Tag Archives: union

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on August 8, 2019 | 1 comment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on July 12, 2019 | 2 comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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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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