Departments

Wireless Class

The RF Microphone Clinic, taught by Thomas Popp, packs ten years of wiring skill into a one-day class. Being able to wire talent quickly and effectively is an essential skill in today’s movie and television environment. In this hands-on class, Thomas teaches set etiquette and addresses wardrobe challenges, unique wiring problems, wind protection—all the black arts of microphone concealment techniques. Due to the close interaction, seating is limited. Check the Education and Training resource at www.local695.com or contact edu@local695.com for class dates.

 iHeartRadio

NBC/Universal reversed direction and restored the IATSE contract for the live broadcast of the iHeart- Radio Awards. Many of the engineers working these award shows are IATSE members but, last year, NABET took the job away from us and they wanted to do it again this year. That contract was conspicuously inferior to the IATSE agreement and more than twenty Local 695 engineers working the show would have had to make concessions for NABET. Most particularly, they would have been forced to forgo contributions to their Health and Pension plans through MPIPHP. Local 695 acted quickly and sent out an email to the membership encouraging anyone affected to contact NBC/ Universal and express their reluctance to working under a contract that didn’t meet their health and welfare needs. NBC/Universal management reconsidered their options and, on March 23, only days before the scheduled broadcast, they restored the IATSE contract. It’s a good outcome from vigilance at the Local and active participation of the membership!

Fellowship and Service Award

We swell with pride at the announcement that Joe Aredas Sr. is this year’s recipient of the Fellowship and Service Award from the Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG). He received the award at a dinner at the Sheraton Universal on May 2. The Fellowship and Service Award recognizes an individual who embodies the values the Guild holds most dear: Professionalism, Collaboration, Mentorship, Generosity of Spirit and a Commitment to the Labor Movement. Joe Aredas is one of our own, having served Local 695 as Assistant Business Representative from 1980 to 1987, and his son, Joe Jr., presently serves as our Field Representative. Joe Sr. has served in many other capacities including on the Board of Directors of the MPEG, on the Board of the Motion Picture Pension and Health Plans, as Vice President of the California Labor Federation and others.
 

LA Sound Mixers Flea Market

The first of what will hopefully be a regularly scheduled production sound flea market meet took place on Saturday, February 28, 2015. Chris Howland, a Local 695 member, organized the event and invited anyone in the sound community to bring in gear they were no longer using. Glen Trew, also a 695 member as well as an equipment retailer, graciously provided space (and rain protection) at his new Burbank location and a taco truck was available for refreshments. Twenty-five sellers offered gear ranging from cables to mixers to more than a hundred shoppers over the three-hour event. There were bargains to be had and many deals were completed.

Sharknado Strike List

These 695 members, and some prospective members, recorded their names on the sign-in sheets at Sharknado picketing locations. We are grateful to them, and others who may have walked the lines without signing in, for their participation.

Erratum

The Fall 2014 edition of the 695 Quarterly correctly identified Ray Lindsay, Edward McKarge, William McKarge and Ric Teller as members of the production team responsible for The 56th Annual Grammy Awards, an Emmy-winning special on CBS. However, we failed to indicate with bold type that they are all members of Local 695.
 

In Memoriam

MICHAEL D. DAVIS
Utility Sound Technician
August 29, 1982 – January 9, 2015

SALVADOR OLIVAS
Projectionist
April 29, 1941 – March 20, 2015

Where Is Local 695 Heading?

Lately, our Local has seen a dramatic surge in member participation. Yes, we’ve had big turnouts at recent membership meetings, the last several of which have seen twice as many members as we used to have. But it’s much more than that.

Last month, our members took a lead role in the Sharknado 3 job action, packing the picket line with Sound Engineers, Video Engineers and Projectionists, sending an unmistakable disincentive to this and other Producers who set out to abuse their crews.

Also last month, our Local, and more than twenty Local 695 members on the crew, came through to deliver a decisive, lastminute knockout punch to NABET’s attempt to steal NBC/ Universal’s iHeartRadio Awards broadcast from an IA contract.

Last summer, after our members flooded the mailboxes of California Assembly members and walked the state house halls in Sacramento, our persistent efforts were rewarded with passage of a powerful new Film Tax Incentive program that, over the next few months, will have a dramatic impact on film job growth for our members. And, with AB 1839 under our belt, we intend to continue to play an active role in state politics as a member of the CIC (California IATSE Coalition, formerly the EUC, Entertainment Union Coalition). Under the CIC, we’ll be taking on issues that will positively affect our members at work and in their personal lives.

With new technology, Local 695 Engineers have done nothing less than transform the way motion pictures and television shows are produced and exhibited. Harnessing the potentials of digital technology, Local 695 Sound and Video Engineers now have more options and more flexibility to record and playback, enabling them to deliver more services to the employer than ever before. That means more equipment requirements and a bigger workload for both sound and video, and we have contract language that requires proper man/woman-power for both. For the Sound Engineers, if you are asked to work with a two-person crew, you must direct the production to the Local to request a waiver of the Utility Sound Technician because no Local 695 member can waive any provision of the contract, including the Utility Sound Tech. For Video Engineers who are being asked to perform more and more services on production, you can have an assistant if you point the employer to Paragraph 56 of our contract. Better yet, call the Local and ask for assistance. We have been very successful in demonstrating to the employer the added benefit of an assistant for the Video Department. So for both sound and video, you can make the difference.

