Tag Archives: SAG-AFTRA

Another Successful Livestream (or Fixing Issues And Working On A System)

Posted on June 25, 2020 | Comments Off

After the first You Are The Union livestream, Amir and I knew we had room to improve. It went really well, but not everything that we were hoping for happened. Mainly, we had technical issues with trying to get the livestream up on YouTube at the same time. And then after we were not able to save it so we could have a replay. We want these livestreams to be available at any time, so we knew we had to work on fixing it.

Once we had our next one scheduled, we took extra time to make sure we were clear on the process of how to make the livestream work. We did multiple test runs and made a checklist of every step that we have to take each time to make sure that it works. It’s not the easiest process, but it’s worth it to make it happen so we are willing to do the work. Plus, I have a feeling that as we do these more often, they will get easier and easier for us to set up.

We also wanted to make sure that things just ran smoothly and easily once the livestream was started. This mainly was stuff I needed to be able to do. Since Amir is hosting live, I want to run all the behind the scenes stuff so he doesn’t have to think about it. We tried a system of me texting him the questions from the guests the first time, and that didn’t exactly work. This time, we decided on a Google Doc where I could change the list of questions if we were getting a lot about the same topic or if something needed to be next instead of another question. So on my end, I needed to have a lot of windows open to keep it all together. I had the Google Doc with our questions, the Zoom window with the Zoom chat and participant lists popped out, the YouTube page to make sure the video was still streaming there, and the YouTube chat popped out. This is what my screen ended up looking like while we ran the second livestream.

It was a bit crazy, but it really worked for me in the end. I did switch between windows a lot, but it was easy enough to monitor everything at once. I monitored the chats on Zoom and YouTube to pull questions, looked at the participant list to see our Waiting Room, and tracked any raised hands in Zoom if someone wanted to ask a question on video. The first livestream, we didn’t have many people interested in asking questions on video so we debated removing that option. But this time, more people wanted to do that so I’m glad we allowed for both video and text questions.

Our second livestream was about diversity, inclusion, and Black Lives Matter. We had Tiffany Yvonne Cox and Michelle Hurd as our guests and it was so incredible. I was thrilled that the livestream went so much better than the first one did, but I was even more thrilled about the conversation that happened during it. This was exactly what we hoped would happen and I’m so glad that our audience seemed to feel the same way.

And because we were able to run everything smoothly this time, we also were able to create a replay of the livestream. The replay is pretty much the entire livestream, we just edited 1 minute at the beginning and 1 minute in the end when we were still getting things set up. But all of the discussion, questions, and conversation was kept in. We didn’t want to censor or edit our guests in any way, and I’m glad we were able to keep the full thing up for anyone to watch at any time.

I’m so proud of this livestream. I was crying at times while it happened because this is exactly what Amir and I dreamed of creating. And we never thought we would have exactly what we wanted by the second livestream. We thought we might have some more things to work through. But I think all of our practice runs and preparation paid off and helped us make all the improvements we were looking to make.

We are working on planning our next one. We have had a bit of a delay due to some timing issues, but we are hopeful we will have another one happening in a week. And we have a few topics in our lineup that we are considering, so we should be creating a nice schedule over the next few months. And we do want to do another one on diversity because we know this is not a one and done topic. This is an evolving discussion and we want to create a space for people to discuss it and get answers. That is so important and being able to provide it makes me so happy.

I’m still so excited that I have helped to create this livestream and how quickly it has been embraced by so many people. So many of the viewers were people who are not currently involved in union service and it was a great way to get to meet new people and to hear what they are hoping to see from the union. And we have a few people who have expressed interest in union service and asking what steps they can do. That is amazing and not something I expected. But like I’ve always said, all I want to do is to educate other union members and to make sure they understand what is going on. And maybe that does mean getting more people involved in union service so they are an active participant and able to help educate others in their social circles.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, SAG-AFTRA, unite for strength, You Are The Union

You Are The Union (or Finding More Ways To Educate Other Union Members)

Posted on June 11, 2020 | Comments Off

I’ve been passionate about union service since I started being involved in it. I might not have had all the right things to do when I was first elected as a delegate, but I have always wanted to be more involved. Before the pandemic, I was getting more and more involved in things. One of the things that I had been enjoying a lot was being an observer at the local board meetings. As soon as those are back, I will be continuing to be an observer because it’s such a great way to see my union at work. And of course, I’m also pretty involved now in the Union Working group and all the action that they have been taking.

