A Message from Local President Rik Deskin

The SAG-AFTRA Seattle Local held its membership meeting and holiday party at Naked City Brewery and Taphouse on Dec. 11, 2017. Below is a copy of my report to the membership. 

Hello Union Brothers and Sisters,

This has been an interesting and sometimes challenging year for many of us. Our union continues to prevail and we continue to add members. We number 160,000 nationally. 

We added our SAG-AFTRA app for members. We helped pass our film incentive for the next 10 years! We negotiated and approved our TV/Theatrical Contract and we ended the video game strike and now have a new contract approved. We had our third convention. 

We continue to organize work with our New Media, Regional Commercials and Corporate/Educational contracts, and rumor among my industry friends is that we will be getting the Grey’s Anatomy spinoff, which would be a major TV show set and shot fully in Seattle! We are continuing to settle contracts in our broadcast shops as well as start some new organizing. We continue to be a presence at industry events, including Seattle’s Film Summit, the Anchorage International Film Festival, SIFF and Washington Filmworks events. We just partnered with my alma mater, Cornish College of the Arts, to host SAG-AFTRA member Tavia Gilbert, who was a brilliant guest for us to have. Next year, we are planning on visiting the eastern parts of our local, both Idaho and Montana. We have made contact with some Idaho natives and I am planning an event in that part of our local for 2018.

We are working with Washington Filmworks and the rest of our industry partners to grow our annual fund allotment from $3.5 million, so that we can attract more TV/Theatrical projects. Our neighboring local in Portland is now up to $15 million annually, so, regionally, we are more attractive to larger TV shows and films. 

Special message: My friend, Portland Local President Robert Blanche (who has appeared in Grimm and Z Nation) is in need of a lung transplant. Go to http://give.transplants.org, type in his name and make a donation to a fierce union advocate and a good actor.

I will see you in the new year!

Rik Deskin
Seattle Local President