A Note from Our Local President

Hello performers, stunt performers, broadcasters, voiceover artists, and all other members of the New Orleans Local! It’s good to be back!

Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone who has been affected by the historic flooding in Louisiana. We recently sent out an e-blast that listed contact information for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and the SAG-AFTRA Motion Picture Players Welfare Fund. If you have been affected by the flooding and want to request assistance, check out the links or telephone numbers in the email to see if you can get any help. There are no guarantees, but help may be available.

Along with the other info in this newsletter, we’re presenting a few ideas that might assist you in developing your craft and generating income.

1. Please check your email from Aug. 12 (4:12 p.m.) and notify me at NewOrleans.President@sagaftra.org if you didn’t get an email from “Casting Access Online.” This is a SAG-AFTRA Foundation program that provides workshops and “Conversations” with pros from all parts of our industry.

Our local is working with the Foundation right now to get us some programs directed specifically towards us. In order to get programs tailored to the members of the New Orleans Local, we need to get as many of you as possible to register at the Foundation site and submit a brief profile along with your acting resume and a headshot. This will give you access to a number of prerecorded videos about subjects such as the business, meditation, residuals, casting directors and cast members from film and TV.

Submitting your acting profile helps us by opening the door to a different way to audition for casting directors outside our area: Casting Access Online. If the Foundation sees a lot of registrations from our local, the staff can see that we are interested in its programs. When they see that we are interested in working with them, they will work with us to schedule casting directors to work directly with small groups of our members, providing feedback on taped sessions of sides assigned directly to the members involved. This is a free service provided through the Foundation. Unless we register and fill out profiles, however, the Foundation does not know that we are ready to take advantage of this amazing opportunity.

[See the Local Resources section of our local’s web pages for detailed instructions about how to register with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and how to submit your Casting Access Online profile. Select “New Orleans” as your local and check the New Orleans check box to receive emails about local Foundation events — it is at the bottom of the list in each case. If you have already registered, check that you are in the New Orleans Local, as it was not an available selection at one time. — Ed.]

3. If you are interested in doing voiceovers or recording audiobooks, Local Board member Olga Wilhelmine documents her journey into this segment of our work later in this newsletter. This is another opportunity to get paid for work that many of us overlook, so be sure to read Olga’s story.

4. Share your connections with us! We all have a vendor, a theater, a hairdresser, a photographer, a studio, a trainer, a teacher, a videographer, or someone or some organization that we have used to help us prepare to ply our trade. If the business is willing to offer members a discount of 20 percent or more, we may be able to promote the business’ products or services to the local membership. It’s win-win situation, so let’s see if we can make some connections for the benefit of our members.

In solidarity,

Diana Boylston
New Orleans Local President

[This applies to everyone in the Local. Let us know what we can include in the newsletter that you want to see! — Ed.]

This item was originally featured in the fall 2016 local newsletter.