But I am always looking for more ways to be involved in union service. And the thing within union service that I am most passionate about is union education. I want the members of the union to understand what is going on and to not feel as powerless as some of them do. Some members feel like the union is a separate entity and they have no voice, which is very far from the truth. This union is run by the members. We do have staff, but they work for us. We are in charge of the path that the union takes.

I was talking with some of my friends who are also passionate about union service, and my friend Amir and I started talking about doing some type of livestream event to answer questions that members might have. We started running with that idea and after about a week of brainstorming, we had a real plan for what we wanted to do. And while we weren’t looking to make this political or just about our slate, we knew we needed our slate’s help with a few things so we brought the plan to some of the leaders. They understood that we were looking to make a non-partisan event and really encouraged us to go with it. So we did.

And a week ago, we had our first livestream event! We are calling these You Are The Union because that is the big idea we want anyone watching to take away from these events.

We want members to be able to join the livestream and ask questions, give feedback, and have a clear understanding of what is going on. While we know we can’t answer every question that members might ask, we know we can explain to them why we might not have the answer or what is in the works. For example, I know some people have had questions about healthcare eligibility since we aren’t working right now. We don’t have the answer to that, but we can tell people that the healthcare trustees (who are in charge of our healthcare plan) are meeting and discussing this. And when they can say what the plan will be, they will tell us. We just want to make sure that people who watch our livestream don’t feel confused about what is going on if they ask us about it.

Our first livestream had some really great things about it. We had a good turnout, especially considering we didn’t have as much time to promote it as we would have liked to (this was partially my fault as we were trying to get things set up before promoting it). The questions we were asked were good and nobody was being negative or accusing anyone of things. And we were able to cover a wide variety of topics. We did have some technical glitches that caused us to not be able to run the livestream the way we were hoping and made it start late, but people understood why this happened and they were patient with us.

Amir was hosting it along with 2 guests, and I was working the behind the scenes stuff with managing the questions that came in and making sure everyone was able to access the livestream after the glitch. I was kept pretty busy doing that, but I was so glad I could help. I’m not sure if I want to be on-camera for these, just because I don’t feel like I have enough information to comfortably host. But that is now a goal of mine and something that is pushing me to continue to educate myself so I can feel like I could be a good host in the future.

This is not just a one-off event. We are already planning our next ones and we are hoping to be able to have them on a regular basis. We are still working on improving upon the first one, so hopefully, we continue to just get better and more efficient. We may start focusing our livestreams on specific topics, while still allowing any questions about other topics. But from the feedback we got, having a bit of a focus would be helpful for the audience. And having topics is also helping us plan, so I’m glad we were told that it could be a good thing.

If we weren’t in isolation during this pandemic, I don’t know if we would have created this livestream. I want to think that we would have, but I think being forced to have virtual meetings as a regular part of life really made us see what we could do. Even when we could have in-person meetings again, I think this is going to stay as a livestream as it allows so many people around the country to join in. And it gives us a bit more flexibility with getting guests because people don’t need to be local to do it.

It’s been a while since I’ve helped to create something I’m this excited about. And it’s a great feeling. I am doing this to continue my union service and help other members, but selfishly it has also helped me find a bit of purpose in a weird time and I’m so grateful for that.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, SAG-AFTRA, union, You Are The Union

Driving Around For No Reason (or Finding Places That Make Me Happy)

Posted on May 29, 2020 | Comments Off

Before the pandemic hit, I didn’t drive my car a lot. I did drive to my workouts and random things, but I didn’t have a long commute each day or put a lot of miles on my car. I add so little mileage each year on my car (typically around 8,000 miles a year) that my insurance needed proof because they didn’t believe I was driving so few miles. This is probably extra weird since I live in LA, where everything seems to require driving.

But since the pandemic hit, I have been driving even less. I don’t go to my workouts. I don’t meet up with friends or go out to do things. I have driven to Santa Barbara once and have done some random errands, but it’s still a fraction of what I used to do. I still am doing a lot of errands through deliveries (like groceries), so I’m not even going out to do that much. I can’t remember a time that I drove so infrequently since I got a driver’s license.

And with not driving that often, there is a new car-related issue that I have to keep in mind. I need to make sure that I don’t forget to drive every so often because I don’t want the battery to die. I know if it does die, I can call AAA and they can jump the battery, but I want to avoid needing to do that. I’m sure AAA has other issues to worry about that they should focus on, and I want to help limit the exposure the truck drivers have. I don’t necessarily want to test how long I can go without driving, so I’ve been looking online at how often I should drive. Most things say at least every 2-3 weeks. So I have tried to remember to drive at least once every other week. And if I am only driving to do a quick errand, I try to drive a little before the errand just to use my car a bit more.

