International Cinematographers Guild (600)

[Daniel Madsen]

Can you work on both the east coast and west coast as a 600 member?

 

and another question...

 

I am opting to apply for the 600 rather than waiting for the opportunity to be grandfathered in (and then applying). Do I need 100 documented and paid days within a certain period of time? I just got off the phone with a rep and he didn't mention any time period, but I wanted to make sure.

 

 

Best,

 

Dan

[David Mullen ASC]

You have to prove 100 days of paid work in your job category covering a three-year period within the U.S. or its territories. If you are a DP, days paid for prep count.

 

You can work anywhere, but you can only be considered a local in the region you claim to be a local in -- West, Midwest, or East. In other words, if you claim to be a West Coast local and you take a Local 600 job on the East Coast, then you have to be treated as a non-local -- i.e. the production has to provide housing, transportation, and a per diem. In other words, there is a financial burden for a production for hiring non-locals, or to put it another way, they are encouraged to hire locally first. So working as a local (flying yourself out there and putting yourself up) when you are not a local sort of subverts the intent of the rules.

 

Now some DP's who live in other parts of the country have declared themselves to be locals in Los Angeles because most of their work happens there, but occasionally find themselves getting a job in their own area and having to be treated as a non-local. But this is allowed, you just have to stick to the region you declare yourself to be a local of.

[Chris Keth]

I'll expand a little on what David said, since I spent much of my day running around in service of this very same purpose.

 

I hope you've kept good records; they will want quite good proof of those 100 paid days in a single job category.

 

1. They will need pay stubs or copies of paychecks (my bank will copy them for me when I deposit them).

 

2. They will want a signed letter from the production company or payroll company (on their letterhead) stating your name, SS#, phone number, address, the number of days worked, the dates worked, and the job you performed.

 

3. They also want deal memos. I have heard that you can get by with the above two since they are proof of the actual work, rather than something that went on beforehand. Either way, contract services is getting copies of my deal memos, too.

 

Then when you go to them, bring 2 good forms of ID (license, SS card, passport, etc). I know a few people who have gone there only to fill out half a form and go home because they forgot the proper identification.

[David Mullen ASC]

I was lucky when I joined -- one payroll company had handled my paychecks on over 100 days worth of work, so all it took was one letter from them for me to qualify. A letter from a payroll company saying which days you worked and were payed for, etc. carry a lot more weight than letters from low-budget producers, etc.

 

But Contract Services lost that letter... luckily I had kept a copy.

[Chris Keth]

Yeah, I only had to go to two payroll companies today. What took the longest is that I went to 500S Sepulveda near El Segundo before I realized that there are two 500S Sepulvedas. :blink: The ones I wanted was near The Getty.

 

Anyway, thanks for the reminder to give contract services copies and not originals. :)

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Does anybody know what the Union situation is for a non-us DP being asked to work on a union job?

[Chris Keth]

Does anybody know what the Union situation is for a non-us DP being asked to work on a union job?

 

That is a very, very good question that I do not have a clue how to answer. All I can do is give you the phone number for the western/national office: (323) 876-0160.

[David Mullen ASC]

Does anybody know what the Union situation is for a non-us DP being asked to work on a union job?

 

You can't really be denied the right to work, but there may be some issues for the producers regarding paying into the union pension & welfare program anyway for you, I don't really know. You'll probably be asked by the union to join and your fees may be waived or reduced, again, I hear different things. But you should be allowed to work on the job regardless.

[Brad Grimmett]

But Contract Services lost that letter... luckily I had kept a copy.

I had three or four different letters, and contract services lost every one of them, one at a time. I had heard this happened a lot and had copies too.

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Thanks Chris and David!

[Michele Peterson]

Does anybody know what the Union situation is for a non-us DP being asked to work on a union job?

 

There is an issue if you're non-union, not because you are non-US. IATSE is international (to some extent). If non-union people work for a union signatory company, you are undercutting DP's that have banded to have the power to together to negotiate more money and more benefits for everyone, so they aren't going to like it. You can definitely work for a union signatory company, but then you will be working under the union contract and you will be working toward getting your days to qualify for the union. The production company will have to jump through more hoops to be able to hire a non-union DP, but it is possible. They will have to have a good reason why they were unable to find a union DP.

Edited November 10, 2008 by Michele Peterson

[Alfeo Dixon]

You can work anywhere, but you can only be considered a local in the region you claim to be a local in -- West, Midwest, or East...

 

Now some DP's who live in other parts of the country have declared themselves to be locals in Los Angeles because most of their work happens there, but occasionally find themselves getting a job in their own area and having to be treated as a non-local. But this is allowed, you just have to stick to the region you declare yourself to be a local of.

David,

 

Midwest would actually be the Central Region. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.

 

If you live in the Central Region you are a local within you city of 'Residence,' and you get to choose NY or LA as your production city, which you can also work as a local-hire.

 

Does anybody know what the Union situation is for a non-us DP being asked to work on a union job?

