NEWS FROM CONTRACT AFFAIRS
KNOW YOUR ELECTRONIC CAPTURE RIGHTS
Every SDC contract contains electronic capture protections. These provisions vary from contract to contract. In some instances, additional minimum payments are required. In others, the terms of the capture must be entirely negotiated between the SDC Member, the producer, and SDC. Often, the producer is allowed to capture portions of the production to use for promotional purposes and/or make an archival capture without making additional payments. Because these provisions are so varied, it is important that you read and understand the Electronic Capture provisions of the Agreement you are working under. SDC can offer suggested language regarding screen credit and placement to you and/or your agent. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call the SDC offices.
BE RECOGNIZED FOR YOUR DEVELOPMENTAL WORK
During these past few years, the Union has been fighting hard to secure either an employment contract and/or benefit payments in recognition of a director’s and choreographer’s work on developmental projects. Whether the recognition is in the form of a fully executed contract or benefit remittance form, the following jurisdictions acknowledge your work through SDC: LORT, Off-Broadway, ANTC, and now with the newly negotiated Broadway agreement. (The Broadway contract recognizes workshops and labs effective September 1, 2015 and AEA 29-hour readings effective January 1, 2016.)
For any developmental work you do that is not party to another collective bargaining agreement, we urge you and your agent/representative to present the SDC promulgated developmental contract to the producer or general manager. To download the SDC Developmental Contact, click here.
Contact any of the SDC Business Representatives to find out more about the developmental contract:
Mauro Melleno: MMelleno@SDCWeb.org
Randy Anderson: RAnderson@SDCWeb.org
Adam Levi: ALevi@SDCWeb.org
Kristy Cummings: KCummings@SDCWeb.org
A CURIOUS INCIDENT OF PROCESS
by Member Lorin Latarro
Part of a series of essays by the Broadway Associate Steering Committee
There I was, alone in Spain, standing in front of a series of fifty-eight oil paintings by Picasso called Las Meninas. Picasso had taken four years to paint Velazquez’s 17th Century masterpiece over and over; first faithful copies, then varying reinterpretations and allusions, to his final piece in the series. Historians consider the fifty-eighth iteration the center of Cubism. I felt exhilaration, awe, and absolute relief. It took Picasso four years to get to the painting with which he was satisfied.
I went to Spain by myself to focus on art history, for inspiration, as I hung up performing after fourteen Broadway shows and dance companies, to make the space and time to create solely as a Choreographer. I had been choreographing everything I could during those years, building a style and voice, yet ultimately my income and identity prior to that point came from dancing. I had a need and deep creative desire to choreograph… but if you do a Graham Fall on an empty stage, does anybody hear it? How do I get work? Build new relationships? Meet Directors? Pay rent? Receive health insurance?
Magically came a cold call from Michael Mayer asking me to be the Associate Choreographer on American Idiot. I told him he had dialed the wrong person. Laughing he said, “I know who you are, I’ve been watching your work. Meet Steven Hoggett and see how it goes,” smartly betting we’d all get along. The ensuing year was full of learning new techniques and teaching faithful interpretation. Yes, previously, I watched and listened in rehearsal rooms of every show I was in, lots of Broadway pre–production assisting too, but now I had no additional duties of performing- my paradigm shifted. I sat in production meetings, engaged in inner workings of process with two bonafide geniuses, and humbly absorbed how many times they were both comfortable saying, “I don’t know”. American Idiot led to additional Associate experiences with Steven including The Met’s Rigoletto and Curious Incident…, and wonderful others with Sergio Trujillo and Momix.
I was lucky enough to simultaneously choreograph my own work: Encore’s Fanny, Queen of the Night, Broadway’s Waiting For Godot, some Juilliard Operas, Lin- Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street at BAM, a recent Public Works at The Delacorte, and every benefit possible. Those early lessons in process and storytelling came in handy fast, helped develop my own voice, and most importantly gave me great models for considerate and contributive partnerships with Directors. But the gaps between personal projects were still wide. The business of art is seemingly less an Osha verified ‘vertical ladder’ and more like the Chutes and Ladders game. Instead of working outside my art to make a living wage in between my own choreographic work, I was happier inside a theatre, inside our community.
Associate work is hard. It is quiet work. It is egoless. It is exhausting. It takes serious organizational skills. I taught American Idiot to over twenty new cast members on Broadway and set the tour four times, carefully passing along Michael and Steven’s beauty and super-objectives to new members of the family. I worked months of pre-production and cast rehearsals with Sergio, dancing hard and fast, then notating. Momix was a constant delicate negotiation of group devising. Curious Incident has to remain as precise as our lead boy’s mathematical brain. Associate work demands creativity, articulation of ideas, patience and generosity in collaboration. Working under each incredible artist, unpeeling a show’s unique story, and passing it along, has been a labor of love and a responsibility held with high regard.
