So.  I’ve been cast in one of the lead roles in this play, “Truth and Truth,” for the University of Iowa’s New Play Festival 2009.  The cast is phenomenal and I can’t wait to get to work on it.  Our first rehearsal is on Saturday afternoon.  I’m super pumped about it. 

Also, I just found out that this pilot I’ve been cast in is actually for FOX, not the Big Ten Network, as I’d originally been told.  (Hel-LO, hot new credit on my resume!)  I think I only have like three lines in the whole thing, but I’m all about it.  I just hope the producers can figure out all of SAG’s required paperwork before we go into production. 

Speaking of SAG…

(WARNING: here comes a rant!)

…I rushed home after class today to call SAG before they closed to try and figure out what they’ll need from my producers.  I called with ten whole minutes to spare—and they literally put me on hold for the ENTIRE TEN MINUTES before a recording came on to tell me their offices were now closed.  So lame. 

I have to say, I am growing increasingly disenchanted with SAG these days, especially since I recently found out they do nothing to promote SAG work in Iowa. 

Also, when I had a contract question a few months ago, I called my union for their sage advice and the head of the agency contracts department was totally rude and dismissive to me, when I asked if the department would look over a contract I’d been asked to sign.  I mean, this is the guy who told me himself in my SAG orientation that “that’s what we’re here for,” and “call us anytime and we’ll be happy to look over any contract you’re asked to sign.”  “We’re here to help protect you,” he said.  …But his story was entirely different over the phone when I called with an actual issue.  “We don’t have any SAG Franchised agencies in Iowa,” he said, as he flatly refused to review my potential contract.  And then again, “We don’t have any SAG Franchised agencies in Iowa,” he repeated curtly, right before he hung up on me.  (Really helpful in uniting the masses, dick!)  The experience really made me want to punch my union in the face rather than give them a percentage of my hard-earned wages, I must admit.  (Well, luckily(?!), my acting wages aren’t very much, because I can’t get any film or TV work here…)  L   

Let’s be honest.  This is Iowa.  Not a lot of SAG work rolls through Iowa.  My union gives me the option of declaring myself “Financial Core,” so I can do non-union work if I want to, but if I choose to do so, I’d be forced to give up my rights as a SAG member.  I’d still have to pay my dues, but I’d no longer be able to vote in SAG elections or receive SAG’s healthcare, among other things.  Then, if at some point I wanted to become a full-fledged member again, I’d be forced to sit before a panel of SAG board members and plead my case—why I went FiCore and why I want back in—and beg and grovel and kiss their asses.  The process is said to be humiliating, and in most cases the panel denies members’ requests for reinstatement into the union. 

…And so, I will continue to sit here in Iowa, (im)patiently waiting, “honing my craft,” until such time as I can move back into a major market and start from square one again after my two year hiatus in a “right to work” state. 

Bullshit.

(Theeeeeee…END.)