SAG-AFTRA San Francisco-Northern California Local Newsletter - Summer 2014

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

SUMMER 2014

CA Film Incentive

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Broadcast Notes

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Committee Reports

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President’s Report

Membership Mtg. Recap

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Kathryn Howell

Member Commentary

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Photo Gallery

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New Members/Transfers

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Greetings, members. Pardon my brevity. As we put the finishing touches on this newsletter, I am in Los Angeles for the negotiations of the SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Contract. I am honored to have been asked by President Ken Howard to serve on the committee as one of four committee members representing the members outside of L.A. and N.Y. I want you all to know that I now have an official SAG-AFTRA email address! Of course staff can answer all your contract questions, but if you would like to drop a note with an idea or suggestion, please do so. sanfrancisco.president@sagaftra.org

SAG-AFTRA SAN FRANCISCO-

Enjoy your newsletter! Particularly, make sure you read Mobilizing Around California Film Incentives below.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA LOCAL

Mobilizing Around California Film Incentives

350 SANSOME STREET,SUITE 900 SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104 P:(415) 391-7510

Many of you have already felt the devastating impact of lost jobs due to the overwhelming decline in film production in the Bay Area and all of California.

FX:(415)391-1108

sf@sagaftra.org SAGAFTRA.ORG/SF Facebook

EDITOR: Len Egert DESIGN: Vicki Balich

California Assembly Bill 1839, the Expanded Film and Television Job Creation Act, is working its way through our state Legislature, but is by no means a done deal. We need your support to really demonstrate — especially to Northern California legislators — that we all need this bill to pass, that this is not just a “gift to Hollywood.” In fact, AB 1839 includes a 5-percent bump for production outside of Los Angeles.

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The California film incentives program is one of the state’s most effective and proven economic development tools. Since its inception in 2009, it has generated more than 50,000 solid, middle-class jobs, $247.7 million in state and local tax revenues and $4.7 billion in direct spending. The film industry in California has historically been a boon for local communities in every region. Recently, a production of the film Chasing Mavericks generated $1.4 million in local spending in San Mateo. In Oakland, Moneyball generated more than $1.7 million in local spending.

We need your help to save film and television production jobs and jobs directly impacted by film production. We need to demonstrate to our representatives and the governor the urgency and importance of this bill.

So what can you do?

Step 1: Sign the petition and then share this link with your friends, family, contacts and everyone who will benefit.

Step 2: Join us on Saturday, June 14 at 10 a.m.-noon at the Fairmont San Francisco for the Northern California Rally for Film Incentives. We’re holding this event along with a coalition of labor unions, trade organizations, city officials, and small and large businesses. Danny Glover will be our keynote speaker. The purpose of this event is twofold: to visibly demonstrate large support for the bill and to train you all to continue to be advocates so we can make sure this gets passed. As an extra incentive, there will be raffle prizes. This event is crucial in our fight to support film jobs in Northern California.

Please RSVP to Lauren Renaud. For more information on the event, click here.

Step 3: Like our Facebook page for updates on the event and the bill.

Step 4: If you would like to be more involved in this ongoing campaign, please contact Lauren Renaud our organizer at (415) 874-4961.

We look forward to seeing everyone June 14!

SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE to members in good standing: John L. Dales Scholarship Fund - SAG Foundation George Heller Memorial Scholarship Fund - AFTRA Foundation Union Plus Scholarships - AFL-CIO

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BROADCAST NOTES

KOIT and KBLX (Entercom) - We are excited to report that SAG-AFTRA has just reached a tentative agreement with Entercom for the talent working at these two Bay Area radio stations. After SAG-AFTRA and KOIT members initiated a “Save Local Radio” social media campaign, the company finally — after over a year of bargaining — agreed to compromise on certain significant issues. The members remained engaged and involved in these negotiations despite adversity. Highlights of the deal include 2-percent increases on a wage escalator for those currently working at the stations, agreement for additional compensation prior to reuse of programming material Sterling James of KBLX outside of the market, payment for reuse of material post-termination, improvements on severance beyond company policy and increasing part-timer rates of pay. The company also agreed to insert standard provisions (i.e. union security, grievance and arbitration) in the initial terms that previously applied to the KBLX unit. If ratified, this will represent a first contract with Entercom for both KOIT and KBLX after the company unilaterally implemented terms on KOIT in 2010 and imposed initial terms on KBLX in 2012.

Women of KOIT: Sue Hall, Charly Kayle & Teri King

KDTV (Univision) - The nine anchors, reporters and hosts at the San Francisco-based Univision station pulled together to achieve significant improvements in their collective bargaining agreement.

Highlights of this agreement include 3-percent increases to salaries (scale and above scale) each year for three years, $750 initial bonus; increased severance from 1.5 weeks per year of service to two weeks per year of service and increased cap from 30 to 40 weeks; Doubled annual clothing and makeup allowance (now includes part-timers); and an increase in annual reuse payment from $1,800 per year to $2,000 per year. This group also gained significant multimedia journalist terms that were close to our initial proposals, including 20-percent premium pay when performing such duties, no solo live shots, restrictions to one shooting assignment per day and no driving microwave trucks for staff hired prior to 2013.

