A Message From the L.A. Local President

I’d like to congratulate this season’s Emmy nominees for all their wonderful work, including our own L.A. Local Vice President Sheryl Lee Ralph for her Best Supporting Actress nomination in ABC’s Abbott Elementary! 
 
I was away for two-plus months in New York, working on a theater project of mine. It was extremely gratifying after much work to finally see it come to fruition with a full production and to be well received, too. A good reminder to never give up on your dreams, EVER. 
 
Back in L.A., I dove right into our local business. Here are just a few things your local and national leaders have been working on:

• With the Netflix negotiations complete, we look to you for ratification. There were member informationals for you to educate yourself on the gains and changes, including a podcast and a livestream. I think the committee did a great job, and I encourage you all to participate and vote. It matters! 
• Self-taping: We know this is at the forefront of what needs to be addressed and have listened to your many emails and texts to take a hard look at your concerns and grievances to put forth recommendations. We are hoping to come together with our other local union sisters and brothers across the country to be able to forge a national response soon. A grateful hallelujah! 
• L.A. Local Member Orientation: In May, we had our first meeting in nearly three years, virtually of course, but hey, that ’s better than none! Presented by the Orientation Subcommittee of the L.A. Member Outreach Relations and Education (MORE) Committee, it was wonderfully attended by all those who became members during the pandemic, giving lots of useful information as they embark on their career as union members. Orientations scheduled for Sept. 7 and Sept. 8 will be open to ALL members, new and old; in case you need a refresher course, you are more than welcome! Many thanks to Orientation Subcommittee Chair and L.A. Board member Shaan Sharma for chairing this committee with vice chairs Charlie Bodin and Lee Garlington, and for all their efforts to help educate our Los Angeles Local members. 
• This third quarter of 2022 will also bring you our first L.A. event since the pandemic started. There were many event proposals brought to the Local Board by our various committees. The two that had the most votes: An Evening with Background Casting Directors: How to Navigate Casting Changes and New Technologies During a Pandemic will be first and Healthcare, Pension, Residuals and You will follow in the fourth quarter, so please stay tuned!
• Many thanks to all the members who submitted topics for our L.A. Board meeting agenda. We are in the process of reviewing them to determine how to best effectively address them. In the meantime, please feel free to continue submitting ideas to la@sagaftra.org. Your local staff will make sure we get them all.
• I would also like to share that with President Drescher’s recommendation, the National Board appointed me as a trustee of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan. It is a job that I do not take lightly and will be working closely with my fellow trustees to protect our health plan.
• And last but not least, I want to remind everyone that our beloved Actors Fund’s name was changed/rebranded in May to the Entertainment Community Fund, which now more accurately includes all the different categories of performers currently in our union as well as our other sister unions and guilds. If you aren’t familiar with what they do, be sure to check all the ways that they support our membership.  

Continue to stay safe as BA.5 (Bad Ass 5 in my book) is highly contagious, but more than anything, have a wonderful rest of your summer!
 
All good things,

Jodi Long