Tag Archives: SAG-AFTRA

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

Posted on August 8, 2019 | 1 comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on May 17, 2019 | 2 comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Sharing My Union With A Friend (or Continuing To Be Inspired And Involved)

Posted on May 3, 2019 | Comments Off on Sharing My Union With A Friend (or Continuing To Be Inspired And Involved)

I’ve been a proud member of my union for over 7 years now. I have worked hard to educate myself about union issues and trying to be involved in different aspects of it. I cannot control when I get to work, but I can control what I understand about the union and staying involved. It has given me a sense of control in an out-of-control career path.

I have felt very lucky to be involved with the union the ways that I am and a big part of that was how I started my union involvement. The first event I attended was before I actually joined SAG-AFTRA. I was invited to an event that was supporting the merger of SAG and AFTRA (which were different unions until the merger). I felt a little out of place when I went to the event, but I was so grateful that I went. I met amazing people and learned so much. It was overwhelming, but it helped me learn that being a union actor isn’t just a job title, it is being a part of a bigger movement. And I have tried to keep that idea in my head ever since.

I have always appreciated my friend who brought me to that event before I joined the union and I have wanted to pay it forward ever since. I have tried to bring friends of mine who are eligible to join to the events that are open to non-members when I can. Some of them appreciate learning about the union like I did and some just get bombarded with so much information that they aren’t able to take it in. But I always love when actors who haven’t joined yet come to check things out because that is a big step and it can feel scary.

I was lucky enough to get to bring one of my workout friends to a union related event recently. We are getting ready for election season again and there will be more opportunities to bring new people in to events like this one. I warned my friend that there would be a lot of things said that she wouldn’t get and that she should be prepared to be overwhelmed, but she would also get to meet a lot of amazing people and hopefully she would be inspired a bit by what has been happening within the union lately.

And that’s exactly what happened. She told me after that she was definitely confused at points and I tried to clarify things when I could so she could understand them. But she also got to hear amazing accomplishments that we’ve had in the past year or two and how it will benefit her when she does join (which hopefully will be soon!). And she also did get to meet some of the most incredible people. I hope that I will always have these little “pinch me” moments where I’m shocked that these actors are my peers and that they know me. I had a lot of those moments at this event and my friend really enjoyed getting to meet actors that she knows from film and tv.

And it wasn’t just great watching my friend experience her first union event like how I did so many years ago. I got a lot out of it too. Every time I get to meet with actors who want to be involved in the union and to continue to strengthen it I leave on a high. I feel inspired to do more and a push to make sure other actors understand what is going on with the union. Sometimes it feels like the union is a different entity than the actors who are a part of it, but the union is us and we need to remember that. If we want there to be a change, we are in charge of that.

And of course, I love getting to see people who I don’t always get to see. There are other actors that I only get to see around election season and it’s like a big family reunion. Everyone is so kind and generous. I could go on and on about how I feel so lucky to be a part of a group like this, but it’s going to sound mushy and like I’m under some sort of spell. But that’s honestly how I feel getting to be around these other members. There’s just something magical when you get to be around the people who want to see our union be the best it can be and they really work hard for everyone else.

I will have more and more union events coming up soon because of election season. I will be running with my slate again and I know that there will be events to get the slate together so we can all make sure we know each other and we can coordinate different campaign events. We also still have general union meetings coming up regarding the various contact negotiations (one just ended and another will be starting up soon). I am trying to make it a priority to attend a variety of events so I can be knowledgeable about different issues, but I also don’t want to risk burnout if I do too much. And I know with election season starting that the risk of burnout is high. I just have to find the balance with it just like everything else.

But even with the risk of burnout, I will keep going to events and bringing new people in. And I think getting to see someone else be inspired the same way that I am inspired will also help me not get too overwhelmed and burned out with all the events happening. Getting to watch a friend have the same excitement about things as me really does make me feel even more encouraged to keep doing what I’ve been doing.

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Getting Informed About A Contract (or A Union Meeting Before A Vote)

Posted on April 26, 2019 | 1 comment

The new commercial contract has been something that my union has been working towards for a long time. It’s been a big part of what Union Working has been working on and making sure that we have a great contract. I know that this isn’t important to a lot of people who aren’t actors or in the entertainment industry, but I feel like it does have a much bigger impact than just how actors are paid for commercials. This is about being a strong union and making sure that other recognize the strength of unions.

