Houston-Austin

When: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. PT/ 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. MT/ 12 - 2 p.m. CT/ 1 - 3 p.m. ET

About the Series 

A central challenge for many performing arts and entertainment professionals is navigating the episodic nature of their work in the industry. For many, survival work—initiated to make ends meet—ends up draining the creative professional and becoming more problem than solution. The purpose of this workshop series is to assist performing arts and entertainment professionals in their search to find meaningful work. Career Journey offers strategies to gain agency over your career.

Career Journey - Act 3: How Will I Get There? 
Now that you have brainstormed potential work opportunities, how will you get there? To continue on your career journey you will:

• Navigate labor market research resources and strategies
• Learn to develop your network to find people and organizations that can help
• Learn how to test work ideas through experience

You'll evaluate your work ideas based on who you are and what you need to find a meaningful fit.

Questions? Please contact The Actors Fund at CareerCenterWest@actorsfund.org

RSVP: Click here for details and to RSVP. 

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

When: 1 - 2:30 p.m. PT/ 2 - 3:30 p.m. MT/ 3 - 4:30 p.m. CT/ 4 - 5:30 p.m. ET

Orientation is the first step to enrolling in the services of The Career Center. 

The Career Center addresses a central challenge for performing arts and entertainment professionals: navigating the episodic nature of work in the industry. For many, survival work—initiated to make ends meet—ends up draining the creative professional and becoming more of a problem than a solution. This orientation will help you begin to take the necessary steps to identify meaningful work that complements your life in the entertainment business.

Questions? Please contact The Actors Fund at careercenterwest@actorsfund.org

RSVP: Click here for details and to RSVP. 

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

When: 7 - 9 a.m. PT/ 9 -11 a.m. CT/ 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. ET

The Actors Fund Financial Wellness Program seeks to engage, educate and empower performing arts professionals about the role of money in their lives.

This six-week workshop builds on the concepts introduced in Intro to Financial Wellness: Budgeting Nuts & Bolts and focuses on both building and nurturing a healthy relationship with money and developing practical money management skills as a creative professional. Participants will learn and begin to implement specific strategies for organizing expenses, planning with multiple and/or episodic income, managing and eliminating debt, saving, investing, aligning professional and financial goals, and more.

Questions? Please contact The Actors Fund at rselkowe@actorsfund.org

RSVP: Click here for details and to RSVP. 

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

When: 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. PT/ 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. MT/ 12 - 2 p.m. CT/ 1 - 3 p.m. ET

Social sleuthing is standard in the hiring process, so what does your online presence say about you? In this workshop you will learn personal branding strategies and reframe your networking approach to more effectively connect to the people, organizations and opportunities that can advance your career.

Questions? Please contact The Actors Fund at careercenterwest@actorsfund.org

RSVP: Click here for details and to RSVP. 

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

Few things are as difficult or confounding to an actor as trying to interpret commercial copy. Especially in this age of self-submissions where actors are left to fend for themselves often without any direction whatsoever. The good news is, that copy you’re holding very likely contains all the clues you’ll ever need to hit the bullseye dead center – if only you knew where to look for them.

Join commercial casting director, trained voice actor and former advertising creative, John McKinney as he shares this decoding rulebook. With insights from both sides of the mic, John has the unparalleled ability to help actors translate those silly sounding scripts into the kind of rich, layered reads ad agencies look for.  Through a combination of short lectures, graphic aids and student participation, actors will learn how to zero in on the emotional drivers behind different types of scripts, resulting in more artful, confident reads and more satisfying and successful auditions.

Class begins at Noon PT / 3 p.m. ET

REQUIREMENTS

This is an advanced level class. For members with 2+ years experience doing voiceover at a professional level. This is class is not appropriate for beginners. Seats are limited so every participant will get a chance to read.

INSTRUCTOR BIO

John McKinney

As owner of John McKinney Casting, John routinely casts and directs voiceover talent for national TV and radio spots as well as occasional film and animation.  Recent clients include Volvo, Coty, The Hartford, Anchor Steam Ale, Sony, Bismarck Industries, Dr. Pepper and Illinois Lottery. Prior to that, John worked as Casting Director for Pomann Sound where he worked on Verizon, Heineken, Castro, Fisher-Price and Michelob. John has also spent over twenty years as a copywriter writing and casting national TV and radio campaigns for major New York ad agencies, including Grey, McCann Worldwide, Grey Entertainbment and Gotham. All the while he kept a hand in doing voiceover work himself, voicing commercials for General Foods, Verizon and other national megabrands.  John also works as a voice coach and voiceover demo producer. As a three-time published and twice-award-nominated playwright John is used to working with seasoned stage actors and often draws from the theater world when casting commercial projects, and vice versa.

