A Message From Dallas Fort-Worth Local President Nikki Dixon

Dear Member,

I hope you're doing well and getting ready for some summertime fun! The industry is still ramping up after that much-needed strike, so if you're feeling the effects, don't worry — I am hearing that things are on the uptick!

At the beginning of May, IATSE, joined by Teamsters, kicked off their official contract talks with the AMPTP. General negotiations are expected to run through mid-May. IATSE's current contract expires July 31. Once IATSE has wrapped, the Teamsters and other Hollywood Basic Crafts will hold negotiations in June.

These are my thoughts and my thoughts only: Once all negotiations are over and threats of another strike have passed, we're gonna REALLY be up and going. So shake the cobwebs off and get ready to get back to work!

There are a couple of other things to be aware of here in the DFW Local. We have kicked off our committee work. We shared a call-to-action with our members a few weeks back and received a great response, but we still have a few seats open and want to engage you all. If you're interested in joining a committee, please reach out to the Dallas-Fort Worth Local office or myself by sending an email to dallas@sagaftra.org.

We have four committee groups:

• Group I - Member Outreach
• Group II - Pre-Member Outreach
• Group III - Industry Outreach
• Group IV - Conservatory

The Dallas-Fort Worth Local Conservatory has already gotten started. We hosted an actor’s workshop with the talented coach, Ransford Doherty, in March and one with Tom Todoroff in April. We also hosted a great casting director workshop during Mother’s Day weekend, Demystifying the Casting Process with Ally Beans.

We plan to keep this momentum going and offer our membership a range of educational opportunities. If you have ideas for a workshop and would like to help us organize, please let us know.

Our next casting director workshop is scheduled for June 13 from 5 to 7 p.m. via Zoom. Look out for the official invite very soon.

Finally, if you haven't already, update your member profile on sagaftra.org. You will find this after you log in to the website and select "My Information." Here you will enter your agency information, which can help the union find you if there are any claims filed against your agency. Please see this inactivation notice for more information. Please take a moment to update your email preferences as well. We are working hard to offer a steady schedule of events here at the DFW Local, but if you’re not opted-in to receive emails about local events, you may not hear about them.

That's it for now. Have an amazing summer, get involved with committee work and see you on set!

Warm regards,

Nikki Dixon
Dallas Fort-Worth Local President