The Original Website of Screen Actors Guild
Puerto Rico 2011:05
Welcome to the inaugural bilingual edition of Puerto Rico Report.
Bienvenidos a la edición inaugural bilingüe del Puerto Rico Report (en español).
This bilingual quarterly e-newsletter gives you news and information about Screen Actors Guild members and activities in Puerto Rico. If you have any comments or suggestions with regard to Puerto Rico Report, please contact South Region Director Leslie Krensky at (800) SAG-0767, option 5, ext. 7077, or email leslie.krensky@sag.org. We welcome your input.
Executive Director's Report
Leslie L. Krensky
South Region Director and Florida Executive Director
With the passage of improved production incentives in Puerto Rico, we are anticipating exciting new developments in the industry on the island. This seems to be the perfect time to initiate an electronic newsletter specifically geared toward you, our members in Puerto Rico, and your concerns and interests. We are also very pleased that this publication will be the first and only fully bilingual newsletter for Screen Actors Guild members.
As we plan for future issues, we are looking for feedback as to the types of information and articles you would like to see in the Puerto Rico Report. So please drop me a note at leslie.krensky@sag.org as to what you liked about this issue and what you would like to see in future editions.
The initiation of this newsletter is one step in a multifaceted plan to increase our outreach to members and other performers and the industry in general in Puerto Rico. I look forward to hearing from you and working together.
From left, Chaim Kantor, Eastern Regional director, IATSE Local 600; Scott Harbinson, IATSE international representative; Vincent Galindez, Eastern Region business representative, IATSE Local 600; Josivan Rojas, transportation coordinator; Rosi Acosta, UPM/producer; Carlina Rodriguez, SAG director Spanish language organizing; Belly Torres, executive production coordinator Pimienta Corp.; Jackie Gadea, SAG business representative; David Fazekas, South Region executive; and Luillo Ruiz, producer, Pimienta Corp.
From left, unidentified guest, SAG member Dr. Jackie Bigas, Grace Connelly, Alfonso Ortiz and SAG member Laura Surillo at Guild-sponsored industry mixer. Photo by David Fazekas.
SAG Staff Visits Puerto Rico
Exciting news is buzzing in the Isla del Encanto (Island of Enchantment) this season. The Puerto Rican Government has just instituted major enhancements to its incentive legislation and there is an expectation of increased production of film and television projects and commercials on the island. In anticipation of passage of this legislation, SAG staff Carlina Rodríguez, director, Spanish language organizing; David Fazekas, South Region executive; and Jackie Gadea, business representative, visited Puerto Rico in late February.
In conjunction with staff from IATSE International, Locals 600 and 494, as well as resident professionals including attorneys, payroll representatives and producers, SAG participated in a day-long panel discussion to promote awareness of contractual terms for each union. Divided into two sessions, the morning was targeted towards aspiring student filmmakers and the afternoon was dedicated to SAG members, other performers and industry professionals. The day was capped off by a mixer sponsored by the Guild.
“For the first time in decades, the film industry in Puerto Rico is closer than ever and moving forward together toward the creation of a self-sufficient industry with the support and help of the unions,” commented Rosi Acosta, local unit production manager.
SAG member Grace Connelly commented that “it was truly an uplifting experience to see all the different groups that compose our industry come together in a spirit of cooperation for the advancement of everyone in our field."
During the visit, various meetings were held with local producers interested in producing under a SAG contract, and an outreach effort was made to the Asociación de Agencias Publicitarias de Puerto Rico (Association of Advertising Agencies of Puerto Rico) to open the door for future commercial organizing opportunities.
“It is clear that runaway Spanish language commercial production is not only a problem in the States but also in Puerto Rico. We want to work with the local production community to develop a strategy to compliment the incentives offered to commercial producers and advocate for the employment of our members on the island,” said Rodriguez.
Plans are underway for a return trip later this year to continue our organizing and educational outreach. Please watch your inbox for future announcements.
Film students with SAG member Myrta Rivera, right, at workshops. Photo by David Fazekas.
National Spanish Language Media Task Force
The Screen Actors Guild National Spanish Language Media Task Force is made up of a group of professional actors, SAG members who dedicate their efforts to the Spanish-speaking acting community in the United States and Puerto Rico. They understand the challenges and realities our members and Spanish-speaking performers face daily throughout their careers. The members work to find possible solutions, promote new work opportunities and improve our working conditions.
Today, 30 members nationwide from Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Puerto Rico work together with staff to strengthen our organizing and outreach mission: to keep their voices heard in their own language.
To achieve this goal, they need the support and participation of all our members. Together, you can continue to cultivate this ever-expanding industry and continue to develop and promote new work opportunities for our very talented actors who work in Spanish language in the United States, which benefits all SAG members.
For more information on the work of the task force or how you can get involved, please contact Carlina Rodríguez, director Spanish Language Organizing and NSLMTF staff liaision at carodriguez@sag.org or (305) 670-7677 ext. 7076, or Marlena Fitzpatrick-García, manager, organizing at mfgarcia@sag.org or (212) 827-1505.
