Message From Local President Tom McNutt

Hope you stayed cool over the long, hot summer!

Good news: The Pennsylvania budget was passed in early July. It included a $5 million increase to the Film Tax Credit Program. The tax credits will increase from $60 million to $65 million — a step in the right direction. Thanks much to the PaFIA Board and its members for all their hard work.  

More good news: The Sylvia Kauders Studio is nearing completion. The studio will be available for our members to self-record and submit their auditions for projects. Thanks to local producer John Bell, members Meagan Hill and Helen McNutt, and staff members Steve Leshinski and Lynn Koenigsberg for bringing the dream to life. Notice of member orientation programs should be coming soon.

The Philadelphia Local recently hosted two interesting and informative conservatory programs. The first was a panel discussion titled Journalist Safety: Covering Political Protest in the Age of Social Media moderated by Trenae Nuri, a reporter for PhillyCAM Voices. The panel included Dick Sheeran, Cherri Gregg and Mary Cavallaro. The second was The Business of You – An Actor Branding Workshop. Thanks to Bryan Fox, a film and television acting teacher, for conducting this workshop.  

The TV/Theatrical Contract negotiations will be starting soon. We would appreciate any ideas you may have to improve this contract. We will be scheduling a Wages & Working Conditions meeting in the near future. Hope many will attend!  

Our Labor Day march on Sept. 5 with our brothers and sisters in the Tri-State Labor Day Parade was well attended. The parade festivities at Penn’s Landing were fun for all!  

 
Members gathered around AFL-CIO Philadelphia Council President Pat Eiding at the 2016 Labor Day Parade