PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
For the New Year, It's Back to Reality
by Lisa Zeno Churgin, A.C.E.
 Lisa Zeno Churgin, A.C.E. |
I know that it is well past the new year, but because our elections were being held in December, I did not write a column for the January issue. So I would like to take this opportunity to say Happy New Year, thank you for re-electing me, and to express my hope that 2008 gets better from where we stand as I write this in early January. I know that many of our members are being directly affected by the writers strike, and we can only hope that an agreement is reached very, very soon.
The occasion of our installation dinner for new and outgoing board members was quite memorable this year due to the Fellowship and Service Award that was given to Dede Allen, A.C.E. Warren Beatty presented the award to Dede, and his speech included some wonderful memories from their numerous times working together.
The love and admiration for Dede was truly palpable in the room that night, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. It was an honor to be part of an evening that paid tribute to an editor who has forged the path for so many of us––not only as a woman pioneer in the field, but also with her incredible talent and what she has taught us as students of her films.
During our January Board of Directors meeting, the Board again turned to the issue of organizing reality television shows. We all agreed on the importance of continuing to reach out to our colleagues working on non-union unscripted shows. Too many editors devote their professional lives to making something out of nothing––fashioning compelling drama without scripts as well as fashioning careers without the safety net of benefits and protections that a contract provides.
The Board discussed strategic approaches to organizing unscripted television,
and consensus emerged on a couple of key principles:
First, we agreed that post-production professionals are strongest when we
work in concert with the production crew, and therefore we should work with
other IA locals to simultaneously organize both post-production and production
staff whenever possible.
Second, we recognized that those editors working on unscripted shows need to be actively involved in helping to both formulate and execute the strategies for organizing reality television, and therefore we need to set up opportunities for members and non-members working in reality television to meet and collaborate with our organizing staff.
So, if you are working in reality television, or if you have any information about an unscripted non-union show that will be in production, please call to let someone in our Hollywood, New York or Chicago offices know.
And let us hope that by the time this column appears, the writers are back at work––and so are our members.