From a Puerto Rico member of SAG’s National Spanish Language Media Task Force:
As a member of SAG’s National Spanish Language Media Task Force representing Puerto Rico and a proud SAG member since 1979, I was thrilled to hear the voices of my fellow actors from many regions in the United States come together on the first conference call back in 2007. Although to this day we have not had the pleasure of meeting personally, our solidarity and engagement to work together for the benefit of our fellow members always comes through in our voices.
It was an honor at one of our recent meetings to announce the great achievement of fellow member and Puerto Rican author, Miluka Rivera, who compiled the first book of outstanding Latino actors in Hollywood, Legado Puertorriqueño en Hollywood, Famosos y Olvidados. At the unveiling of her book in Ponce, I was reassured of the bright future we all have as SAG members and actors, but was reminded of my first experience as an actor in New York. The carefree feeling I felt of walking on set under the watchful eye of the Guild was something I took for granted.
Little did I know that soon I would return to San Juan and work outside of the “traditional” SAG governed jurisdiction. The carefree days were over! Negotiating with unjust agents, auditioning under disrespectful, hazardous conditions and having to struggle to collect a check for work rendered and lack of work were common. Calling SAG for guidance and direction seemed slow and led me to discontinue my career as an actor. As the film industry began to gain momentum on the island, I, along with a group of local SAG actors, reached out and found guidance and support through the SAG Miami office.
Under the leadership of the great Miami staff and Carlina Rodriguez, director of Spanish language organizing and liaison to our task force, our challenges and issues are being promptly sorted out and resolved. Through their commitment and resolve, for the first time in our film careers, we the SAG actors on the island feel part of the protective umbrella of our union. I am glad to claim back my career!
This group of dedicated SAG members and volunteers will soon come together to continue to work designing strategies that best address the specific needs of SAG members in Puerto Rico and the advancement of our goals.
I ask you to join me in an exercise of patience and solidarity so that future generations will be able to experience their first day on set with only one thing in mind; performing their role to the best of their capacity, knowing that everything else will be taken care of by their union.
We are embarking toward a solid future. Join us!
Truly,
Grace Connelly
Why I Wrote Puerto Rican Legacy in Hollywood: Famous and Forgotten
By Miluka Rivera
In spite of the significant contributions of Latinos and Puerto Ricans in the film and television industry, they have been mostly unnoticed and ignored by many non-Latino film historians.
Through my long journey as a journalist that started in the '80s, I began to discover the enormous contributions of Latinos in the industry. Through my interviews throughout the years with legendary Puerto Ricans, I realized the need to rescue the history of these stars. As I got deeper into my research, I discovered that the participation of Puerto Ricans began in 1899, during the infancy of the moving image and pre-silent era in New York. This evidence, never before presented, confirms and grants the right to include Puerto Ricans as cofounders of North American cinema.
During the silent and moving image era, Hollywood producers used the beautiful landscapes of the island. In addition, legendary filmmakers such as Cecil B. DeMille and Pare Lorentz, among others, experimented and developed their talents in the southern part of Puerto Rico.
Many actors who started their careers on Broadway during the 1920s achieved success in cinema, such as the Puerto Rican pioneer Juano Hernández, who opened doors for many African-American actors, including Sidney Poitier. Actress Olga San Juan, along with Dolores del Rio and Rita Hayworth, was one of three Latina stars who sang and danced with Fred Astaire in the 1940s. In 1951, José Ferrer received the first Oscar by a Latino for his outstanding performance as best actor in Cyrano de Bergerac. Rita Moreno was the first Latina actress to win an Academy Award as best supporting actress in West Side Story (1964), and in 2001, Benicio del Toro became the second Latino and first Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award for best supporting actor (Anthony Quinn won twice as best supporting actor in the 1950s).
It is the duty of every generation to contribute to the next. How do we continue the legacy?
Olga San Juan confessed that actress Mapy Cortés inspired her career. Jennifer López said Rita Moreno was her inspiration and Jimmy Smits declared that Raúl Juliá influenced his acting career.
Actors like Marc Anthony, Benicio del Toro, Jennifer López and Jimmy Smits have worked as executive producers of various productions, some shot in Puerto Rico and some under SAG contract. Taking advantage of the boom that the film industry of Puerto Rico has experienced from the incentives and the 40-percent tax credit, Anthony and López are planning the development of a film studio.
The 40-percent tax credit recently adopted by the Puerto Rico Legislature also applies to the production of television commercials. Prior to its adoption, Screen Actors Guild President Ken Howard sent a letter in support of this initiative. About two years ago, this author and Carlina Rodríguez, SAG’s director of Spanish language organizing, visited Rep. José Chico Vega and the Puerto Rican Film Commission on the island. The purpose of our visit to them was to promote the idea of making the tax credit also available to television commercial producers to attract commercial productions that we had lost, and to gain new ones, thereby increasing employment for local SAG actors in Puerto Rico. We are delighted that the 40-percent tax credit has found support among the legislators, and we applaud their approval.
Puerto Rico has the resources and potential to become the film center of the Caribbean, and it can count on SAG’s support in the continued development of its infrastructure.
For more information about the book Puerto Rican Legacy in Hollywood: Famous and Forgotten please visit: www.legadopuertorriquenohollywood.com.
Have questions or comments about the Puerto Rico Report? Write leslie.krensky@sag.org.