This week, I was coming up on 2 weeks without driving my car. I didn’t have any errands that I had to drive to or anything that would require me needing to use my car. But I needed to drive to make sure the battery didn’t die. I had debated doing different things, but I couldn’t decide on where to go. Originally, I was thinking about driving to the beach again. But now that the beaches are open, I figured it would be harder to find parking. I realized if I tried to figure out where to go before I left, I probably would not get out that day. And since I wanted to get this task done, I didn’t want to put it off. So I just got in my car and started driving.

I drove the direction I often go to do different things. I had no plan in my head about where to go, but I just drove. I thought about maybe going to a fun neighborhood and looking at houses, but that didn’t seem like fun and I didn’t know how crowded some streets might be if everyone was parked (some streets aren’t really designed for people to be parked there plus driving). I thought maybe going to Hollywood to see how empty it looked by places I love, but that also felt a bit sad so I skipped that. Then I tried to think of places that make me happy and figured out a fun place to drive to.

I don’t have to go to my union’s national/local headquarters that often, but I do go there quite a bit. And the stuff that I’m able to do when I’m in that building does make me happy. I get to be a part of amazing things or watch the union in action. So driving to the union seemed to be the perfect place to go. Plus, it was a good distance for me to drive. Since there wasn’t a lot of traffic, I got there pretty quickly. I found some parking and decided to take a silly selfie to commemorate my random driving adventure.

And after taking the photo, I got back in my car and drove home. It was nice to see something familiar that makes me happy. I was a little sad thinking about all the things we haven’t been able to do because of this pandemic, but I was also reminded of the work we are doing so we can make sure we can get back to work as quickly as possible while still being safe. And knowing that my union is working hard for all of us is inspiring. When we are able to get back to work, I know we will all be grateful for what was done.

And hopefully, soon enough, I will be able to be back inside my union’s building and won’t just have to see if from afar.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged driving, isolation, SAG-AFTRA, union

A Virtual Town Hall (or Getting Some Answers About My Industry)

Posted on May 14, 2020 | Comments Off

There have been so many things that feel up in the air right now. Nobody knows when things will be back to normal (or even when we can start to figure out what the new normal will be like). People don’t know when they will be working again. The entertainment industry is at a complete halt and there is no timeline for when we can start working again. It’s overwhelming and scary.

On top of that, there have been many issues with people who don’t have a traditional job to get unemployment. If you were only an independent contractor, they did create a new system to be eligible. I’m so grateful for that since all my income is 1099 and I don’t qualify normally. As easy as it was for me to apply, I’m still dealing with issues as they never asked me how much I made and my unemployment amount is not what it should be. But my issues are much easier than others. Some people who worked both W2 and 1099 income can only apply for unemployment under the standard system. So if they made $50,000 last year and $49,000 was 1099 and $1,000 was W2, they have to file with the $1,000 of W2 income (which makes the amount they get significantly less than it should be).

There are also issues with people who have incorporated and are dealing with small business options. I know the government is doing their best and this is not what they ever expected to happen, but it’s still hard when there are so many people depending on things to be fixed so they don’t have to worry how they will pay the bills.

A lot of these unique circumstances are unique to people in the entertainment industry. So when I heard that our union president, Gabrielle Carteris, was doing a town hall, I knew I wanted to watch. And the town hall was also hosted by the president of IATSE, Matthew Loeb so it was going to discuss issues that other entertainment industry employees would have. But it wasn’t just SAG-AFTRA and IATSE, Congressman Schiff was going to be a part of it so we could hear what a representative of our government thinks and we could share some of our concerns to him.

I didn’t submit a question, but I was very interested to hear what others were worried about. And a lot of issues I expected, like the split income for unemployment, was covered and Congressman Schiff seemed surprised that we had that issue as the bill they passed was supposed to prevent that. And it was good to hear someone who felt very strongly about us needing to get back to work but needing to be cautious so things don’t get worse. There was no sugarcoating things, our industry might be one of the last ones to come back due to the large number of people that would be on set or the fact that actors work very close to each other (and that’s not counting intimate scenes). But it was hopeful to hear that Congressman Schiff does want to figure out how we can work and get back to making the entertainment that so many people have been spending their days watching.

I know that acting work won’t be coming back soon, but I hope it will be not too far away. There are so many things I miss about the entertainment industry and I know they can’t start up again until it is safer for us to gather in groups. We had no clue that things would get like this as quickly as they did, so there is a chance that things can get better just as quickly. But I don’t want the government to rush it and force us to go back into isolation to stop another surge.