Click here for details and to RSVP.

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

This class will meet REMOTELY. All RSVP'D Members will receive a ZOOM Link inviting them to join the class.

If you have not received the link by the morning of the class, please check your spam, junk, or Promotions folders. If you still cannot find the link, please send us an email at thebusiness@sagaftra.foundation at least 15 minutes before the start of class time.

This class begins at 1 p.m. PST/4 p.m. EST.

SYNOPSIS

Headshots are an actors' calling card, but is it a professional picture that matches with how the buyers see you? Does your picture accurately communicate the product that is being sold? In this session we will discuss what your headshot is communicating and if that matches with what is coming into the audition room.

Please email copies of the headshots (MAX 2) that are submitted the most to thebusiness@sagaftra.foundation, by 7 p.m. the evening prior to the class. The class may not get through all headshots. 

If you have taken The Branding Workshop, please bring a typed copy of your branding sentence. It is not required that you take The Branding Workshop before you take this session.

Small Group Sessions are facilitated discussions with the goal of digging deeper into some of the information and advice shared within the panels. These sessions provide a time to break down concepts into practical action items by which an actor can individually apply to their professional pursuits. This session will last for 2 - 3 hours. Participants must stay for the whole time.

Click here for details and to RSVP

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

NOTE: This is a 3 HOUR class that takes place ONLINE. The class begins at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET

This 3-hour workshop is for members interested in learning how to build and edit their demo reel using Davinci Resolve, a powerful video editing software that is currently FREE for use on both Macs and PC's. In this workshop, you will use your own video clips to assemble and edit your own demo reel. You must have the software in order to participate in this online class.

You can download it for free here: https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve/

Please Note: This class is not an introduction on how to use a computer, so basic computer skills are needed.  No exceptions.

Members must bring the following to class:

At least 1 video clip in MPEG-4 (.MP4) or Quicktime (.MOV) format.

Requirements:

• Working knowledge of a Mac or PC
• Desire and ability to learn to edit digital video footage using Davinci Resolve installed on their computer

Click here for details and to RSVP.

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

NOTE: This is a THREE-HOUR class beginning at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET that will take place ONLINE.

The purpose of this workshop is to pick up where members left in the Part 1 class. That said, this is not a rehash of that previous class. In this three-hour class, members will learn various new skills to enhance their existing actor website. The first half of the class will discuss search engine optimization, creating blog pages, customizing themes and fonts, adding custom code, creating one page websites, among others. During the second half of the class, you'll be given the chance to incorporate these new features into your existing website. 

This class is not an introduction on how to use a computer, so basic computer skills are needed. No exceptions.

Click here for details and to RSVP.

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

NOTE: This is a THREE HOUR class that will take place ONLINE.
Class begins at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET

This three hour class is for SAG-AFTRA members who have previously taken the Part 1 class (Intro to Narrative Video Editing with iMovie) and are interested in learning how to expand their projects (e.g. short film, web series) using iMovie. In this class we will pick up where we left off in Part 1 by editing a short dialogue scene. We will also introduce more advanced features within iMovie including the addition of animated effects. Footage for the scene will be provided.

Please Note: You must have taken Part 1 (Intro to Narrative Video Editing with iMovie) prior to taking this class.

This class is not an introduction on how to use a computer, so basic computer skills are required. No exceptions. 

Requirements:

• An Apple Macintosh computer (desktop or laptop) with a current version of iMovie installed (latest is 10.2.5)
• Desire and ability to learn to edit digital video footage using Apple iMovie.

Click here for details and to RSVP.

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.

NOTE: This is a THREE HOUR class that meets over Zoom web conferencing. It is specifically for Mac users.
Class begins at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET

Members will learn important skills needed to submit themselves for online casting, specifically, how to compress their videos, make basic edits, upload to dropbox, send large files via wetransfer and how to setup accounts and submit themselves on various casting web sites like Actors Access and Casting Networks. 

Click here for details and to RSVP.

The products and services noted herein are provided as an informational service to SAG-AFTRA members and are administered by entities independent of SAG-AFTRA. Any questions must be handled by the provider. This information is not intended to serve as an endorsement nor is any warranty or guarantee implied.