695 Casino Night Fundraiser for MPTF
by Laurence Abrams
Picture this. It’s a beautiful warm August evening at sunset. You’re outside under a tent at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City. Some of your best Local 695 friends are there, along with wives and husbands. There’s great food and cold drinks and the music is just right. A sound mixer masquerading as a magician is walking around performing tricks that could be easily confused with actual magic. Seriously (Thank you, Thi Dinh!).
Over two dozen great raffle prizes are just waiting to be given away, from a 55-inch Samsung 4K TV to Dodger dugout seats, multiple Orca bags, a Mini CMIT DPA shock mount, and quite a lot more. There are stacks of chips (all from play money, of course) to use at poker, craps, roulette, and blackjack tables. If that’s not enough, the Young Workers Committee is there to give everyone a chance to donate to the IATSE PAC Fund. Well now, that’s beginning to sound a whole lot like Local 695’s Casino Night Fundraiser for the Motion Picture Television Fund (MPTF)!
Fun was had by all. Big thanks for the night go to Linda Skinner at Local 695, Arlene Glassner and VanAn Tranchi at MPTF, and to all the great sponsors who came out to support the event, including the Cinema Audio Society, First Entertainment Credit Union, Orca, Keycode, Avid, 16×9, and Warner Bros. Production Sound & Amp Video Services.
Thanks to everyone who joined us for a great night and for a great cause. Every year, the MPTF provides much-needed assistance to Local 695 members at times when they need it the most. It’s our way of saying thank you MPTF!
Family Picnic
The Local 695 Family Picnic kicked off the fall season at the Van Nuys Sherman Oaks War Memorial Park with a bang, or rather a run, play, and jump! Children jumped and played as parents enjoyed much-needed family fun!
Two bounce houses, hot wheels tracks, a catered lunch, Kona-shaved ice, face-painting, henna tattoos, bubble making, lawn games, super-sized games of Checkers, Jenga, Connect 4, video games for tweens/teens, and a voter registration table made for a wonderful time with family and colleagues, on a beautiful Sunday in September. We showed our 695 spirit, as more than one hundred and twenty members and families came out to enjoy our day! Everyone enjoyed lunch, catered by Bruce’s. Of course, as is after any healthy lunch, mounds of candy rained down upon our children after they finally broke open two piñatas! Many thanks to Executive Board member Juan Cisneros CAS for proposing a family picnic to the Board, and making this a reality. We are very grateful to our many volunteers who came out and helped set up, and then break down the picnic.
Chris Howland CAS and Jennifer Winslow, Picnic Co-chairs, along with the Guild Activities Committee, planned the event, with expert guidance from Dorothea Sargent. Business Rep Scott Bernard spoke on the importance of voter registration, and urged every union member to vote in March 2020.
The best part of the day was being together with our families who often sacrifice so much to make it possible for us to go to work.
Pride Parade
695 supports LGBTQIA community and marches in the Pride Parade. A warm sunny day lent an air of excitement as our 695 members joined with other IATSE locals to raise the banner and represent! 695 member Sara Glaser and field rep Heidi Nakamura marched in solidarity with co-workers, friends, and family whose lives are impacted by the dawn of a new era. At the Convention, new language was introduced in the resolution committee whereby LA locals’ language will become gender-neutral in mailings and at meetings. Together, are promoting a more inclusive and understanding world, one step at a time. Well done, IATSE and 695!.
Dodgers Night
Lincoln Morrison, Carrie Sheldon, Kelly Ambrow, Chris Howland CAS, and Jordan Kadovitz
2019 LA Sound Mixers (LASM) Dodger Day took place on Sunday, July 21, 2019. Many Local 695 members attended with their friends and family to enjoy a beautiful evening at Dodger stadium.
Our good luck brought the Dodgers a win and sent the Florida Marlins back to sea! Many thanks to Chris Howland CAS and LASM for organizing the event! We hope to have twice as many 695 baseball fans join in next year, to enjoy this day of fun, food, baseball, and camaraderie.
New Members
Local 695 welcomes its new members
Alex Lowe Y-7
Martin Spencer Proj.
Ash Sutton Y-1
Austin Peck Y-7
James Nolte A2
Daniel Martinez A2
Jason Feller A2
Danny Cheung Y-4
Jabob Sedlar Y-1
Stuart Stilwell Proj
Benjamin Maus Y-8
Taylor Umphenour Proj.
Jeffrey Leemon Y-1
Julio Rocha Y-4
Jerremy Dell’Ova Y-1
Michael Dunwoody Y-1
Christopher Harris Y-1
Ashley Beliveau Y-9
Sam Ozrifaioglu Y-4
Jose Smith III Y-1
Connor Solomon Y-4
Paul Berry Y-7
Colin Parks Y-4
Young Workers Committee
The Young Workers Committee (YWC) would like to thank everyone who came by our table at the Casino Night and donated! Your contributions are going toward the important work being done by the IATSE PAC heading into this very important election cycle.
The YWC would also like to express our gratitude to Aaron Eberhardt for his two years of service as co-chair, and wish him the best of luck in his future ventures.
Our committee has more events coming up this fall, including a Get Out the Vote Night in November, in conjunction with the other Hollywood IATSE locals. If you’d like to get involved, send an email to nathan.whitcomb@gmail.com to get on our list. Members under thirty-five, new to the Local, or simply young at heart are welcome to get join. We’d love to have you!
In Memoriam
Dean Champlin
PROJ.
October 26, 1969 – July 8, 2019
Lee Alexander
Y-1
August 16, 1939 – July 25, 2019
Robert Heizer
Y-8
January 27, 1933 – October 13, 2018
Mark Sheret
Y-1
July 11, 1959 – August 29, 2019
Richard “Pat” Walsh
Y-7
February 15, 1954 – August 16, 2019