A Day of #AdsGoUnion Outreach

On Feb. 24, the #AdsGoUnion team had a doubleheader day of educational outreach.

In the morning, members and #AdsGoUnion leaders Molly Camp and Aaron Serotsky and staff commercials organizer Adam Green met with two dozen students from Tom Todoroff Studios to get into the nitty-gritty on commercials and let them know what potentially awaits them as performers following graduation.

An enthusiastic two-hour question-and-answer session covered the benefits of union work, like higher salaries, pension and health contributions, and safety on union sets; how staff helps to protect members and reinforce union contracts; and the potential of exploitation in non-union commercial work. Students were also treated to an excellent explainer of the different payment structures within the SAG-AFTRA Commercials Contracts.

That afternoon, Serotsky and Green headed downtown with colleague and fellow organizer Becca Lish for the second of four meetings with students at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. The group led a wide-ranging discussion with New York University undergraduate actors about commercial performing, and what it means to be a SAG-AFTRA member financially, emotionally and spiritually. Also discussed was professionalism on commercial sets and how union-negotiated residuals benefit performers. The team ended the meeting by sharing a couple of “How I Got My SAG-AFTRA Card” stories with the group.

Talk about educational outreach!