I wasn’t able to be as involved in things prior to the official negotiations as I would have liked, but I tried my best to do what I could. Even when I couldn’t attend various events, I stayed educated on what was happening and made my best efforts to find out what I could. Many of the meetings I couldn’t attend were confidential events so I couldn’t find out what was discussed. But there were still things that I could learn from others and make sure any concerns I was having could be addressed.

The negotiations for this commercial contract was last month and some of my friends were a part of the negotiation team. They worked really hard in meetings with our negotiation partners making sure they created a contract that was mutually beneficial for all sides. I know the idea of a negotiation might bring up the idea of sides fighting and not working together. But from what I heard it seems like this negotiation was not like that and all sides were working together and making sure everyone was happy before creating a contract that could be made public for everyone to see.

Our contract was officially announced recently (if you would like to see it, the changes to the contract are posted online). It can be a bit overwhelming to read the changes and what everything means, so SAG-AFTRA is having different events around the country so members could learn what everything means and ask questions they may have about what was negotiated. The meeting in Los Angeles was this week and I was so glad I could make it to learn about the new contract.

The meeting was held at the Universal Sheraton, where the convention has been held. It was a bit weird being there again because I was hit with a sense of deja vu. The meeting room we were in was one of the side rooms where breakout sessions were held during the convention and it felt just like I was going to one of those sessions again.

I felt like there was a very good turnout for this meeting. I still wish more members could have made it or wanted to make it, but it was still a full room. I wanted to sit in the back because I had been sitting down all day and wanted to have the option to get up and stretch when I needed to without disturbing other members. But I ended up staying in my seat almost the entire time because I was just so fascinated by all the new and exciting things in our contract.

A big issue for my union has been commercials going non-union, so we have new things in our contract that allow things to be a bit easier for productions to have a union project. We still will have our old options and traditional ways to be paid for work, but now there are also options for buyouts with a lump sum. I know some members were concerned about that idea, but one of the buyouts is such a large buyout that members would hit the minimum income required to be eligible for health insurance with a single commercial! That’s so awesome and I love that I can be 1 commercial away from that eligibility (which I have never made it to). There are other buyout options that are not as much money, but they have limited use of those commercials unless they pay the actors more.

Having these buyout options allow productions to plan for their budgets with fewer variables. Before, they might have had to worry about residuals and hold fees along with the regular pay. Now they have a way to pay a lump sum (which is more than the actors would have made with residuals and hold fees) so they know exactly how much it would cost them. It really is beneficial to both sides as production can have a simple formula for how much it will cost to hire an actor and the actor will make more money!

There are also new options for commercials that are only seen on social media or other online options like YouTube. Those commercials are becoming more common so to have a plan for those is important and necessary. Many of the other changes are protections for the actors like how things can be renegotiated if they want to use the commercial more or to make sure that stunt coordinators are required to be hired on projects that have stunts. All of these changes seem to be great things for us and I feel like they really are moving forward with this contract in a great direction.

After getting the overview of the changes to the contract, it was time for the Q&A. Many members got up asking questions about things that weren’t discussed or to get clarifications about the changes. Because this is a big (but positive) change, it can be confusing. But as things were explained they made more sense to us all. And everyone who was getting up to ask questions seemed very positive about the new contract. I was expecting people to ask questions that implied they were not happy about the changes, but it was nice to see how enthusiastic everyone was. Someone mentioned to me after the meeting that they showed up expecting to be upset and fight about the changes because they had heard rumors about some of the new payment options, but once they heard what they really were they were so excited about it. I loved hearing how positive everyone was feeling about it since that is not always the case.

If you are a member of SAG-AFTRA, please educate yourself about the new commercial contract before voting. There are some people saying things that aren’t accurate and are trying to scare people into thinking some things that aren’t true. I will be voting yes on this contract and do encourage others to do so as I love the changes that have been made. I think this contract really reflects where commercials are now and where they are going in the future. And it is making huge steps into recapturing commercial work into the union.

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Finding More Ways To Help Via Social Media (or Continuing To Share Good Things)

Posted on April 17, 2019 | Comments Off on Finding More Ways To Help Via Social Media (or Continuing To Share Good Things)

One of my monthly challenges a while ago was to share entertainment industry or union related things on social media every day. I’ve been able to keep that up every day and I feel like it has been a very good thing. Not only am I sharing news with the people who follow me on social media, it makes me more aware of what news is happening as well. When I’m going through the various tweets to see which ones I want to share, I have to go through the news as well. I’ve been a big fan of making sure I’m staying educated with my union and this has been a great way to continue that.