There was a period of two years in that time when I did not have any health insurance. I was working long hours and dancing hard daily without insurance. Luckily I never got acutely sick or injured, but I know others who weren’t so lucky. It was scary. I did go to Planned Parenthood downtown to have a free Pap smear and that deserves to be said aloud in the given climate. Associate work could be a satisfying and much needed full time career if given the support.
For me, the ratio of my own creative work has become full enough that I am giving up the workload as the Associate Choreographer of Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time. Grateful that my dance card as Choreographer is filling up, bittersweet to leave such a beautiful creative team and cast. I am looking forward to my next project, Broadway’s Waitress with Diane Paulus. I, as taught by my mentors, will have the courage to say, ‘I don’t know’, but have faith in the time spent and knowledge learned in the creative space. I love those fifty-eight oil paintings; each beautiful on their own, each a reminder that all of us are in constant artistic process.
Lorin Latarro choreographed The Odyssey at The Delacorte, Lin Manuel Miranda’s 21 Chump Street and Peter and the Wolf at BAM, Broadway’s Waiting For Godot, Beaches at Drury Lane, Kiss Me Kate at Barrington, Company and Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Bucks County where she is an Artistic Associate, performed in Movin’ Out, Fosse, Swing and ten other Broadway shows. Upcoming choreography includes Michael John LaChiusa’s Rain at The Old Globe, Broadway’s Waitress, Debra Barsha’s Taste Of Things To Come and a world premier opera at The Met. Lorin is the founder of Artists Against Gun Violence seen at artammo.org and is an Adjunct Professor at her alma mater, The Juilliard School.
NEWS FROM MEMBER SERVICES
CONVERSION +
As SDC moves closer to the moment when the new system will be live, we expect there will be some bumps in the transition both internally and externally, but we are excited nonetheless. One of the main reasons for converting from the current system is to be able to take advantage of technological developments since the last system was implemented in 1998. Such advancements will allow Members online access to keep personal information up to date and to track the status of contract filing. It will allow negotiating committees and staff a deeper base for statistical analysis in support of negotiations. Membership dues and assessments, and when those payments are due, will be tracked with more precision than was available previously. It is important for all Members to be mindful of what is due and when.
KNOW YOUR BY-LAWS
DUES AND ASSESSMENTS (Article XI A)
All dues for the coming calendar year are due and payable January 1. Dues not received by April 1 will be subject to a penalty fine, determined by the Executive Board, for each quarter during which they have not been paid.
All assessments on any income earned within a quarter are due and payable at the end of the following quarter. Assessments not paid on time are subject to a penalty fine determined by the Executive Board, for each quarter during which they have not been paid.
SUSPENSION (Article XII)
Members may be suspended. Any Member, who is delinquent for one (1) quarter (i.e. ninety (90) days) in dues, assessments, and/or initiation fee, and for thirty (30) days in fines, shall be deemed not in-good-standing and will be suspended from Membership.
The “penalty fine” referred to in the By-laws is currently $25 or 5% of the outstanding balance, whichever is greater.
No one wants a penalty or to be Suspended. Keeping these By-laws in mind will help avoid such occurrences.
For a full copy of the SDC By-laws and/or Work Rules go to http://sdcweb.org/member-services/members-only-password-protected/ and enter the password as it appears under “Members Only” in the right column of this E-News. (NOTE: The password changes quarterly and appears each month in the E-News.)
LA MEMBERSHIP MEETING
SDC is hosting a Membership Meeting early next year for LA-area Members. Please join us on January 11, 2016 at 6 p.m. Location TBD.
Executive Board President Susan H. Schulman, SDC Executive Director Laura Penn, and West Coast Business Representative Kristy Cummings will be in attendance. Please RSVP by Thursday, January 7, 2016 to Associate Director of Member Services Jennifer Toth: JToth@SDCweb.org. Light food and drinks will be served.
