VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[colinsz1]

Hello, I was just wondering for those of you who are members of either SAG or AFTRA or both, how did you get into the Union and how were the initiation payments handled? Thanks.

[Jason Huggins]

There is a huge thread on everything related to union matters. Run a search and check the catacombs.

[Lizden]

SAG & AFTRA joined together to form one Union last year.

There's a bunch of info here: SAG-AFTRA One Union

I'm not Union at this point, but I know many others here are...just thought I'd put the link up here FYI
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[Bob Bergen]

http://www.sagaftra.org/content/steps-join

This direct link has all that info. The current membership requirements mirror legacy SAG requirements. When legacy AFTRA existed you could purchase a membership with no previous work requirements necessary. Those who were sole members of either legacy SAG or AFTRA pre merger were made full members of SAG-AFTRA post merger. It depends where you live and what you want out of your vo career that will factor into whether you should join the union. Joining SAG has always been a difficult hurdle but also a huge goal for actors living in the major markets. Many who'd not been able to cut a break joining SAG before the merger joined AFTRA with the hopes that merger would go through, which it did. I had dozens of students in this situation. They couldn't compete on a national level and could not get good Los Angeles vo representation without being SAG. They also saved almost 50% of the current initiation of $3000 by joining AFTRA pre merger. It was a wonderful brief window of opportunity that I doubt will ever happen again.

[Rick Riley]

[Bob Bergen]

I got in at a good time in the world of vo. A time when the majority of working vo actors worked union. That's kinda flip flopped.

But since you asked, here's how I got in. Keep in mind this was after 4 years of non stop vo classes. I was more than ready to join the union and compete on a national level. A week after high school I was Taft Hartey'd into SAG working on the cartoon Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends. SAG was my first union. I then joined AFTRA, which at the time your second union was half off. I already had my first agent, as back then top LA agents took chances on new/non union talent. That's rare these days. (I told you, this was a good time in the industry)

Now, as for you joining the union, you need to decide what you want out of your career. From the get go, I wanted a pension and health benefits from my vo work. Plus residuals. I had to be union.

Times have changed. Because of technology more and more is non union, and there are fewer union opportunities in many areas of the country. You need to decide what you want out of your career. For me, there was no question. I had to work union. As 50 approaches the pension I've built up is a blessing. For most of my career qualified actors paid zero health benefit premiums. Today due to the state of health care we pay about $75 a month. Nothing compared to most people.

Now, don't get me wrong!! Committing to working union is not easy. There were many years with day jobs. Night jobs. Lots of em! But I stood more to lose by perpetuating the trend working non union. In the career long run, getting a second or third day job was a much smarter strategy than taking non union work just to pay the bills. Plus, I knew the damage that would do to my fellow actors and the industry as a whole. Just couldn't live with myself knowing I had a hand in that.

But again, you need to decide what you want out of your career. For a certain level of success, or even opportunities for a certain level of success, you must be union.

[Bruce]

I got into the union because I went to work for a radio station in California ages ago that was all union. I'm sure initiation fees were fairly small back then and probably came out of my paycheck. As soon as I left though I suspended my union membership because I'd moved back to a right-to-work state (Arizona) where I could work union or not as I pleased.

Since you live in a union oriented state (for the moment), joining SAG/AFTRA could be a lonnnnnggg-term goal of yours. But get a lot of work first. Get known. Get to be good.

You don't have to be a great performer to be union (and we've seen plenty of examples of that) but, for most producers to go through the busy work of bringing you into the union you have to give them good reason.

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[colinsz1]

[Bob Bergen]

I don't believe there is a payment plan. But there is a way you can take out a loan through the union to pay initiation fees once you qualify:
http://www.sagaftra.org/content/membership

Read through the union site. All of your membership questions and answers can be found there.

Read through this and other threads again as well. You need to decide if going and (or) working union is your career goal. Just know there are certain opportunities and benefits you can only achieve by being union. But that might not be for you, which is fine!! Every end of the work spectrum is possible.

That said, there's a certain little something that's a common denominator amongst the most successful union working voice actors. It's a "nothing will stop me/I'm willing to do anything/work harder than everyone else" philosophy. It's consistent. There are no excuses, and no short cuts are even fathomed. It's a drive. And it's not isolated to just voice actors. It's a need to succeed. It's euphoric. And there's just no fulfillment in settling for less. Always striving to improve and to reinvent. Willing to bend to trends, and never taking no for an answer.

[TLynch]

Bob Bergen wrote:

[Deirdre]

On board with everything Bob Bergen has said with one addition that Bob would never think of because it's not part of his modus vivendi:

Don't be a jerk.

Seriously.
Like— ever.

The farther up you go in this biz, the nicer people are.
Because nobody needs to work with an a$$h0l3— with the exception of celebrities— more than once.
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DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[Lee Gordon]

Before the merger, pretty much anyone willing to fork over the initiation fee and the dues could join AFTRA, whereas you had to have a union job in place to join SAG. After the merger, the SAG rules for eligibility are the standard. This has more or less rendered moot the advice I used to give anyone who asked: don't join the union until you land a job that requires it.

I think a lot of people who are new to the business or are hoping to enter it are under the impression that belonging to the union and/or having an agent are the keys to the castle. In a sense, they may be, but only after you have made your own way across the moat and over the drawbridge and are standing at the gates.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[bransom]

[Bish]

[Bob Bergen]