My activity on social media hasn’t gone unnoticed. Some groups I’m a part of have used me as an example to others about how you can make a daily habit of sharing news online. I get a bit embarrassed when that happens, but I’m also proud that I am able to set a good example. I never did this to make others do it as well, but the more people who can educated themselves and others about what is going on the better.

It was also noticed by the slate that I am a part of for the SAG-AFTRA elections. They have had different people running their social media from time to time, but they needed a new person and asked me if I’d like to do it. I was so honored that they asked me and of course I said yes! It’s been a bit of a learning curve to find exactly how we want to represent the slate on social media, but everyone is going through the same thing so the expectations are similar among us all. I hope that as we get closer to election season that it will be easier to know what are the right things to post and be able to have a unified message.

I want to make our slate’s social media feed a great resource for other actors. I have so many Twitter accounts that I follow to use when I share news every day. I want the same for our account. I do try to repost things on that account that I would use on my own and then retweet it from the slate’s account. And I post original content as well too. Everyone with the slate knows that this isn’t a paid or regular job so they don’t expect me to be posting all the time. But I try to do is when major news happens so we can share what is current.

And through being active myself as well as doing work for my slate, I’ve had people come to me asking for help with their social media. I’m in no way an expert (and there are experts as a part of my slate) but I’m always happy to help however I can. Usually it’s pretty simple work like showing how to use Twitter or Instagram and I’m able to keep it very basic. That’s all they need and I don’t want to overwhelm them with all the amazing things you can do besides just posting. Hopefully they all find it easy enough to do and eventually they can start doing more advanced things because I know how much they will benefit from them. But when I’m helping someone start out, I have to remember that if they get overwhelmed that they aren’t likely to use the basic things.

I know that social media isn’t everything and educating myself and other about union issues should also be done in person, but it’s a big part of the picture. Our union and industry are all over the world and social media is a great way to connect myself to others and visa versa. It’s a very quick way to spread the news when big things happen and to make sure that other people are aware of things that might affect their career. And the good thing about doing all this union/industry related social media work is that it about sharing good things. Not all news is good news like when there are strikes or things that affect the industry. But being aware of even the negative things is a good thing.

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Forgetting To Document Some Things (or Focusing On Being In The Now)

Posted on March 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Forgetting To Document Some Things (or Focusing On Being In The Now)

With all the technology we have available to us, it’s so easy to document things that we experience. We can take photos and videos of everything we see to share or remember them by. And since we aren’t restricted by using up film we can take photos of things that we don’t care about that much or take dozens of photos to make sure we get the right image. And of course, there are endless ways we can share those photos too.

I’m totally someone who can be obsessed with getting the right photos. My friends know when we go to Wood & Vine that they can’t take a bite until I get the perfect picture to share on here. They know that sometimes I’ll ask them to move their cup or something else on the table so I get the perfect shot. I think they find it a bit funny, but I’m grateful they indulge me in doing it. And I take photos of so much in my life. Sometimes it’s for adding to a post on here and sometimes it’s just for me. I like having something to refer to when I want to remember something. If I don’t have the photo, it’s easy for me to forget the details.

But there are more and more articles coming out lately about how we are living our lives through our phones or cameras. We aren’t experiencing what’s in front of us because we want to have the perfect Instagram photo to share later. I know I’ve done this with a few things in the past and I’m embarrassed how my memories are about me watching through my phone while getting a photo and not just experience what happened. While I love the photos to refer to later, they aren’t the most important thing for me.

I haven’t necessarily been making an effort to take fewer photos or to not experience things through my phone, but this week I had 2 things that I usually would document with lots of photos that I actually have no photos for at all.

First, I had my hair done this week. Getting my hair done isn’t a huge experience, but it had been too long since the last time. If I had the money, I would get my hair done every 6-8 weeks. Because of my financial situation now, I have to keep stretching it out longer and longer. This time wasn’t as bad as it was just under 4 months since the last time I had my hair done, but it was definitely needed. My hair was looking scraggily and my color was looking faded and my grays were taking over. I usually love taking a before and after photo to see how much of a difference a fresh haircut and color could make.

