A Message from the Nevada Local President

By Barbara Grant

Since the loss of our executive director, Steve Clinton, we have all taken on more to promote SAG-AFTRA in Nevada. To give you an idea, local board member Bobbie Wolff and I went to Reno to see the huge, 550,000-square foot Reno Tahoe Film Studios at the Sparks Convention Center and met with the studio's president and CEO, Chris Baum. I was then asked to participate in a panel that addressed 200 people about the SB165 Film Incentive program. They were all very supportive. With more filming headed to the Reno area, it’s now more important than ever we encourage SAG-AFTRA-eligible performers living in Northern Nevada to join the union.

I have since attended the film incentive panel that was held here in Las Vegas and met many more people who want to see it working for all of us. When I was in Reno, I met Jeff Spilman, film liaison to Film Reno Tahoe, and he was at the Las Vegas event too, as he is a big promoter of the plan.

Why the legislators decided an open public meeting was needed for each movie coming in, I do not know. The first of these meetings was held at 10 a.m. on Feb. 24. Along with me, there were at least a dozen actors, all grateful for the incentive program and the work it will bring us. I took the moment to publicly ask if there are some protections in place so we do not have the same problem as in the past, with a lot of actors from other areas coming in claiming to be local hires. I was told there would be strict rules that actors would have to follow to work as local hires. Line producer Marty Ewing told us that it is his job to make sure people comply, to which I said, “Great, I’ll hold your feet to the fire!”

SAG-AFTRA Nevada Conservatory News

Wow! All of you who didn’t go to February’s SAG-AFTRA Conservatory sure missed out. To try something that hasn’t been done in years (because of lack of facilities open on Sunday), it was a Saturday and Sunday workshop. Both were well attended. We were fortunate enough to have Adam Hill teach the workshop. He is an acclaimed acting coach who has relocated to Las Vegas and is now holding classes here.

The question I have for you all is this: Should we occasionally have conservatory sessions on Sundays? When bringing in facilitators, it is a much cheaper flight and hotel to bring them in on Sunday. As prices go up, our budget doesn’t stretch as far as it did in the past. We really don’t want to raise the yearly dues. Come to the conservatory and give us your thoughts! For more info, you may email me at nevada@sagaftra.org. 

Nevada SAG-AFTRA Conservatory with Barbara Grant, fall 2013. Photo by Anna Wendt.

Nevada SAG-AFTRA Conservatory with Adam Hill, February 2014. Photo by Micki Flansburg.

This item was originally featured in the April 2014 local newsletter.