488 NEWSLETTER
I.A.T.S.E. Local 488 - STUDIO MECHANICS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Motion Picture Technicians
Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, its Territories and Canada

OFFICIAL 488 STUDIO MECHANICS MEETING NOTICE:
   NEXT MEETING ON: Sunday, October 10, 2010
1:00 pm in PORTLAND

On August 2nd I attended, along with many of our members, a very lively party put on by FilmPAC and WA Filmworks at the Spitfire Grill in Seattle.  

The intent of this event was to acknowledge and thank politicians that have supported the local film industry in the past and to encourage their support going forward.  

FilmPAC is a political action committee formed in part by our own Ron Leman. I also am on the board of the group. FilmPAC has the goal of encouraging further support for our industry in general and with a specific focus in the near term of renewing Washington State’s film incentive program.  

It was great to see the large turnout at the event. It’s very important to show our politicians that we are a vibrant, significant and ambitious industry whose support can be of great value to them.  

It’s also important to recognize that we need their support as well. And to this end it was also very encouraging to learn that those in attendance were very generous with financial contributions.

FilmPAC will ultimately contribute these funds to worthy, allied candidates at the direction of its advisory board.   FilmPAC and WA Filmworks are planning a second event in the near future in Spokane with an equal agenda of recognizing politicians from the Eastern part of our state. Stay tuned for updates on scheduling and I look forward to an equally spirited turn out at that event.  

We’ll probably start to hear and talk a lot about the Washington State incentive program as we ramp up the efforts for renewal. The current program expires in 2011 and while this industry often still feels quite instable, it is hard to imagine where we would be without this program. My intent in fact is not just to speak of renewal but to encourage its expansion to be more relevant in comparison to other state’s incentive programs.  

Right now the Filmworks board which directs the program is often hampered in its ability to entice productions to Washington State by virtue of the program’s competitive position. There are several areas where the program falls short by comparison. These are the issues the board at Filmworks is charged with taking on as part of the renewal effort. I will keep you posted as this issue develops but I think we can anticipate a growing need for activism as this campaign advances. I look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate our voice with you all!  

Thank you.      

Southern BA Report               Charles Carlsen

Leverage 4 was picked up for 20 episodes and may get started as early as January.  

An Independent Film Channel series, Portlandia will begin shooting Portland this month. So far they are non IA. The 20 day, 6 episodes will have about a fifteen man crew.  

Local 28 and Local 488 are asking the IA for permission to organize sports broadcasters in the Portland Area.  

Laika is actively hiring off production people, animators, carpenters, painters.  

There is still work at Reed USA, the International maintains the contract is still in effect but benefit payments are not being received.  

CBS has a 40 day international shoot and they might do two weeks in Portland and 10 days in Seattle early 2011.  

A cable channel, Epix, has a series based in high tech office looking at shooting around November/ December.  The producers have been in Portland before, are scouting here and Atlanta.   

 Northern BA Report                    Bob Riggs

"GrassRoots” has wrapped and we were able to get them to sign a contract for benefits starting from date of hire thru completion of this project.  This will be a nice benefit payment for all of the crew that worked on the show and probably bring a few new members into the Local.  I informed Teamster BA Tom George of the progress we were making with the production company and helped them to also obtain a contract for the show.  

I was able to sign a small company from Los Angeles shooting an election initiative spot in Seattle to a contract  and hope to continue signing contracts as we get deeper into the election season.  

 I also hope to step up efforts to sign local production companies to the IATSE commercial contracts.  Many of the local companies say that the majority of their work is too small and it would hurt them financially to shoot union.  The IA commercial contract exempts productions under a certain dollar figure per day and I strongly feel the contract would help them.  World Famous, for example is using an insurance vendor for a current production to help them qualify for Washington State incentive dollars.  The cost of our insurance is cheaper and would provide more benefits for the crew receiving them.  If you have regular commercial clients, let them know we can give them access to incentive dollars, save them money and they can give back to the community by helping us keep health insurance coverage.  

NXNW has wrapped “Knights of Backassdom” and has an application in with Washington Film Works for another Tier 1 production.  It’s nice that they keep Eastern Washington busy but I sure wish they could get back to Tier 2 or 3.  No news on the new election for the drivers union in Spokane.  

 Amy Dee is working hard but there is nothing on the horizon for feature work in Western Washington at this time.  Jennifer Roth was helping budget a $13m feature for Seattle, but they seem to have gone to sleep.  I have to say it is as slow as I’ve ever seen production in the Pacific NW since I moved here in 1983.  I’m not sure what it’s going to take to turn it around but we will have to work to keep and expand our incentive.  

Ongoing negotiations for our painters at the Seattle Opera and Seattle Rep and negotiations for our Hair & Make Up unit at the Opera.  I’m enjoying working with our negotiating team and even though it’s taking longer than we want, I’m confident with our resolve we will advance our interests and protect the theater’s in these tough economic times.  

Wish I had good news in closing but our economy is still hurting and that impacts our industry.  I hope you’ve had a chance to enjoy the summer with your family and friends and look forward to seeing you all on a set or theater somewhere.  Don’t forget to vote!  Do not let the Democrats lose the House or Senate! 

Peace out and smoke em if you got em.  

 The following members owe for  3rd quarter

Vicky Allard, Susannah Anderson, Andy Barden, Dan Bates, Ben Blankenship, Shawn Bowlby, Carolynn Bradley, William Burkhert, Rena Bussinger, Kyle Carver, Chris Clifford, Jeff Crow,  Levi Cummings, Charles Daniels, Michelle DeMello, Rosemarie DeSapio, Steve Flint, Ryan Fritz, Kristie Gamer, Tony Ghiglione, Chad Griffin, Heidi Habib, Shannon Hall, Steven Hangebrauk, Bruce Henderson, Martha Hines, Jesse Homan, Steven Hubert, Chip Ingram, Stephanie Keiler, Jeanne Kobayashi, Ron Leamon, Oscar Lofgren, Tyler Macklin, Curtis Mathewson, Katie McCrae, Cynthia Moore, Linda Nazarenus, Bill Northcutt, Chris Parkhurst, Gerald Parr, Angelique Paull, Dawnn Pavlonnis, James Pendleton, Troy Peters, Danny Rowland, Ryan Schow, Matt Semchee, Shefskie, Sienkiewiez, Heather Sincic, Ryan Smith, Loring Spicer, Jennifer Strauss, Dana Thompson-Carver, Susan Tooker, Michael Torrey, Chandler Vinar, Warren Yeck.  

The following members owe for  2nd qtr & 3rd qtr  

Arrears 2 qtrs-(owes 2nd & 3rd qtr) Scott Alplanalp, Alyx Carr, Dustyn Cernik, Christine Cherbonnier, Kelly Cline, Klair Ehtridge, Michael Gall, Andrew Gallegos, Laurie Hicks, Gerald Koble, R.J. Maguire-Rust, Charles Miller, Gary Myers, Amanda Needham, Ann Penny, Shiloh Rideout