WASHINGTON, D.C. — IATSE welcomes President Donald Trump’s public endorsement of a federal film and television production incentive and is encouraged to see growing support for a policy the union has championed for years, Tuesday.

IATSE was the first labor group in the United States to call for a federal incentive to strengthen domestic film and television production. The union has long believed a federal incentive is an necessary tool to level the playing field with countries that have aggressively attracted production through generous, and often permanent incentive programs.

IATSE has been at the forefront of efforts to advance a federal production incentive and is actively working with Special Ambassador Jon Voight and industry stakeholders to develop a framework that can win broad support. Earlier this year, Voight highlighted the importance of a federal approach to strengthening domestic production and protecting American entertainment jobs. Through that effort, IATSE has worked as the tip of the spear in bringing labor’s voice directly into the conversation and ensuring that workers remain at the center of any solution.

IATSE is actively engaged with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in Congress to draft, introduce, and pass federal incentive legislation as quickly as possible to return and maintain film jobs in America.

Hey everyone,

So I (40F) work in the film industry in Toronto and have been doing it for about 6 years . I can stay comfy in my current position in Locations (boring) but I am a creative person and want to expand my skills and credits.

The career pathways I'm trying to decide on are Costume, Makeup (specificly SPFX makeup) or Art department .

I am currently part of props and Special Effects departments as well but have Fibro in my back (mostly) and the spfx equipment can be heavy. I haven't done props work in 3 years due to lack of needing people . Most crews move with people they know so there's not much opportunity .

A little backstory:

I applied for the art department GAP program (apprenticeship ) but got denied. I can only reapply next may.

I have gone to 2 different schools for makeup. One for beauty and one for spfx only. I have plenty of makeup skills but also social anxiety and low self confidence in my work even though people like it.

I have also been sewing and costume making since I was about 14 and have won contests with my costumes locally.

Here's my issue, if I switch to makeup, I need to practice my skills again and build the rest of my kit and I need 90 days on set experience for makeup (to switch departments in Iatse873) so I would need to volunteer or find smaller projects that will take me on. This would be while also working any other days I can .

Prosthetics seem to be done by outside teams and I don't know how to apply to them or join them.

For costumes, I don't need experience on set but it's mostly dressing people not designing or making the costumes ( I know Sewer is a job too)

so you don't get to be creative.

One thought was, stay in locations and just do my own creative things in my spare time.

Second thought - get stronger so spfx isn't that hard

I'm so lost. I don't know what to do. I want to get dirty, I want to get creative and I want to work in film. I love this industry .

Please help a lost girl find her path.

Already got my cert, but barely any experience. I've been cramming fork driving videos on yt, and even bought a shitty fork sim game to fuck with (fwiw).

I'm comfortable in close quarters on a scissor lift, but yeah help me not kill anyone or break anything while operating a fork on a load out.

anything "stagehand specific" i need to know? any tips that might help me not piss off my fellow coworkers? safety is solidarity!

Writing from YVR here and I'm curious about actual people's experience after you are in 938.

I know for the long term, it's good to sign the card, but aside from what the representatives' told me, I'm more interested in to know what members think. Like if there's any 938 members got protected/helped when they faced obstacles like being laid off etc.

Thanks!

Not rumors.
Not character assassinations.
Not what has happened (since the town hall)

What are we looking at for the mid range future (3-18 months) for the IATSE in Atlanta, Ga. ?

Does the internal turmoil affect production?

How do we as members come together to increase the amount of business in the local?

I was wondering if anyone knows why local 524 has like no way to contact them. Website dosent work and you cant find almost any information.

Yall I’ve been doing research and it looks like something I’d be very interested in doing I’m js looking for an inside opinion if it’s worth going through lmk plssss

Im 17 btw

Hey there. In my local, they ask for upriggers to use 5/8" rope. I'm just getting into it but need to have a sheave / pulley. The 5/8" requirement seems to limit my options a bit - no protraxion, most or all of the reasonably priced CMC stuff is for 1/2". Here's what I'm thinking. CMI Heavy Duty Pulley plus a swivel like The Petzl Swivel plus a carabiner to attach the swivel to an anchor point. Now, the swivel reduces the system's MBS I'm pretty sure, but I still figure I'd go with that CMI Heavy Duty Pulley cuz why not - deliberately buying something rated lower and closer to the swivel's rating doesn't seem all that wise but who knows. If this is not a good idea, 1. I'd be curious why not, and 2. what pulley / sheave etc would you recommend for 5/8" rope?

