The Winter Park Public Library hosted a talk about SAG-AFTA. I had not been to the new library building, so I decided to go.
There is a huge arched structure in front of the very modern building so I walked through those arches into one of two adjacent buildings that sweep outwards a precarious angles from the base.
I masked up and entered the building which turned out to be an events space. There were no books to be seen. I felt I was on the wrong track, so I exited and went to the other building which actually did have books inside. There were tow computer consoles inside the entrance instead of a receptionist. I would need to search around for the talk in question. Luckily it was right behind the computerized reception desk. Off to the left was a recesses staging area with chairs set up and two actors seated at a table center stage. Video cameras were set up at the top of the mini amphitheater taping. The event had started 15 minutes early, so I felt I would not have much time to sketch. I decided not to sketch the cameras and instead walked half way down the seating area. I wanted to show that there were a few people in the audience.
SAG-AFTA is an actors union. Carol Baily and Adam Vernier have both done lots of commercial work as actors. Much of their talk was about doing work as extras on sets. Adam was particularity upset since Florida once had incentives for film production companies to shoot in the state. Rick Scott then became governor of Florida and he killed those incentives. Georgia offers incentives and so they get all the film production work instead of Florida. Even if a film is supposed tp take place in Florida it is usually shot somewhere else.
Carol listed instances on a film set where a production company ignored guidelines by not offering breaks for actors for instance. She listed the infringements and called SAG-AFTA. A union representative then came out and quietly pulled the producer aside and made sure things were set right. She noted one instance where she was an extra but was then upgraded since she was in so many scenes. Once lines are delivered salaries can jump up to six figures. Royalties are offered any time a commercial is shown. Royalties are an actors bread and butter, but they can be just a fraction of a percent, meaning a check might arrive for just a few cents. But hey as an artist every penny counts.
A question came from someone in the audience. He said his daughter had caught the acting bug and wanted advice on how she might someday get her SAG-AFTA membership. Adam was blunt. He said she should get out of acting while she can, but if she really has the bug there is no stopping her. Actors are born not made.
I looked up Carol and Adam on IMDB to see their credits. I had no luck finding information on Carol but found plenty on Adam. Adam Vernier was born in Manassas, Virginia. While living in Chicago at 5 years old, Vernier auditioned for and was the second choice for the part of “Danny” in the movie The Shining. Adam has worked for years on stage (Equity), television shows (SAG-AFTRA), feature films (SAG), straight to television movies (SAG-AFTRA), commercials (SAG), industrial training videos (SAG) and on and on. He is often cast as an officer or military guy. Now I am wondering if either of them are in one of the films being shown at the Florida Film Festival.
Danny Loyd who did play the roll of Danny in the Shining, retired from acting at the age of 10. In 2019, Lloyd appeared in a cameo role as a spectator at a baseball game in the Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, his first acting role in 36 years. I do not know if he was in SAG-AFTA.
Facebook for some reason has recently started flooding the social media site with photos of celebrities. Because of that I have started to ignore the platform.
