A Message From the SF-NC Local President

Greetings Fellow San Francisco - NorCal SAG-AFTRA Members!

I hope everyone is having a good summer and staying cool … or as many of us close to the Bay say, “staying warm”!

It very much feels like we are almost back to pre-COVID activities and outreach! Some  recent and upcoming events: 

Film Commissions & Festivals

FLICS: In April, San Francisco was honored to host the annual meeting of FLICS — Film Liaisons in California Statewide. There are 41 film commissions/offices in California that are members of FLICS — 21 of which are in our local. Leaders from the SAG-AFTRA San Francisco-Northern California Local were among the guest speakers, providing materials to the film commissioners to help promote to prospective productions the added incentive of hiring our local members.

The meeting was held at the Fairmont Hotel, followed by a guided tour of the Cable  Car Barn and a private cable car ride down to the wharf for lunch. Our out-of-town guests were delighted that the cable car operator briefly stopped at the top of Lombard, where we all hopped off for a photo op by the crookedest street.

In addition to our already well-established relationships with NorCal film offices — San Francisco Film Commission (Manijeh Fata), El Dorado/Tahoe (Kathleen Dodge), Upstate CA Film Commission (Sabrina Jurisch), Monterey County (Karen Nordstrand) — we had the opportunity to finally meet Jennifer West of the Sacramento Film Office, who was hired just before COVID hit, delaying our scheduled meeting. And, we were more than delighted to meet the new, enthusiastic film office head for San Mateo County, Cam Newton.

El Dorado/Tahoe: The “I LOVE FILM” event is back! This annual business showcase event is a huge gathering of those who work in the industry, from location scouts to caterers to editors and everyone in between! Every stripe of professional in the film world attended. 

SAG-AFTRA has had a longstanding relationship with the festival. The warehouse-sized event is followed by a gathering and celebration of filmmakers in an adjacent auditorium. This year, our own SAG-AFTRA San Francisco-Northern California Local Assistant Executive Director Dee Dee Escobedo was the keynote speaker. Many thanks to all who attended and to SF-NorCal VP Robert Chestnut, who provided great info to many pre-members who stopped by our table. The event concluded with the SF-NC Local receiving an award from the California Film Foundation for its longstanding partnership.

East Bay Film Collective: As one of many who fought hard to save the Oakland Film Office many years ago, I  enthusiastically applaud the work of the East Bay Film Collective in securing a film incentive, which was approved and budgeted by the Oakland City Council! We look forward to deepening relationships with them and promoting our membership. 

Labor Community 

SF Federation of Labor COPE Award Banquet: Also in April, Escobedo and I attended the San Francisco Federation of Labor annual COPE Banquet, where the SAG-AFTRA SF-NorCal Local was honored with the Affiliate Champion Award for our successful strike action against the major studios.

California Federation of Labor Unions Biennial Convention: July saw the biennial California Federation of Labor Unions convention, which was held this year in San Diego and attended by more than 1,000 AFL-CIO union representatives from across the state. Local Board member Rajiv Shah and I were honored to represent the SF-NC Local alongside delegates from the Los Angeles and San Diego Locals. It was inspirational to be in the midst of many hundreds of dedicated union members from every profession and walk of life. Much business was conducted with accompanying camaraderie, and there was a dinner featuring SAG-AFTRA member Sean Astin as keynote speaker. It was a special privilege to hear keynote speeches from legendary labor leaders, including Sara Nelson, president of the Flight Attendants Union, and Shawn Fain, United Auto Workers president.

Broadcast News

Meanwhile, our local Broadcast Department remains busy with contract negotiations and enforcement. Working with member leaders and local labor partners, the SF-NC staff has bargained numerous successor agreements over the past year. Contract talks are also underway for the newly organized KQED digital and podcast member unit. This group is one of several public media groups across the country who have recently voted to have SAG-AFTRA represent them in the workplace.

Local staff have always depended on the valuable alliance of station stewards. These member leaders know the contract, welcome new hires and work with SAG-AFTRA staff to get ahead of issues as they arise. The SAG-AFTRA national office offers quarterly training opportunities to ensure station stewards continue to feel prepared and supported. If you are interested in moving into a steward role at your station, reach out to sf@sagaftra.org.

There have been an unfortunate number of layoffs in our market over the past year, mainly affecting radio personnel. Local staff work closely with those affected members to guide them along this difficult path, making sure they have access to helpful resources and are receiving the proper severance payouts, per their collective bargaining agreements.

I am thrilled to announce that we are seating a Local Broadcast Steering Committee. This group of actively working broadcast members will create and promote outreach and education events, endorse industry initiatives and support local organizing and contract fights. Long-time SF-NC Local Board member and Local Vice President, Broadcast Mike Pechner will chair.

Additional News Events

Film Festival Sponsorships and Panel Participation: In addition to our sponsorships of local film festivals, at which we encourage filmmakers in attendance to utilize the SAG-AFTRA Low Budget agreements to hire our members in their upcoming productions, this year the SF-NC Local worked in concert with national standing committees to have a higher level of participation in CAAMFest (Center for Asian American Media) and Frameline, the longest-running queer film festival.

To date, the SF-NC Local has had a presence at Sketchfest, Sundance, Sonoma International Film Festival, SF Film, BraveMaker and the Sacramento Film Festival.

Charlie Holliday Membership Center  

In September we will be dedicating the large common area of our offices on Sansome  Street as the Charlie Holliday Membership Center, complete with commemorative plaque, tributes, bio and picture. We look forward to honoring Charlie’s memory, service and mentorship by hosting various member events in the space, including conservatory classes and member gatherings.

As you can see, the Local has been very busy. To find out what's going on nationally, check out the new issue of SAG-AFTRA magazine.

In unity,

Kathryn Howell
San Francisco-Northern California Local President