Arizona Branch President’s Message

By Mark DeMichele

First, let me say thank you to the Arizona membership for participating in the last election. I will readily admit that I was surprised by the outcome, but I will attempt to serve the membership as well as we have been served for the past 14 years by my predecessor, Lucky Hayes.

Looking forward, the council and I are examining ways to improve our service to the Arizona membership, and the best way to do that is with your input. Please feel free to contact me or any of the council members through our executive, Don Livesay, at (480) 264-7696. We are all interested in serving the Arizona acting community, and with guidance from our members, we ultimately will have the kind of union that the membership wants.

A dialogue I would like to begin is: how do we identify ourselves as professional performers? I ask because of an exchange that occurred at our membership meeting this past September.

Our featured speaker, casting director Darlene Wyatt, made the point that outside casting directors often look at an Arizona actor’s stage credits and encouraged us to practice our craft “on the boards” while waiting for the next film, commercial or TV movie. A SAG member then complained that a theatre wanted to cast him but “the stipend wasn’t sufficient enough.” After checking the facts, I found that the theatre in question was a signatory to an Actors Equity contract offering a weekly salary, pension and health credits, and housing for out-of-town artists. It turns out that our complaining member had never taken advantage of the opportunity to join a sister union. In the producer’s eyes, this actor was auditioning as a non-professional or amateur and as such ineligible for the weekly salary or housing. While it is certainly an Arizona SAG member’s right to audition in such a capacity, how then can one complain that the compensation is insufficient?

We are professionals. If we do not present ourselves as professionals, we do a disservice to ourselves as well as to the professional acting community in Arizona.

In my mind, an actor is an actor. If SAG members insist they be treated as equal to, rather than less than, an Equity actor, then all professional performers in the state will benefit. If Equity members would insist on the same treatment as SAG actors when they audition for film/TV, again, all professional performers in the state will benefit.

It is a question of what do WE want to achieve?

Hayes and Marsh Chosen to Fill Vacant Council Seats

At its meeting of September 26, the Arizona Branch Council, acting in accordance with Branch Rules of Procedure, elected Lucky Hayes to fill the remaining one year left on Mark DeMichele’s term as vice president, Northern Arizona. DeMichele stepped down in order to begin his duties as Branch president. Kyle Marsh was selected to serve as council member at large, Northern Arizona, a seat left vacant by the death of Elayne Stein. Marsh will serve the remaining year of the term. Both Hayes and Marsh were elected by unanimous vote. Both have served faithfully in elected leadership for many years, and we wish them our very best as they return to active leadership on the council.

OPO - A Little Known Key to Jobs

Have you ever been told by a producer that he would love to hire members of the Guild but that it's just too expensive? You might have pointed him to SAGindie for a look at the special contracts we have for low budget films.

But what if he is not producing films, but local commercials or industrials?

AFTRA and SAG in Arizona provide a contract for commercials that are produced in and played in the state. It is called the Arizona Regional Commercials Contract, and it includes rates that are discounted and geared to our market. It was designed specifically to give an incentive to local producers to hire union members who make Arizona their home.

But there's more. This contract and the Industrial Educational Contract are available on a one-production-only basis. Let's say a producer wants to hire SAG members, but his budgets don't always allow a full commitment for the full term of our agreements. In most instances, we can help him by way of the One Production Only Agreement, or OPO. This arrangement permits our members to experience full union protection for a job, including SAG-Producers Pension & Health Plan credits, while allowing producers who wouldn't ordinarily be able to afford it a chance to hire our people.

The OPO is limited to programs produced under the Industrial & Educational Contract and to commercials produced under the Arizona Regional Commercials Contract. It might be a key to opening a door for work that you might be missing out on. Use it when you can. Call the office. And when producers say SAG is too expensive, point them in our direction. We can be reached at (480) 264-7696, (800) 724-0767, ext. 7, or by e-mail at dlivesay@sag.org.

For a summary of the Industrial & Educational Contract and a rate sheet, click here. For a list of the most frequently used rates for the Arizona Regional Commercials Contract, click here.