KQED-TV (Public Television) - Members working under the terms of a recently negotiated 2½-year tentative agreement, which runs through the end of December 2016, include the host and correspondent for locally produced KQED Newsroom as well as multiple hosts on various entertainment programs. Highlights of this new agreement include wage increases of 2 percent in each year of the contract for program fees, station breaks and fundraising spots, pledge hosts, guest appearances, prerecorded inserts and specialty acts. Significantly, the unit also achieved a 2-percent increase in AFTRA H&R contributions over the term and increased wardrobe and late fee payments.

BROADCAST NOTES

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Farewell Bud Elliott The SAG-AFTRA San Francisco-Northern California Local would like to send congratulations to Bud Elliot upon his well-earned retirement.

KSEE photo

Over his 49 years in broadcasting, Bud earned many awards, including an Emmy and several Associated Press and Radio Television Digital News Association awards. In May of last year, his four-part series on the California water crisis earned him recognition from the Fresno County Farm Bureau. Throughout his career, he covered many stories, including interviewing four presidents.

After he began his career as news director at KHOW radio in Denver, Bud moved on to anchor the news at CNN2, which later became CNN Headline News. Bud then spent more than two decades at KSEE-24 in Fresno.

Bud looks forward to using his retirement to work on some household projects and to travel, including getting up to Sacramento to see his new grandson. Bud has written five screenplays and is thinking of turning one of them into a novel.

Commercial Upswing Many of our members may be unaware that a significant portion of SAG-AFTRA work in our area is from television commercials. We have seen an upswing in the past few months in commercial production, which is employing a healthy number of our members, both principal and background performers.

Commercials produced in April and May in the San Francisco-Northern California area include Allstate, the California Lottery, Ford, GMC, Kaiser Permanente, Lincoln, Northern California Toyota Dealers, Pepsi, Timbuk2, Toyota, Wells Fargo and others.

When advertisers and agencies know they can find local talent, they will continue to want to produce their commercials here. Let’s keep up the professionalism as we look forward to these companies coming back, as well as others coming to shoot in our beautiful area!

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COMMITTEE REPORTS SAG Foundation PencilPALS Get Students Excited About Writing Do you remember what it feels like to receive a handwritten letter in the mail? Not a card or an email, but an actual letter. Think about that for a moment.

Writing letters may be a lost art, but the Screen Actors Guild Foundation has an innovative program that supports literacy through letter-writing: PencilPALS. If you have been interested in BookPALS but don’t have the time to commit to a regular weekly read aloud, PencilPALS may be perfect for you.

PencilPALS are performing artists who take the time to write letters regularly to children in public school classrooms. Many of us remember what it’s like to receive letters, but 21 st century children may never have received a handwritten letter in their lives. The program is simple: Volunteers (SAG-AFTRA members, BookPALS, performing artists or writers) are paired with students and correspond throughout the school year. A questionnaire generates ideas for the first couple of letters, and after that, PencilPALS are off to the races!

Why PencilPALS? The act of handwriting has been proven to be far more beneficial to developing literacy skills than typing. Cognitive-motor links are stimulated, aiding memory and helping the brain develop. But that’s not all: As Natalie Rogers (Florida BookPALS chapter) writes, “There is that undeniable charm in receiving a handwritten letter in the mailbox. It is a treat and a treasure unparalleled by any other form of communication. Letters make these kids think and feel. And the feeling is mutually rewarding among volunteers. Writing programs are critical in this age of emailing and texting, when students have fewer and fewer opportunities to chronicle their experiences in thoughtful, polished prose. PencilPALS aren’t just reviving the lost art of letter-writing, they are nurturing vital communication skills and, in their own unique way, preserving the art of humanity.”

If you are interested in learning more about PencilPALS, please contact Lynne Maes, SF BookPALS program coordinator, at (510) 717-3688.

KIDS ON CAMERA Young performers are an important and special part of the acting community. Because they are dependent upon adults to make decisions for them, we want those adults to be well informed about their options and rights as they guide their minor children in pursuing an acting career. One of the ways in which the San Francisco-Northern California Local supports education for our young performers is by participating twice a year at parent workshops at the Kids On Camera TV and film acting school in the Bay Area. Janice Goto, our business rep for commercials, explains to interested parents what it means to be a member of SAG-AFTRA as well as the ins and outs of the business.

After the last workshop, parents and guardians said they could better appreciate the importance the union has, not only in the value and prestige of their child’s career, but in their protection as well.

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Membership Meeting Recap Members and staff of the San Francisco-Northern California Local met at the Marriott Union Square for the spring membership meeting.

Our April membership meeting started out with a California Film Incentive Member Mobilization event. We dedicated this portion of the meeting to discussing AB 1839, the critical bill currently at play in Sacramento to increase the California film tax incentive program. We heard about this effort from three key speakers: Stacey Travis, SAG-AFTRA member and L.A. Government Affairs Committee chair; Kat Landsberg, producer of HBO’s Looking; and Susannah Greason Robbins, executive director of the San Francisco Film Commission. Kerri Wood Einertson from SAG-AFTRA’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Department also spoke about the legislation.