I guess the unknowns will just have to continue for a while longer until more is understood and can be known.

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Posted in Acting

Tagged acting, politics, SAG-AFTRA, union

An Update For My Union Friends (or Things Are Being Worked On)

Posted on March 27, 2020 | Comments Off

I know so many of my actor friends are concerned right now about what is happening in the world for so many reasons. But one of the biggest concerns has to do with the complete shutdown of our work (we can’t exactly work from home as actors) and what protections we will have for the coming months. It is scary to not know when work could start again, especially when we already don’t know when we will book work. And some people are acting out in anger because of this fear.

Even if the union isn’t publicly announcing what they are working on, I want to share that they are working on helping us. Because the union is held to a certain standard and many things must be cleared by legal before they are made public, announcements don’t always happen until things are finalized. They are not taking time while working on things to confirm that they are working on it or updating the exact steps they are taking. But things are being done and that’s important to know.

I want to share something my friend Amir wrote the other day. This call was with some of us hearing what our leaders who are our friends could share with us. This wasn’t an official call or from staff. It was a call with friends who are leaders and were able to share some information with us.

I am not a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson, but as a union delegate and member of several committees, I am privy to information which other members may not be, and I am sharing what I can. I spent about 2hrs on a call with SAG-AFTRA leaders yesterday. Below is what I learned. I have been permitted to write this because union resources (incl communications) are stretched to the max in service to priority #1, getting members the help we need.

The staff and unpaid leaders of our union are working overtime in service of our members. President Carteris is working 18hour days, on calls with people not just within the union and over at the health plan, but all the way up to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. (side note it still blows my mind that this is a volunteer position for Carteris. I understand the politics of why we don’t pay our president but holy wow)

Here is what they have achieved so far:

-EARLY ON, Gabrielle and staff secured permission from government officials to consider residuals processing “essential business”, so that that dept could stay open even though most of LA is on lockdown. In fact, residuals processing is being stepped UP, to ensure that members who earn residuals can keep getting paid ASAP. Staff members are coming into the office, at literal physical risk to themselves, to keep us getting paid. It’s wild and I can’t thank them enough.

-EARLY ON, The SAG-AFTRA Foundation declared the pandemic a disaster, lowering the requirements to qualify for assistance, then lowering them again, so that members could get help from the Foundation, even before the government checks that will someday be on their way. People who’ve applied for Foundation assistance have already started to receive it. You can apply right now.

-As far as government assistance, there is a lot in the bill that just passed the Senate (and will likely pass the house) that is designed specifically for people like the members of SAG-AFTRA, ie people whose jobs are sporadic, with multiple employers every year, etc. That language is in there specifically because of daily lobbying by President Carteris with people like Kamala, Pelosi, Schiff, etc. Even after this bill, those conversations with reps in DC will continue.

-We have set up a portion of sagaftra.org to answer questions regarding COVID19 and direct members to relevant financial and medical resources.

-At the union’s urging, the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan recently secured telemedicine coverage from Beacon, so that members can get mental health treatment virtually.

There is more to come. To cover that, allow me to answer some FAQs with as much info as I am allowed to so far.

Q: Can I apply for Unemployment in CA even though I wasn’t “fired” since that’s not how Hollywood works?
A: Yes. List Coronavirus as the reason for being out of work and you will qualify.

Q: What is the deal with my health insurance? Can President Carteris extend it?
A: The SAG-AFTRA Health Plan is NOT run by the union. It is a separate organization. Some union members are on their board, but the Health Plan is a company with a board that is legally required to keep it solvent, and its finances were already quite stressed. What I can say is that it’s already committed to covering all COVID19 testing, and its board is exploring every avenue to try to make coverage available to as many members as possible for as long as possible. Expect much more on this in the coming weeks.

Q: Will we still have to pay our dues?
A: We are trying to figure out how to provide some sort of dues relief to members. It is unclear what that might look like, and it wouldn’t be prudent of me to discuss specifics of various proposals, but rest assured that there are several, and they are being seriously considered.

Q: I was hired as a guest star and then production shut down. Will I still get paid?
A: Yes. The only people for whom this could be complicated are series regs. I don’t have any more info on that.

Q: I read an article about how the SAG-AFTRA National Board is granting special governing powers to different board or something? What’s up with that?
A: 38 members of The National Board, an enormous 80-person body, comprise the National Board’s “Executive Committee”. They are a diverse group geographically and ideologically, although obviously they all want what’s best for members. They have often made decisions for the NB. To streamline things during this crisis, The National Board voted to allow the EC to make all decisions for the NB. That said, any decisions they make that would previously be required to be approved by the membership at large will *still* have to be approved by the membership at large.