I didn’t think at all about doing a before photo. I actually didn’t realize I didn’t take one until the day after my hair was done when I was thinking about if I took an after photo. That’s when I thought about how I didn’t have a before photo so there’s no need for an after one to show off the difference. I like sharing the before and after photos and I know my friend who does my hair likes to share them to promote her business, but I just didn’t think about doing it this time. I’m sure I’ll do it next time, but it was nice to see that I didn’t even consider doing one this time.

I also went to a NextGen Performers mixer earlier this week. The mixers are so much fun because they are just a time to gather and hang out. They always have food for us and people are just talking and not worried about too much. It’s basically like a party with my friends. I have noticed that lately I’m not recognizing as many people at these mixers, but I still have a lot of friends there and I always try to spend time with them catching up.

I don’t always take photos of those events (I take more photos at the informative events since I take photos of the slides to save the information I want to have), but I do get photos with my friends from time to time there. Since sometimes it’s the only time I get to see certain friends for a while, it’s nice to have a photo together. This mixer was just like many of the others that I had attended, except I never thought about taking photos of the event or with my friends. I wasn’t always focused on the mixer, but documenting it wasn’t something that came to me. Even with knowing I’d want to probably blog about it, I didn’t have the thought I should get a photo for the post.

I’m sure there will still be so many times in my life that I live through a phone or a camera, but it is something I will probably be more conscious about. I need to remember that I don’t have to have proof of everything I have done and that sometimes it’s better to not have those photos but to instead have memories of things that might not be able to be captured in a photo or video.

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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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A Donation Drop-Off (or Grateful I Can Help A Little)

Posted on January 31, 2019 | Comments Off on A Donation Drop-Off (or Grateful I Can Help A Little)

I’ve personally donated to My Friend’s Place whenever I have something to donate. I also have encouraged friends of mine to donate there as well since it is such an incredible organization. I know a lot of people don’t really think about where they donate items and what may be done with them, that idea never sat right with me. So once I learned about My Friend’s Place I knew it would be where I would be doing my donating from that moment on.

I don’t always have a lot of things to donate and I always wish I could help out more. But I know that one thing I can do to help out is to share information and make sure other people know about the charity. And that’s exactly what I was able to do at the SAG-AFTRA Convention when I went for the first time in 2015. Another member mentioned donating hotel toiletries to charity and that they would be finding a place to donate them to later. I was able to suggest My Friend’s Place and that’s where we have done our donations for the past 2 conventions.

I assumed the next time I would be going over there with a SAG-AFTRA donation would be after the convention in the fall. I might have been there sooner with donations on my own, but I didn’t think there would be anything from the union. But fortunately I was wrong.

When the National Board members meet, many members have to travel for the meetings. The suggestion about donations came up at the meeting and my friend Ellen (who is on the board) collected these items and asked me if I wanted to go with her to drop off the donation. Of course I said I would love too because I want to help in any way that I can. I didn’t help with the collection, but assisting is good enough for me.

Before we met to do the drop-off, I went around my house to see if there was anything I had that I could donate. I did find some random toiletries that I got in different swag bags that I knew I wouldn’t be using. I also had some food I got in a Secret Santa exchange that I didn’t need. I would rather donate them to a place that needs them if I don’t feel like I had to have them. I filled a paper bag with the items I had and drove to Hollywood to meet up with Ellen.

She had a box full of amazing things to donate. Besides the regular toiletries that I knew she had collected, she had health items that were leftover from the union health fair. I know that My Friend’s Place always needs a variety of items and if they can’t use them they know so many other places that could. And since they provide services for free to the youth that come in, I am happy to give them whatever we can since I know they won’t be sold or wasted.

I wish that I had been more involved in helping with these donations this time, but I know that I have limited involvement right now with the union. I don’t attend board meetings so I can’t make the suggestion to collect items. But I am so grateful that Ellen is as passionate about this as I am and she makes sure that people know what we want to do.

Election season for the union is about to begin and I’m hoping I’ll be elected as a delegate again. Of course, I want to be at the convention so I can vote on the issues and represent my fellow actors. But I also want to see what I can do to encourage other members to donate what they can so we have a huge collection to drop off at the end of the year.

One day, I’d love to have the money to buy all the things I know they need because many of them are things that aren’t as easily donated as toiletries (like new socks and undergarments). Right now, that’s not an option for me but it is a dream of mine. But for now, I help out in whatever way I can and whenever I have the opportunity to do so. And I know that doing that is better than doing nothing.

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