Voiceover Students Enlightened at Voicetrax

The path to joining SAG-AFTRA is a personal journey for each performer, and in the case of the entrepreneurial voiceover actor, it requires guiding existing and prospective clients on how to sign the appropriate union agreement.

On Oct. 2, advanced students at Voicetrax in Sausalito learned the ins and outs of union membership from a panel of experts that included voiceover casting director and Voicetrax instructor Sirenetta Leoni, Christy Anderson of the Talent Fund, and SAG-AFTRA Business Reps Dee Dee Escobedo and Lea Hausherr. Panelists discussed SAG-AFTRA’s relevance in the industry and its effectiveness in empowering performers with education, protections and long-term benefits.

Attendees responded positively to the efforts of both the national and local SAG-AFTRA offices to create accessible and flexible contracts, including the upfront usage payment structures of the national Commercials Contracts and the San Francisco-Northern California Regional Commercials Code. With a large portion of the voiceover opportunities in the local falling under the Corporate/Educational & Non-Broadcast Contract and the San Francisco-Northern California Co/Ed Waiver, the panelists said there was a lot more opportunity to flip more work union. 

Photo: Members of the SAG-AFTRA panel at Voicetrax in Sausalito, from left, voiceover instructor and casting director Sirenetta Leoni, SAG-AFTRA Business Reps Lea Hausherr and Dee Dee Escobedo, and Christy Anderson from the Talent Fund. Photo by Vicki Baum.