There has been PLENTY of debate about the SAG-AFTRA merger that will happen towards the end of March 2012. I spoke with my agent at the Umberger Agency about it and the AFTRA office in Atlanta, GA. I will make an appointment by phone or person to get some questions answered about the merger and how it affects talent in a Right to Work state.
More than likely, it will be harder to get into the union. However, in GA, there aren’t a lot of union projects so work does dry up in a RTW state.
Choosing which way to go is difficult. My agent so far isn’t a union franchised agency so if I become union, I will have to find another agent who is franchised. The Umberger Agency has sent an application to become a union franchised agency. That being said, the terminology for a union franchised agency may or may not be the correct term. There has been a lot of changes regarding union status of agencies and the union itself is changing drastically. Below is the website detailing information about it all. I’ll post if I change anything regarding my union status. In the meantime, I have revised my Terms of Service and will use it as a non-union talent thus far. It can be found on my website under payments.
The upside to all of this? I booked a TV VO commercial. The downsize of all of this? I was paid a non-union fee. So being in the union would benefit me greatly with residuals but may result in fewer opportunities for future work. We’ll see. Yeah for the booking though!
Kim
GVOS and Me 