Venture: There are world-class sound stages here, amazing set locations, and top-tier talent with transferrable skills perfectly suited for working in the film industry. At any one time throughout the year, there will be countless shows and films of all kinds being shot in and around the city.
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I spoke to a set designer this week about film work happening down in Atlanta and her opinion on being in the union and working in film corroborates what this article states. The IA unions for film champions much better hours, safety, and wages for their members. It makes me wonder why theatre cannot seem to make this pivot? My gut says that the answer to that question lies in the phrase “it's always been done this way”. The people that teacher theatre practices use this phrase often – I’ve heard professors here at CMU across different concentrations in design and production says this on more than one occasion. The traditions of how theatre is operated and scheduled is so old and embedded into theatre culture that we think that we need to work in unsuitable conditions for ridiculous hours in order to make good art. That’s absolutely false and the pandemic is a perfect time to change that mindset, but somehow I think the racist, capitalistic, white supremacist hierarchy that exists at the helm of the organizations that “lead” the industry aren’t going to let that happen.
So what is the catch? Not to be the pessimist, but a lot of the time, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is not true. This article definitely makes me want to join IATSE Local 891, it lists A BUNCH of benefits like great opportunities, good networking, higher wages, sounds like there will be better benefits the longer I stay on as a member, et cetera. So what do I have to give in return? Follow more stringent safety guidelines? Doesn't seem like much of a catch. Do I have to pay more union dues? Are the benefits they offer not exactly what they say? Obviously, if everything is as cut and dry as they put it, all the better! Seems like a great union to join, but I'm still just a wee bit skeptical just because that's not usually how the world works. Definitely worth looking into more though!
Not going to lie but this article really just seemed like an advertisement for IATSE local 891 and a way for the union to get more members. I understand that the union allows you to work on union only jobs but I would like to hear statistics on how many jobs are union only and not just names on really popular union only jobs. For all I know joining the union is not the best thing you can do for your career or is not what I am looking for because I am not getting a complete picture of what I would be signing up for. I want to know the good and the bad of something before I am bound to it, especially something pertaining to my career. I want to also know exactly what makes a union worth it and will I as a brown woman get opportunities if I join this union or will it be something that stifles me. Truly I wonder if IATSE is something that is completely needed and helpful or is it something that everyone kind of signs up for but nobody knows what it does. I am also curious about what the process is like joining IATSE and what are the qualifications needed to join. Ultimately I think this article is a good starting point to let people know what is out there but they still need to do their own research to see if it is the right fit for them and their career.
This article sounds almost identical to the kinds of pamphlets I would get junior year of high school encouraging me to "go to this amazing college program" or "join this branch of the military" to undoubtedly "change my future". And while I know this is a super niche example it still garners the same skim to the bottom reaction from me. There are unarguably Many benefits to joining IATSE in any of its locals deepening on your physical location (or other unions depending on profession). This has been something that has always been professed to me by any theatre professional I have ever talked to. However, I rather selfishly wish that IATSE local 891 would find a way to make their opportunities and advertisements sound less like a military recruitment poster. I also wish that this article went into more detail about joining the union, and how to actually go about that. Rather than just "For more information and to become a member, visit the IATSE Local 891 website."
I was excited to read this article, but it really was just an advertisement for IATSE local 891. It sounds like there are tons of benefits to joining the local, but it can't be the cake walk to blockbuster film like the article states. I was hoping for some more concrete tips on entering the film industry. Sure, joining a union is an important step, but it's not the only thing you have to do. What should we do after joining the union? Surely we're not just going to get a phone call from Godzilla to work on his movie. Since this article is solely about local 891, who are THE people to know in this union? Who should we network with, what skills should we hone in on? It would be cool to read about all the details like that.
This is another pretty strange article that I have read this week. I think in general, most people agree that being a part of the union is a good thing in some situations. There are situations where I feel like it can be more limiting for a person and situations where I feel like it could be very beneficial for a person. The article really just made it seem like a big advertisement used for recruiting people. Every time I have ever looked into joining IATSE locals it has been extremely difficult to find any information or actually join. In some ways, this article makes it very easy for people to find out how to be a part of something great like this so that is actually a pretty good thing to come out of the strangeness of the article. I am interested in seeing what the union dues are because it does sound a little too good to be true.
It was actually a bit surprising to catch this article here today. I have actually been seeking out summer work in Los Angeles for the past couple of weeks, but have been struggling to find a place to start. While this article is specifying an IATSE union in Vancouver, I think it may be valuable to look into unipn work in Los Angeles as a place to begin and from there – after my experience of working on the showcase shoot, and getting a taste of what a film set is like, I am definitely hungry for more and would love to get more experience working on a film set. In the past, I have struggled to find any solid information on how to join an IATSE local, but local 891 has a very clear application page directly on their website, which is nice to see. I am interested to see where the summer will take me, if I end up finding a technical job or just find some other job to occupy myself this summer. Someday, though, I do hope to get to do more work on a film or television set, as I had a great experience doing it once already.
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