New York Local Members Meet Virtually

The SAG-AFTRA New York Local held its first-ever virtual membership meeting via Zoom on Monday, May 3. 

The meeting featured remarks and presentations from SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President and New York Local President Rebecca Damon, President Gabrielle Carteris, Secretary-Treasurer Camryn Manheim, New York Local Vice President Ezra Knight, New York Local Vice President Maureen Donnelly and New York Local Executive Director Jeffrey Bennett.

Topics covered included an overview of actions taken by the National Board, including dues relief, guidelines for on-set COVID safety, pandemic assistance, new intimacy guidelines and the sexual harassment reporting tool, and contract updates, including the new Micro-Budget Project and Influencer agreements. Local updates included a review of state legislative efforts, including the New York state COBRA subsidies, postmortem right-of-publicity protections, and an extension of the New York state film and TV tax credit. SAG-AFTRA Chief Economist David Viviano gave a report on the current state of the industry in New York, including information about recent trends in the number of productions. 

A moment of silence was held for the many members lost over the past year, including former SAG New York Branch presidents Mel Boudrot, Joyce Gordon and Bob Kaliban.

The meeting concluded with a Q&A session with the membership, which included thoughtful questions and discussion with both veteran and new members.

Photo: Clockwise from top left, EVP and New York Local President Rebecca Damon, New York Local VP Liz Zazzi and new member Michael Andreaus.