Q: I need help or information, where do I get help or information?
A: Go to sagaftra.org and click on the COVID19 link.

Q: What can I do? How can I pitch in? Help out in the residuals department? Bring food to the staff?
A: Most of LA is on lockdown. We know that, in the spirit of solidarity and community, many want to get involved and get your hands dirty, but as you may have heard, the best thing you can do is *stay home* and *keep your hands clean*. But while you’re home, there are two huge things you can do to help:
1. donate to or raise funds for your fellow actors at https://sagaftra.foundation/assistance/disasterrelief/, and
2. pay attention to the union’s emails — if you get asked to contact your representatives, DO IT. Honestly, the conversations President Carteris and others are having with Pelosi, Kamala, etc are important, but just as important are when congressional staffers hear from hundreds or thousands of you. It truly does make a difference.

On a personal note, I know you’re scared. I am too. And I know it’s hard to trust the leadership of this country at times. But don’t let that lack of trust transfer to our union’s elected leadership. Our leaders are mostly just actors like you and me, volunteering their time to make sure that all of us are taken care of. No one at the union could have anticipated a moment like this. But we’ve been thrust into it. We may make some mistakes. But we will always try to fix them. And hopefully, we will all make it through this. But the easiest way for us to do that is together. Let’s not forget that.

Please know that our union leaders are working on things for us. This is something that nobody has experienced before and there are so many new things that are being worked on and figured out right now. But as soon as the union can share news and updates, they will. It’s important to look at every email you get from the union because there is a lot of information shared in those.

This is a scary time, but I am so grateful that our union has some amazing people working on this for us right now. They know what our concerns are and they are doing everything they can to help us. We will get through this. We will be ok. We will be back to work one day.

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Posted in Acting, Tough Stuff

Tagged acting, SAG-AFTRA, union

Lots Of Virtual Meetings (or Virtual Union Meetings)

Posted on February 21, 2020 | Comments Off

I’m used to working remotely for my day jobs. It’s been that way for quite a while I do think I prefer working from home now. There are so many benefits for me personally to not have to go into an office every day. I know how lucky I am to be able to do this and that not everyone has this opportunity.

But for my acting career, there really isn’t a way to work from home. There are self-tape auditions and things like that, but it’s not exactly the same as working from home. Of course, there are several things I do related to my acting career that I do from my home (or just online through my phone) such as working on self-submissions, but when it comes to booked work that has to be done where the work is.

But what I didn’t realize was how much I could do from home related to my union service. I knew that I could do several things for my slate from home since I do social media and I pretty much run that from my phone. And when my slate has had some meetings and brainstorming sessions, there is usually an option to be there virtually. If there is an in-person meeting, usually you can call in to listen and participate. I can almost always make it to wherever we meet and I do prefer to be in-person to be a part of it, but it’s nice that calling is an option. And sometimes, the meetings my slate has are only phone calls and those are easy enough to be a part of.

But with union service outside of my slate, I know one of the things holding me back in the past was the concern that I couldn’t attend a meeting if I was a part of a committee. I had been an alternate on a national committee before and I knew that those meetings would have to have a call-in option as there are people joining the meeting from all over the country. And now, I do know that the local committees (or at least the ones I am a part of) have that option too.

I’m a member of the local organizing committee and the meetings are during my work hours. I haven’t made it to the union for any of the meetings, but I have called in for every meeting we have. I think being able to call in also goes back to working remotely for my day job since I don’t know if I could do this if I worked in an office. And I do sometimes have to jump in and out of the meeting call if I get a customer call since work is the priority, but I have been lucky that for the 90 minutes once a month that we have these meetings that we haven’t been super busy at my day job. And the co-chairs of the committee understand that I am calling in during work and that I might have to briefly leave the call to do work.

I can’t speak for all the committees, but my understandings is that they usually do have a call-in option since some members may be on set during a meeting and they want to give them a way to still be a part of it. And of course, if someone is working and can call in as I do, then being in a virtual meeting works too. I have tried to be on local committees in the past and wasn’t accepted. But I didn’t push harder to be on those committees because I was afraid that I couldn’t be at the meetings so it wasn’t worth it for me to try. But I should have just asked those committee chairs to see what would be possible.

I guess it’s just like with my fears of going to the local board meetings. If I had just asked someone for more information, I would have realized there was no reason for me to hesitate and I would have gone for it. I can’t go back and change anything I did in the past, but I can make changes for the future. And part of those changes include making sure my fellow union members know of these options so they know they can be a part of things even if something prevents them from being involved in person.

