they start again in the new year, I want to try to get one friend to each meeting I go to. These meetings are great for members of the union but they are also great for those who aren’t members yet. There are many things I wish I had known when I wasn’t union. I probably would have been much smarter about my career and I probably would have joined the union sooner. But now that I’m in, I want to see all professional actors as union members so we can continue to strengthen the union.

There was a hangout at a bar after the meeting was over, but I needed to get home to get some work done and go to sleep. Last week was a bit of a rough week for me with sleeping due to the nausea issue so I really was making an effort to try to get to bed sooner than normal. I missed the social aspect of going to the meetings, but I know that leaving was the best thing for me and that I’ll have plenty more opportunities to go to bar hangouts when the meetings start up again next year.

Even though this is the end of the Union Working meetings for the year, it’s not the end of my involvement with them for the year. I was asked if I’d help out with some work that the group is doing and I’m pretty excited about that. I don’t have all the details about what I’m doing, but I’m just happy to be involved. That’s all I’ve wanted to do and it was an opportunity that presented itself to me and I’m taking advantage of it.

I’m so grateful that I was given the opportunity to be a part of this group. I’ve been able to do so much this year with them and I can’t wait to see what next year will bring for the group and for my involvement with them.

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