Staff Spotlight: David Viviano

David Viviano, SAG-AFTRA’s chief economist and head of the Of ce of Media and Labor Economics, doesn’t have the catchiest job title in the union, but he and the nine others in his department have a very important task to perform on behalf of our members.

“Our work is analyzing all the contracts we cover from a business and economics perspective and looking at our employers in rigorous detail to f nd out how much money they have and what’s
driving their business decisions. We try to provide all the departments at SAG-AFTRA with rigorous analysis of the industries we cover to help inform decision-making.”

He didn’t plan it this way, but Viviano’s background set him up perfectly for his position. “Through high school, I always wanted to be a f lmmaker. I went through Wesleyan University’s f lmmaking program and took some freelance jobs, but it never really panned out for me. I had an aptitude for analyzing financial information, so I got into business school and got an MBA specializing in economics. And I was always interested in the labor movement, because I have always been really into folk music — Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie and Joan Baez — all they’re singing about is the labor movement. I hadn’t thought much about that connection until 2005, when I took a job at [then-] SAG as director of commercials research.”

Viviano and his team are tasked with covering an increasingly complex and evolving industry. “Staying on top of the changing landscape of media and entertainment makes our jobs exciting and keeps us very busy. We have to keep up with all the developments, from the FAANG companies [Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netfl ix, Google] to all the little media companies as well. Our work is not just sifting through data. It’s on the phone; it’s being in in-person meetings at businesses with decision-makers, either at the media companies or with the Wall Street analysts who cover them. One of the advantages is that I and some of my colleagues with business
degrees have some fl uency in the business language that these people regularly speak, and I think it makes it easier for us to tease information out of them.”

Care to cast an expert’s eye on the future for SAG-AFTRA members? “The prospects for organized labor in the entertainment sector look very bright. A lot of our members have very specialized abilities that are in high demand, and the overall media sector has always been, and will likely be, a net export business. Foreign audiences still want American content. And the fact that American workers in the media sector are so talented, recognize the value of that talent, and are largely willing to stick together in solidarity make me very optimistic about their prospects.”

Photo: SAG-AFTRA Head Economist David Viviano