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Posted in Acting

Tagged SAG-AFTRA, union

Being An Active And Interactive Viewer (or SAG Awards Live-Tweeting)

Posted on January 24, 2020 | Comments Off

I watch the SAG Awards every year. I love watching award shows about film and tv so I have watched them as long as I can remember. And since I’ve become a union member, I watch them because I want to see what my fellow members voted for. I like to see if the projects and performers I voted for were what a majority of the membership voted for. It’s fun to feel like I have a bit of ownership over the results of an awards show and this is the only one that I have that feeling with.

For most award shows, including the SAG Awards, I have done a bit of live-tweeting. It’s fun to be a part of a worldwide conversation as so many people are watching the same thing that I’m watching. And the discussions and debates that people have online about winners and losers are usually interesting. There isn’t a lot of negativity about the shows, which is probably one of the reasons why I like live-tweeting these and I’m not as much of a fan of live-tweeting political events. But for the show this past weekend, I had a slightly more serious live-tweeting job to do.

Since I have been doing the social media for my union slate, I haven’t really had to do a lot of live-tweeting of anything. This is probably not what should have happened, but it’s what happened. But this year, I wanted to make sure that I was using the slate’s social media to share things that happened during the show and make sure that the messages shared in speeches were shared with others. I wasn’t exactly sure what my plan would be, but I knew I’d be doing a lot of retweets and doing my best to create original tweets as I could.

For the first part of the show, most of the tweets I posted were just retweets from the official SAG Awards twitter account. This was an easy way to make sure the slate’s feed had information about who the winners were in each category. I did a few original tweets, but they were mainly comments on what was happening so I could do them during commercial breaks. I did also post a few snarkier tweets on my personal account because there were things I wanted to say that weren’t as professional as what I knew should be posted on the slate’s account.

But then I realized that I wanted to do more with the tweets I was posting for the slate. And I do love tweets that include some of the best parts of speeches. But there was no way to do things completely live because I can’t type that fast. So when I heard something that I knew I wanted to share, I had to rewind my DVR a bit and start transcribing it. Thank goodness for DVRs because I had to do a lot of rewinding and pausing. But I was able to get the quotes that I wanted to share.

I did post quotes from several of the acceptance speeches, but some of my favorites are the ones I got from President Gabrielle Carteris’ speech.

While trying to live-tweet actual speeches was a bit more stressful than making fun and snarky comments, I’m proud of the work that I was able to do. I am sure there are more efficient ways that I could get the quotes posted, but I need to figure out how to do that. I want to be able to do this again for the next SAG Awards and go even further with what I can share on social media. I might try to test out things with the upcoming Oscars since I know I will be live-tweeting for that. But I will likely do a majority of the live-tweeting on my personal account. I might share winners and retweets on the slate’s account, but that’s probably all I’ll do. And it will be harder with the Oscars since I will be watching at a party and won’t have the ability to pause or rewind things to type them out.

I know that having to live-tweet might have frustrated some people because it doesn’t necessarily allow you to fully enjoy watching it. And it stops the ability to live-tweet a bit too since I have to catch up to the live show during commercial breaks. But I didn’t mind it because it did feel very important to me to make sure our slate was sharing news from one of the most important nights for our union. I take a lot of pride in how I’ve been able to make our social media a source of information for both members and non-members. And while the SAG Awards are a bit more fun than some of the information I usually share, it’s still important to make sure people know what happens.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, awards, sag awards, SAG-AFTRA, union

Doubling Up On Union Days (or Really Trying My Best To Focus)

Posted on January 16, 2020 | Comments Off

I wrote about how this past weekend I had a casual get together with my union slate. That was so much fun and I love how chill the afternoon was. It was so different from so many union events that I go to. And the day after that hangout, I had one of my more serious union things to go to.

I’ve been doing a good job with prioritizing going to our local board meetings to be an observer. As soon as I know what the date will be for the next meeting, I put it in my calendar so I can do my best to not schedule something else that day. I know that there may be something out of my control in the future that will prevent me from going to a meeting, but I can make sure I don’t plan a dinner with friends or something the same night. Making these meetings a priority is becoming more important to me the more meetings I go to. I don’t think I was expecting to feel that way, but it makes me excited that it happened. Hopefully, that will motivate me to go to more union events even when I’m not necessarily feeling up for them.

