Congratulations to all our SAG Awards nominees and winners! It was a fun evening that streamed live on Netflix’s YouTube channel, with an even greater reach predicted for next year.
The SAG-AFTRA L.A. Local was very busy with our wages and working conditions meetings, which ran from December through February. The L.A. W&W meetings were chaired by L.A. Local 2nd Vice President David Joliffe, with SAG-AFTRA Secretary-Treasurer Joely Fisher, National and L.A. Local Board member Sean Astin and myself as vice chairs presiding over 19 three-hour meetings! We carefully listened to a large number of individual participants and members who qualified to participate in the final week’s discussions and prioritizations. We are proud to say that this year had the most member engagement and attendees ever for the Los Angeles W&Ws!
We want to thank all of you who participated. We feel these W&W meetings were one of our best — thorough, inclusive, educational and, at times, truly inspirational. Your passion and commitment to improving working conditions for our members is clear by all the hours you volunteered to make a difference.
Understanding the variety of interests we represent, we are working hard to ensure the Los Angeles portion of the Negotiating Committee accurately reflects not only the diversity, but the categorical wants and needs of our local — a local that represents almost half of the union and 60% of the earnings under these contracts.
Our L.A. Local membership meeting in December drew approximately 200 members. Many thanks to those who attended! The meeting lasted for four and a half hours and was mostly devoted to answering the many questions members had after being separated for far too long by the pandemic.
Last, but not least, if you are so inclined, this is a reminder that you can now take your birthdate off of IMDb — and for free! You will have to give them your credit card number to verify your identity, but once that is done, you can take your birthdate down off your page. You can also gender identify if you so choose. It’s pretty simple to do if you follow the video made by SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher.
This IMDb issue has long been a personal mission of mine. Over 10 years ago, L. Scott Caldwell, then Local and National Women’s Committee chair, asked me if I would join the committee. I replied, “Only if we can work on getting our ages off of IMDb!” She concurred, and thus started my union service within the Screen Actors Guild. Alongside L.A. Local member Stacy Travis, we started an IMDb task force. It has been a long protracted process over the years with wins and losses. I am grateful that President Drescher heard me in our first meeting over a year ago and took up the mantle to make this happen. This victory is made even more sweet knowing that it will be a gift that keeps on giving and helping the next generation of actors.
As we celebrated Black History Month in February, we celebrate Women’s History Month in March. I’m grateful that our country has chosen to acknowledge the many contributions diverse communities have made in building this nation of ours.
All good things,
Jodi Long
SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles Local President
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