I have been a member of the Screen Actors guild for fifteen years and have served on the S.A.G. Guild Government Review Committee (3 years), S.A.G. Women's Committee (5 years) and S.A.G. National Backgroung Committee (2 years).

I am currently serving on the National Health Care and Safety Net Committee and have been for 5 years. Our bi-annual health fairs and a great success and I am personaly in charge of the vegan tables, food samples and magazines from Vegan Outreach PCRM and Pita.

I am an executive member of "The Wild Bunch of Hollywood".

I used to do background years ago so this is impotant to me...

Background calling services... must be regulated. Most of them take 30-40 percent! They should only be allowed to operate with non-union talent. the jobs should all go back to the casting agents and put up on the hot lines. This systems reeks of nepotism, favoritism, payola and extortion.
Everyone I talk to that is in a calling service agrees that they should at least be be regulated.
It is outrageous that most people only average 1-3 days a month and they are paying on average, 30-40% of the income that they get from the calling service.
Our S.A.G. President has told me he thinks they should be regulated and he should act on this. The only reason they continue to operate this way is because they can. Regulating what S.A.G. members pay them will not destroy their business because they would be free to take on more S.A.G. members if they were only taking 15% of 1-3 days work.
If a SAG actor were to get 20 days in a given month they should just pay the 75 dollars (or whatever the fee is) and not the 15%.
Under the present system too many calling services take advantage of SAG actor by stringing them along for months only getting them 1 or 2 jobs each month until they quit. but they keep the cash at 30-40 percent. It's BAD.
The only people who will be apposed to this regulation of calling services will not be SAG members.

16 years ago S.A.G. took over the Screen Extras Guild and has never kept the promise to create equality between New York and Hollywood . HOLLYWOOD S.A.G. Background Artists are being SCREWED! Compare the numbers! The dues and initiation fees are the same as New York but Hollywood gets so much less !

KEEP IN MIND THAT NEW YORK PRODUCTION WAS UP 35% WHILE LA SAW A DROP OF 23% DURRING THE 2006 PILOT SEASON BECAUSE OF RUNAWY PRODUCTION!!

20 years ago New York and Hollywood both had 75 for TV and 125 for features. Also, the TV/theatrical zone was a 300 mile radius. We used to have a 'silent bit' provision that was 50% higher than the base rate. There was a time when the background rate was 1/3 of the principal day rate but it is now only 1/6 of the principal rate . The struggling actors are getting screwed!

Not paid for by S.A.G.funds