AB 1839 passed the state Assembly unanimously in May, and it now moves into the Senate, then ultimately lands on the governor’s desk in September.

To recap, our current film tax incentive program has $100 million dollars of credits available by lottery — and this money is gone on day one. States with greater tax incentives are flush with film productions because film incentives mean jobs — thousands of jobs — for all those who work on film and TV productions. There has not been a dollar amount assigned to the bill yet; that is coming soon. AB 1839 includes big-budget films, television series, music scoring, recording and editing. The key component for the Bay Area is that there will be a 5-percent bump in tax credits for productions made outside of L.A. SAG-AFTRA continues to work with our industry and coalition partners to advocate for a stronger and expanded film tax credit program in California. We know the credit works, we’ve seen it work and we’re committed to getting the word out. Our state needs a stronger program and we are asking all of our California members to get involved.

You can help immediately by signing the online petition and by attending the June 14 rally at the Fairmont Hotel at 10 a.m.

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated. We hope to see you again at our next membership meeting in the fall.

Kat Landsberg, producer of Looking, explained the genesis of the show and was gracious enough to present an episode of the show. Looking has been picked up for a second season.

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MEMBER COMMENTARY

The Incredible Invisible Woman

By Chas Halpern Cate Blanchett steps on the stage to receive her Oscar award and announces, “The world is round, people!” What was she talking about? The obvious fact that moviegoers are ready for intelligent films about women over 40 — and the equally obvious fact that those films can make money.

Why is this obvious? Partly because of the success of Blue Jasmine and other films like Philomena and Enough Said, but also because the demographic trends are clear: MPAA statistics show that 52 percent of moviegoers are women and moviegoers are trending older.

Yet Hollywood has seen fit to all but erase the stories of older women. A study by the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California revealed that only 28 percent of speaking roles in major films went to women, and only 23 percent of those roles went to women over the age of 40. That means only 6 percent of speaking roles were written for women over 40. The number of leading roles for women over 40 was only a small fraction of that 6 percent.

Women over 40 are indeed the invisible demographic. Their stories are only rarely being told and usually only in films that are financed independently.

That’s why I decided to develop an independent feature with a fully developed, nuanced lead role for a woman approaching 50. It’s time for independent filmmakers to step up and fill the gender and age void that Hollywood has created. And there’s a big bonus for anyone who does: the incredible wealth of talented actresses over 40 who are looking for interesting, substantial roles.

Chas Halpern, a SAG-AFTRA member, is developing a dramatic comedy called Positive .

The SAG-AFTRA San Francisco-Northern California Local will be closed in observance of the following holidays: Independence Day

July 4

Labor Day

half-day early closure Aug. 29 & Sept. 1

Veterans Day

Nov. 11

Thanksgiving

half-day early closure Nov. 26 & Nov. 27-28

Winter Holiday

Dec. 24-25

New Year’s Eve

Dec. 31

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Photo Gallery Spring Membership Meeting - April 14 Keynote Speakers

Kerri Wood Einertson

Stacey Travis

Susannah Greason Robbins

Members in attendance

Kat Landsberg

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Conservatory Photo Gallery Jewels Aguirre

Cassandra Chamberlain

Vocal Techniques - May 17

Audition for Comedy - May 27

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Since 1962, ASFCU has stood side by side with members like you as a provider of benefits, from auto and home loans, to custom savings plans, Coogan accounts, Young Performer and Teen Access accounts, investments, retirement and estate planning.

You’re in Good Company The perks of AFTRA-SAG Federal Credit Union membership are reserved for a very select group; professionals in the business of entertaining and informing the world. Perhaps the biggest advantage ASFCU offers is that membership gives you an ownership interest in the credit union. Unlike traditional “for profit” banking institutions, profits earned at ASFCU are returned to you in the form of better rates, better products, better benefits.

Services are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Questions must be handled by the providers. SAG-AFTRA does not endorse any of these services.

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San Francisco-Northern California Local Welcomes New Members & Transfers February 1, to May 30, 2014

Ayers, J.D. Cannedy, Vance Cardea, Diane Coletta, John Crump-Shears, Marjorie Deesiac, Afro Ditto, Frank Dorff, Martina Clarin Easton, John C Emmanuel, Adrian Fenske, Nick Fuentes, Emilio Galleron, Paula Haas, Courtney Halsing, Buzz Harmon, Deidre Harvey, Debra Y Jenkins, Vegas John Koponen, Andrew Leland, Travis MacLachlan, Rashaan

Makarov, Dmitri McGraw, Madeline Michael, Tony Miller, Jon W Osgood, Kassim Palmer, Nic Quine, Melissa Ramm, Leandra Roman, Christian Salaam, Shareef Scarabosio, Christopher William Schoenthal, Juliet Slater, Timothy A. Sprinkle, Charles Tringali, Anthony Tyler, Courtney Ward, Clint Wilson, Tiffany Woodrow, Melanie Yu, Betty Zellers, Jim

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