Stephen,

 

You must join to work on a show under union contract, however you must be legally able to work in the US, to legally work in the US, you should hold a working visa more here: http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/visa_h1b.html

 

There is an issue if you're non-union, not because you are non-US. IATSE is international (to some extent). If non-union people work for a union signatory company, you are undercutting DP's that have banded to have the power to together to negotiate more money and more benefits for everyone, so they aren't going to like it. You can definitely work for a union signatory company, but then you will be working under the union contract and you will be working toward getting your days to qualify for the union. The production company will have to jump through more hoops to be able to hire a non-union DP, but it is possible. They will have to have a good reason why they were unable to find a union DP.

US territories, Canada & Mexico is the arm of the ICG.

 

Only in Right-to-Work (RTW) states, can they flat out hire someone non-union to work on a union show. The signatory company must exhausts all union possibilities in a non RTW state before offering employment to non-union people.

Edited November 21, 2008 by Alfeo Dixon

[Joshua Jackson]

Under extreme circumstances, what if you had 100 days worth of work according to your payroll stubs from one company (LLC)? What, in detail, constitutes a company in this sense?

[Marque DeWinter]

Production City...

Yeah I wish I didn't live in NY. Because if your in NY or LA you don't get a production city. And choose where you live very carefully. If you decide to change you have to wait 18 months in order to declare your production city. Ex. I have a place in Baton Rouge but if I make myself local there I can't work again in NY for 18 months as a local, only as a non-local hire. If your just getting in your production city is instant so if you live in Montana your production city can be LA and your local is the 90 mile radius from your home in Montana without having to wait. I was told there is an exception for either North Carolina or South Carolina (can't remember which) that if you move there your production city choice is still instant. Its best to call your regional office or the national office to get clarification.

 

~Marque DeWinter

[Michele Peterson]

Under extreme circumstances, what if you had 100 days worth of work according to your payroll stubs from one company (LLC)? What, in detail, constitutes a company in this sense?

 

 

If you can document 100 days of work in one position, then you should call contract services csatf.org to submit your paperwork if you are seeking to get into the union.

 

I'm not sure why you are concerned with what constitutes a company. It doesn't matter what company it is from or if it is a sole proprietorship, LLC, incorporated or whatever.. You could be an employee or independent contractor, freelance or staff. You just have to be able to prove you worked. Contract Services supposedly prefers pay stubs, but will sometimes also take call sheets or letters from production. The more documentation you have, the better.

Edited December 3, 2008 by Michele Peterson

[Adam Frisch FSF]

I've worked on a union shoot in LA and I'm not in the union. But then again what can they say - if the director wants my personal and unique abilities then another DP, although he might be a member and much more experienced or better, is just not a substitute. That would be to force a creative decision upon a director so they probably know to keep well out of that bee's nest.

[Max Jacoby]

I've worked on a union shoot in LA and I'm not in the union. But then again what can they say - if the director wants my personal and unique abilities then another DP, although he might be a member and much more experienced or better, is just not a substitute. That would be to force a creative decision upon a director so they probably know to keep well out of that bee's nest.

The union in the US is quite strong though. Last year a friend was not allowed to be the hair and make-up designer on a union project because she was not a member (and not based in the US either), although she had worked with the director already and even has one of these gold statues that Hollywood hands out each year. She could only have done the film as an actor's personal, which she didn't want to do.

[Guest Glen Alexander]

The union in the US is quite strong though. Last year a friend was not allowed to be the hair and make-up designer on a union project because she was not a member (and not based in the US either), although she had worked with the director already and even has one of these gold statues that Hollywood hands out each year. She could only have done the film as an actor's personal, which she didn't want to do.

 

Once again Max "Obi wan" Jacoby words of wisdom, taking one data point and extrapolating the entire relationship of humankind. :lol:

[Max Jacoby]

Nice to see that you're still your usual charming self Glen ;)

[Alfeo Dixon]

Production City...

Yeah I wish I didn't live in NY. Because if your in NY or LA you don't get a production city. And choose where you live very carefully. If you decide to change you have to wait 18 months in order to declare your production city. Ex. I have a place in Baton Rouge but if I make myself local there I can't work again in NY for 18 months as a local, only as a non-local hire. If your just getting in your production city is instant so if you live in Montana your production city can be LA and your local is the 90 mile radius from your home in Montana without having to wait. I was told there is an exception for either North Carolina or South Carolina (can't remember which) that if you move there your production city choice is still instant. Its best to call your regional office or the national office to get clarification.

 

~Marque DeWinter

 

NYC or LA are the production cities. The way it works in the Central Region is that your Residence can change, lets say I'm in Atlanta living and have NY as my production city. If I move to Detroit, that now becomes my Residence and I can no longer work in Atlanta as a local, because I am no longer a resident of Atlanta. As long as I still live in the Central Region, I keep my Production City of NYC to where I can still work as a local, because its my Production City.

 

18 months is also the period of changing residency so people don't start bouncing around from place to place as a migrant worker and that is why one can not leave NYC or LA and move to Baton Rouge. That's why there is the 18 month period before you can start to work back in NYC as a local for your Production City. No special exception, but you can work 60 miles from Residence or Production City without travel per diem and hotel.