NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2009 OFFICER ELECTION WILL BE TAKEN FROM THE FLOOR

ELECTION FAQ'S   

• Ballots will be mailed by December 4, 2009. Any member in good standing at that time, new or old, will be eligible to vote.

• Any member in good standing, new or old, can nominate candidates at the Seattle meeting. You may nominate yourself. A nomination does not require a second.

• Candidates must have been members of Local 488 in continuous good standing for two years. Good standing is defined as not having been suspended under the Local's Constitution and By-Laws (i.e. not having received a reinstatement fee) in that period.

• Results will be announced at the January meeting. A Judge and Tellers who are not candidates will be appointed to oversee a run-off if it is required.

Southern BA Report               Charles Carlsen

“Restless”, the Van Sant project will begin shooting November 3^rd in Portland. They will break for the week beginning11/21 and complete the 30 days by mid December.
The DP is Harris Savides. It now appears he will bring in an LA Gaffer and an LA Key Grip.
The Production Designer is Ann Ross. She will hire a local crew with the exception of the Decorator.
They intend on bringing a Costume Designer and Supervisor, two Sound, and an APOC.
The build and paint depends on final locations- the more they find, the less they will build.
They have requested resumes be sent to restless.crew@gmail.com. The office, at 13^th and Northrup, requires a code to enter and there is no way to buzz in. I believe this to be temporary and another office should open with contact numbers provided.
 
We hope to host HBO “Undaunted Courage” (Lewis and Clark) in the spring for a considerable build followed by June-September production for 80 days. As they continue to scout, more Oregon locations seem to fit their needs. Other locations would be Montana and/or Calgary.
 
Congratulations to the Leverage crew for the hard work that will translate into another season in Portland.
 
For those who have college dependents and are in the Fund health plan, it is time to send in proof of enrollment to continue coverage.

 Northern BA Report                    Bob Riggs

Just some quick updates from last month’s (last week?) newsletter.  “The Big Bang” is prepping in Spokane and the other Northby show, “Late Autumn”, aka The Korean Project has pushed.  “Late Autumn” is now hoping to be shooting in Seattle in early December and will probably start prep in late October.  It’s an ambitious project with an interesting premise, a 55 page script and a 40 day shoot.  NXNW still hasn’t worked out their Teamster issues and I’m supposed to attend a sit down with 174 in the near future.

“A Year on the Mooring” is shooting in Michigan, where they first scouted months ago and “A Crooked Arrow” has left Washington for Georgia.  It’s not to hard to understand why we are losing these projects when you realize that at this point it’s more about the dollars received from each state’s incentive.  Our IA wages and benefits were the same on both of these projects wherever they ended up, so we know it wasn’t the IA that made them locate where they did.

We do need to expand our crew base in several departments.  We haven’t had many shows in Washington that have required large builds so the number of Propmakers we have has diminished.  I forced, or persuaded NXNW to hire two Seattle Propmakers for “The Big Bang” and as of late yesterday, still wasn’t able to fill the call.  Craft Service is another call we always struggle to fill.  We also need more Set Costumers and Costume Supervisors.  I would love to look into some sort of training program for these and a few other crafts.  Any thoughts?

One thought I have had, or one possibility, is in working with Washington Film Works, our state incentive program.  They’ve been contacted by a group of small indie producers who felt they were not getting any benefits from the incentive program.  I met with representatives of their group, Washington Film Collective and Amy Dee from the incentive board to see how Local 488 might be able to help their projects and meet the needs of the incentive board.  Too early to tell where it might end up, but I feel that it definitely should be looked in to.

 IATSE Local’s 15 and 887 have a Training Trust set up and now also have a dedicated classroom for training.  They’re doing some good work and offering classes in rigging, and aerial lifts among other things.  I’m hoping we can find ways to work with our sister locals.

That’s all the news for now.  Hope to see everyone in Portland at our next meeting and hoping we can find some way to get our members in Spokane involved more with the day to day of the Local.  Eboard, anyone?

Peace out and smoke them if you got them.

Roster 10/16/09