And the meeting this week was one that I wasn’t necessarily feeling up for. It wasn’t the event itself that I wasn’t feeling ok with, I was just having a really bad pain and nausea day. I took care of myself as much as I could before going to the union for the meeting. I made sure I was hydrated, took all the medications I could, and had some anti-nausea lozenges in my bag in case I needed them. And I told myself that if I had to leave at some point to sit on one of the couches outside the boardroom or if I had to go home, I could. But I really didn’t want to have to leave at any point if I could help it. The meetings are really educational for me and I find it very important to learn as much as I can. Especially if I want to try to be elected to the local board in the next election.

Just like with all the other board meetings I’ve attended, I really can’t talk about what happened in the room. Most things that were discussed were confidential and I have to sign paperwork before going in as an observer agreeing not to share anything. But I can share that there were a few things being said in the room that I strongly disagreed with, especially things that directly involved me or things that I have been working on. Hearing incorrect or misleading information being shared was very frustrating since as an observer I am not allowed to talk. I did discuss some of my concerns with my friends who are board members after the meeting so I could feel like my opinion was heard. And many of my friends felt the same way that I did so they did speak up about those issues when they could.

I think between feeling so lousy combined with the frustration of not being able to speak up really took it out of me. The meeting did run a bit longer than expected, but I was just exhausted when it was done. I felt like I had been through so much just sitting there and watching. I wanted to get back to my house so I could decompress from everything and I didn’t really worry too much about saying goodbye to all of my friends who were there. I did make a quick round around the room to say goodbye to who I could, but I wasn’t as focused on making sure I saw everyone I knew.

Once I was home and could reflect on the meeting a bit more, I was even more motivated to continue going to the meetings and seeing what I can do to be elected next time. I hate that I have to be so vague about things, but there were just so many things discussed that I would have loved to speak up about. I know that my friends who were elected are speaking up for me, but I want to speak for myself as well. And the only way I can do that is to be elected. The next election season is still about a year and a half away, but I’m now starting to think about what I can do outside of everything else that I do to help get elected as well as getting more people from my slate elected.

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Posted in Acting

Tagged acting, meeting, SAG-AFTRA, union

A Fun Union Hangout (or Hopefully This Is The Start Of A New Regular Thing)

Posted on January 14, 2020 | Comments Off

So much of my work with Unite For Strength has to do with serious things. A lot of my work is related to our election or different negotiations. And my year-round work with them is making sure our social media is a good source of information. That’s slightly less serious, but it’s still more about the business side of union service and not the creative or entertaining sides of it. I don’t mind that because I have realized how important the serious and business sides are, but I have wanted to get to know my fellow slate members in a more fun way.

And this past weekend, I finally got that chance. We had a casual get together for friends and supporters of Unite For Strength. We did have some business that ended up being discussed, but this wasn’t about preparing for an election or a contract negotiation. It was more about getting to know each other and seeing what we are interested in doing with our union service and what concerns we might have.

Having hangouts like this have been discussed among the slate for a while. I know that during election season we just don’t have the time or ability to plan things. And in the past, there has been a lot of focus on the serious work that needs to be done after people are elected. But now, I think we finally have the ability to do some more fun stuff as a group. There are more people who are leaders within the slate (technically I’m one of the newer leaders even if I don’t think of myself that way). So having more people to handle things means that people aren’t getting overwhelmed. We don’t have a specific person who is going to focus on fun events, but at least everyone has a bit more time to be able to contribute.

And I’m so excited to have more of these events because I want to bring friends with me to them. A huge thing that I am passionate about in the union is educating my fellow members. And I know this is something that almost all of us in the slate believe in doing. But getting people to attend official union events can seem intimidating. I’ve been trying to get people to join me as an observer for a local board meeting and that’s a struggle. Even though all you do there is sit and watch, it’s scary. And I get that. I was nervous about being an observer too. But now that I’ve done it, I see how silly my fear was.

But it’s hard to tell other people not to be scared if they haven’t gone before. So having some fun events where I know informed people will be there is a good option. It won’t be the same as an official union event, but it can be a way to ease into things or meet people who might be at the union events so that it won’t feel like you won’t know anyone there. Plus, I love everyone who is a part of my slate. These people are some of the most inspirational and informed actors I know and I would love for my friends to get to know them too. I feel so lucky that these people are my peers and some of them have also become my friends. I always seem to have pinch-me moments when I’m with them.

We don’t have our next casual hangout for Unite For Strength planned just yet, but seeing the response from others at the one we had has motivated me to make sure that we get a few planned. I want to keep this going because it’s also a great reminder for us to make sure that we are involved throughout the year and not just during elections. And it helps us get to know each other better so it’s not as odd to reach out to someone to ask for help or get a question answered. Being familiar with each other can only benefit us when we have to work hard together.