Without question, the members define this Local’s future. And there’s so much more we can do working together in partnership. How involved are you in your Local? On what committees will you participate? This is your future. The answer to the original question is simple: “Where is Local 695 heading?” Where you take us.

Scott Bernard
Business Representative

Contributors to this edition

Rosa Costanza Tyabji
Rosa Costanza Tyabji has worked for over a decade as a Sound Mixer, as a Boom Operator and as a Utility Sound Technician. She has worked on locations in North America, India & Africa. Rosa is also a producer of films, music videos and of Grammy-selected music albums. She co-owns and operates an independent record label (Limitless Sky) and publishing company. She is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) and is a publisher-member of ASCAP and BMI. She is the third generation of her family to work in TV and film, and grew up immersed in the behind-the-scenes processes.

Peggy Names
Peggy Names picked up her first fishpole after graduating with an MFA from USC in 1975. She joined Local 695 in 1977 as the first female Boom Operator. During her career, she has worked as Boom Operator and Utility Sound Technician on many commercials and television shows, but her main area of expertise lies in motion pictures. Her credits include Oz the Great and Powerful, Alice in Wonderland, The Hangover Part II, Castaway, Minority Report and Enemy of the State. In December, Ms. Names was elected to her second term as Trusteeof Hollywood’s IATSE Local 695. She is retired now after thirty-nine years, but her son, Alex Names, is forging his own path in sound.
Jennifer Winslow
Jennifer Winslow became a member of Local 695 in 1990, after working as a Utility Technician on films in Los Angeles and Dallas, Texas. She has been a Boom Operator on feature films, commercials and episodic TV, and recently has been working as a Utility Technician, while she raises her (fourteen-year-old) twins. She has worked on many films, including Problem Child, Lone Star, Spiderman 2, and Be Cool. Her television credits include Chicago Hope, Cold Case, Star Trek Deep Space 9, The Pretender, 7th Heaven, Family Affair, The Secret Life of the American Teenager and The Neighbors. Jennifer holds a bachelor of arts from UMASS Amherst and a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA. She enjoys writing and is happy to be a contributor to the Quarterly.

Cabell Smith
Cabell began mixing in the 1970s in New York, beginning in news, moving to documentaries, then features and, after the birth of her two children, to commercials. She moved to California in 1991, retiring in 2006. She now divides her time between Los Angeles and the Virginia Piedmont, where she manages a farm. She has just finished writing her first book, a mystery set in central Virginia. Mindful of how much our technology has shrunk with the advent of handheld devices, the plot revolves around “a geeky female journalist detective and her smartphone!”

Mary Jo Devenney
Mary Jo Devenney has been a Boom Operator and Sound Mixer of films and TV shows for more than thirty years. She enjoys being paid to witness wonderful entertainment firsthand and being in a position to capture it for others.

David Waelder
David has recorded sound for films for several decades and has been an editor of the 695 Quarterly since its inception six years ago.

Photos courtesy of the respective contributors

Welcome to the spring edition
of our 695 Quarterly.

We are seeing large and enthusiastic turnouts at our meetings, organizational drives and in the formation of a number of committees. This real growth in rank-and file participation is an affirmation of the true spirit in our professional community. It is being widely recognized in the larger entertainment world and we are benefiting; the word is out.

In this issue you will see an important recognition of the professional women in our ranks. Their strength, history and contributions have always been integral to our progress and we are grateful for the voices contributing to this issue. Please take note: professional is the key word here as gender is only one aspect of this group of very seasoned pros. Some of these members are true pioneers in breaking down workplace barriers, past and present. However, the common thread of this diverse group is their excellence at managing their successful careers.

Because the stewardship of our history has long been a personal interest of mine, I am delighted to announce the formation of a History Committee chaired by Andy Rovins. If you have any interest or materials that may relate to this endeavor, please be sure to contact Andy at history@local695.com.

Finally, I’d like to express recognition and gratitude to David Waelder for his long years of service as one of our editors. Almost fifteen years ago, we asked David to come and help edit our nascent newsletter, the precursor of the current Quarterly. He generously jumped right in and journeyed the often-complex task with grace. He has stepped down and handed his responsibilities to another of our long-serving editors, Richard Lightstone.

Thank you, David, and congratulations, Richard.

Spring is here.

Carpe diem!

Warmest regards,

Mark Ulano, CAS, AMPS

IATSE Local 695 President

by David Waelder

We are pleased to bring attention, long overdue, to the women members of our Local. Cabell Smith tells of her adventures in a changing environment beginning in the early seventies. Working news for NBC in New York, she came in contact with all the major players in that turbulent time from a Man on a Wire to mafia hits. Coming to Los Angeles, she joined Local 695 in 1992 and pursued a career as a commercial Mixer. Mary Jo Devenney had an equally circuitous path in her career and credits some of her success to an independent-minded cast member named Two Socks. Peggy Names and Jennifer Winslow provide a spirited defense of the Utility Sound position. Finally, we have Rosa Costanza Tyabji’s compilation article that introduces us to nearly two dozen women in the Local today.

Also, check out our account of the strike action against Asylum Productions and Sharknado.

Finally, this issue marks my last as managing editor of the 695 Quarterly. Richard Lightstone, one of the original editors and longtime partner in this venture, will assume the responsibility of managing editor for future issues. The last six years have been a challenge, an opportunity to expand my horizons through contact with the many disciplines represented by the Local and a chance to grow with the enterprise. I thank you.

Fraternally yours,

Eric Pierce, Richard Lightstone and David Waelder