JOB ALERT: ASSOCIATE OR FULL PROFESSOR OF DIRECTING & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF HERITAGE THEATRE FESTIVAL
The University of Virginia Department of Drama invites applicants for a tenure-eligible position as Associate or Full Professor of Directing and Artistic Director of Heritage Theatre Festival. During the academic year, the Department expects the successful candidate in this 9-month faculty position to: lead the Department’s directing component, deliver the directing curriculum for the BA Drama program, direct in the Department’s mainstage season, and collaborate with the graduate theatre programs (currently offering four MFAs: Acting, Scenic Design &Technology/Technical Direction, Costume Design & Technology, and Lighting Design). This faculty position follows a 2/2 teaching & directing assignment structure with potential to teach courses in areas of specialization. Under a separate summer contract, the new hire will assume leadership as Artistic Director of the Heritage Theatre Festival, UVa’s resident professional summer theatre. The Artistic Director will be in residency during the HTF season with preparation and ongoing collaboration with the HTF creative teams and the Department Business Manager during the academic year. The Artistic Director oversees summer season selection, casting, hiring and budgeting as well as community development and fundraising.
Interested? Members in goodstanding have access to SDC’s online job board. Access through the Members Only section of the website. Password available only to Members in goodstanding; it can be found in the side column of this E-News each month.
SDC-LEAGUE PENSION & HEALTH FUNDS
PENSION CREDIT STATEMENTS FOR PLAN YEAR 2015
We are pleased to advise you that an update to your Statement of Pension Credits is now available. The Statement will provide you with an update on your accrued credits in the SDC-League Pension Fund, as well as an estimate of your monthly pension at age 65 based on contributions accrued through the end of Plan Year 2015 (August 31, 2015). If you would like to receive your updated Statement, please send an email request to Pension@SDCweb.org with the subject “Pension Credits”. Please note that productions with first rehearsal dates after August 31, 2015 accrue to Plan Year 2016, and will not be included on the current Statement.
The productions shown on your statement include only those under SDC jurisdiction that required employer contributions to the Fund, and for which appropriate SDC form contracts were filed. No credit can be given without a properly executed and timely filed SDC form contract.If you believe that any of the information included in your Statement is incorrect, please contact us by email at Pension@SDCweb.org. As always, if you have any questions regarding your entitlement to benefits through the SDC-League Funds, give us a call at (212) 869-8129.
YOUR PENSION BENEFITS…DO YOU KNOW WHO YOUR BENEFICIARY IS?
As you may know, pre-retirement death benefits are available to the beneficiaries of members who are vested in the SDC-League Pension Fund. It is very important that a beneficiary form be on file in the Fund Office designating your beneficiary. It is not enough to name your beneficiary in your will. Legal counsel advises us that the beneficiary designation form functions as a contract and takes precedence over a will, even if the will carries a more recent date than the signed card. If you have not filled out a form, or if you are not sure who is recorded as your beneficiary, please contact John Everson at the Fund Office at (212) 869-8129 or by email at JEverson@SDCweb.org.
Following is a summary of your options for designating a beneficiary. Please note that while federal law applies to the entitlement of spouses to pension benefits, the Trustees have endeavored to equalize the options available to you regardless of your marital status.
If you are single:
– Anyone may be named as your beneficiary.
– An institution or trust may be named.
– If no one is named, the benefit is paid to your estate.
If you are married:
– Your spouse must be your beneficiary unless he/she waives his/her entitlement.
– If your spouse waives his/her entitlement, anyone may be named.
– If your spouse waives his/her entitlement, an institution or trust may be named.
– If no one is named, your spouse is your beneficiary.
Again, if you have questions regarding this important matter, or any other pertaining to your entitlement to benefits through the SDC-League Funds, don’t hesitate to call.
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MARKETPLACE OPEN ENROLLMENT
If you do not qualify for benefits through the SDC-League Health Fund and do not have access to another group health plan or Medicare, the Affordable Care Act Marketplace may be your best option for purchasing affordable health insurance.
The Marketplace open enrollment period is now underway and runs through January 31, 2016 for coverage beginning January 1, 2016. Most people who apply through the Marketplace qualify for premium tax credits and savings on out-of-pocket costs based on household size and income.
Under the Affordable Care Act, most people must either have health coverage or else pay a penalty to the federal government. If you have not had coverage in 2015, you may be liable for a penalty of either 2% of your household income that exceeds the tax filing threshold (this amount was $10,500 for an individual for 2014), or $325 per adult ($162.50 per child under 18), capped at $975 per family. Also, please note that penalties will increase in 2016 (for people who don’t have coverage in 2016). For up to date information, answers to your questions, and guidance on applying for coverage, log on to www.Healthcare.gov.
For questions, contact John Everson in the New York City Funds Office at JEverson@SDCweb.org or by phone at (212) 869-8129. Our address; along with SDC, SDC-League Pension & Health Funds is located at 321 W. 44th Street, Suite 804, New York, NY, 10036. www.SDCLeagueFunds.org