I hope that I will be writing about another event that we have as a slate soon. But even if it takes us a while to figure out things, I’m just glad that I got to spend an awesome afternoon with all of these amazing union members and that I got to do more with my slate that isn’t as serious.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged acting, hangout, SAG-AFTRA, union, unite for strength

Another Union Holiday Celebration (or Being Social And Working Social Media)

Posted on December 17, 2019 | Comments Off

One of the holiday parties I try to make it to every year is the SAG-AFTRA party. I haven’t been able to make it every year, but I do make an effort and know that even if I’m not feeling up for it that I will have a great time. I didn’t think I was slacking on sending in my RSVP for the party, but I guess I did because I was originally on the waitlist. I was a little sad that I might not get into the party, but I knew that it was my mistake for not sending it in the day I got it. But the day before the party, I got another email saying I was officially on the list and that improved my day a lot!

I was starting to deal with nausea on the day of the party, but I knew that I needed to go. I wasn’t planning on staying out too late, but I wanted to see my friends and I was excited about that. I arrived at the union early because I knew we would be lining up to get inside. I was in line standing right by the big tree in the lobby and I took advantage of that. I wasn’t feeling like having pictures taken of me, but I wanted to get some good photos of other people to put on my slate’s social media. I have been trying to work on improving the quality of the photos and I knew this tree was a great photo op.

I first got an amazing picture of my friend Shea (who had holiday decorations in his beard) with our union president, Gabrielle Carteris.

Then I realized that with so many of the union leaders being at the party, it was a great opportunity to get a photo of them for our main Instagram page. I usually am posting in our slate’s Instagram stories instead of the page, but I wanted to work on finding something new to post on our feed. And I think this one came out pretty good.

I only realized after I had posted it on all our social media channels that it looks like there are horns coming out of their heads. But fortunately, they found it funny so I was able to leave the photo up and not have to run around to try to take another one.

Once I was inside the party, I got some food to eat and then found a table to sit at with my friends. We didn’t take up all the seats at the table so we got to meet some members that we didn’t know before. Getting time to meet members and talk about how we are involved in the union is one of the great things about social events like this. There were no politics involved, there wasn’t any arguing, and there weren’t any stressful or tense moments like there can be at other union events. This was all about having fun and enjoying ourselves.

I did get one photo taken with some of my friends while I was there, but I really didn’t think about taking any others of me.

I spent most of my time at the party talking to friends of mine, but I did try to also introduce myself to people I didn’t know. But since I wasn’t feeling my best, I knew that I wouldn’t be making the best first impression.

When I was getting ready to leave, my friends said they were headed over to the photo booth area to take some photos. I figured I could wait a bit longer before leaving and went to take some photos with them. But we didn’t expect that there would be such a huge line and that it would move slowly. I’m sure it felt worse for me because of how I was feeling, but after waiting 30 minutes I realized I wasn’t going to make it much longer. Plus, when I’m really nauseous I break out in a sweat and I didn’t want to take a photo like that.

I decided to head home before getting that photo done and it was a little disappointing. But I knew it was for the best for me and my friends understood I wasn’t feeling great. I haven’t seen how the photo turned out yet (they are supposed to be posted online in the next day or so), but I’m sure it would look amazing and I’ll feel a bit sad that I wasn’t in it. But I also remember how relieved I felt when I got home and could work on feeling a bit better.

I was only at the party for about 2 hours, but I feel like I got a lot done. I was able to hang out with a lot of my friends, I got some amazing photos for social media that I really needed, and I got to feel like I did something social when I would have been laying on my couch otherwise. I think that was a big win for me and I’m glad that not only did I get into the party but that I made the choice to go. And I know that when they announce the party next year, I’m going to RSVP right away!

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations, Fun Stuff

Tagged friends, holidays, party, SAG-AFTRA, union

Tag Archives: SAG-AFTRA

Another Successful Livestream (or Fixing Issues And Working On A System)

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You Are The Union (or Finding More Ways To Educate Other Union Members)

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A Virtual Town Hall (or Getting Some Answers About My Industry)

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Lots Of Virtual Meetings (or Virtual Union Meetings)

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Being An Active And Interactive Viewer (or SAG Awards Live-Tweeting)

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Doubling Up On Union Days (or Really Trying My Best To Focus)

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A Fun Union Hangout (or Hopefully This Is The Start Of A New Regular Thing)

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Another Union Holiday Celebration (or Being Social And Working Social Media)

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