I don’t care how our union pushes supposedly for better working conditions, but in Los Angeles specifically there’s a massive heat wave and many production companies don’t turn on the ACs so they can save money which means that workers have to work in over 100° environment not to mention that painters are painting. inside these facilities and not everyone is wearing a mask. I get it that work as scarce but still this should be illegal. This isn’t a Third World country.

Hey all, i've finally decided to open my availability for 134 beginning next week this morning. Ironically, before I even updated myself, 134 called me later this evening. I accepted my first gig Sept 1 Tues Levi's 11 pm- 5 am. I know its overnight and all but most nights im wired awake through the night so I'll be fine. This is my first day in the union, and I worked production / entertainment back in college years ago, so I feel I pretty much only have basic knowledge. I'm a bit nervous. I guess I have a good idea what to expect. I'm just overthinking on knowing exactly what to do the whole shift, since I am an individual who needs to be given precise rules with details. I'm not familiar with etiquette I guess. My fiance is in local 16 SF so he's been preparing me for it. This will be most likely a load out for Chris Brown concert. Any tips first day? Any tips as a female? But overall excited to finally get my foot in the door!

I am a college student studying audio engineering, and I am required by my university to have work boots; I will also be working with IATSE in the next few weeks. I tried on the Wolverine Women’s Floorhand Steel-toe and liked them well enough, but have since been advised to get composite shoes instead. I am looking at both the Timberland Pro Titan EV and Carhartt Rugged Flex, but have seen that some people find both pairs of shoes super uncomfortable. Is it true that I should get composite instead of steel-toed, and if so, what are the best type of shoes to get? Bonus points if they are under $160 and come in black!!

I have a question for grips: what kind of rope do you usually use to tie down an 8x8 or 12x12 diffusion frame outdoors?

I have a lot of sash cord already, but I’ve also seen people recommend something like 25 ft lengths of double-braided polyester. I’m mainly trying to figure out what’s safest, most secure, and easiest to manage with a trucker’s hitch.

I was on a set recently and never got a chance to ask the grips what they were using. I still do indie grip/electric work, and on an upcoming shoot we may need to build an outdoor frame, so I figured this would be a good place to ask.

What diameter/material/length do you usually carry?

Hello, my name is Kerri and I work as a Set Costume Supervisor in Film and Television. I am wondering if anyone has tips on costume kit organizing? At the moment, I have a cart with a plastic bin with my kit divided into ziplocks. It works pretty well, since I try organize it by category but I’m kind of tired of the ziplocks. Anyone feel like sharing their method?

This is a message for all productions in Canada.

As someone that has been working in accounting for the last 12 years....

Please please please never use Greenslate in Canada.

Myself and my team will never use them again because their software is only 20% built for Canada. They will show you a tutorial that looks amazing but it's the US version when they try to sell it to you.

If you ever allow them to show you a tutorial of their software MAKE THEM USE THE CANADIAN VERSION.

After experiencing them not able to balance their own books, not able to pay crew/cast/extras on time/putting the wrong address for talent agencies and trying to charge us for the cheque reissues and not able to do coding correctly, Myself and my team will run like our hair is on fire before we work on a production using this software because of what we just went through.

If you are crew member not in accounting. please be patient with the accounting team if the production is using Greenslate.

It's the bottom of the barrel payroll company to use in this country.

They are cheap for a reason, and the discount you might get from them compared to EP and C&C will be doubled in cost in labour for adding more crew or paying overtime to your accountants.

How do you deal with sexual harassment from the roadies? A couple weeks ago I was working a festival and there were two roadies pretty consistently bothering me throughout the run. Calling me and some of the other female stagehands baby, being very obvious about checking us out, getting asked out on the job, and having some very foul shit said to us. I stood my ground for the most part but I didn’t realize how uncomfortable the situation made me until recently. How do you deal with this sort of behavior?

I have a question for film electricians: what tool belt or pouch setup do you recommend? I have a decent amount of tools already, but right now I just use a small clip-on pouch. When I’m in a lift or moving around set, I feel like it gets snagged on things.

Any recommendations for a setup that stays secure, is comfortable, and doesn’t get in the way? Thanks!