Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1186820
72 SAG-AFTRA | Fall 2019 | sagaftra.org Above, delegates and leadership at SAG-AFTRA's 2019 national convention. Right, award-winning producer Jason Blum, left, chats with The Wall Street Journal's Ben Fritz. Below, SAG-AFTRA executive officers, along with members of the Asociación Nacional de Actores during the signing of the historic cooperative agreement between the two actors unions. the movies hit those levels, I actually go to FedEx myself with the checks and I film myself sending [them] … and then I send a video to the actor and I say, 'You're going to get this check tomorrow.' "It makes me feel great. If I'm paying actors a lot of money, then I'm making a lot of money, too — and that's a good thing for everybody." After the informative interview, delegates got down to business, electing the union's national vice presidents, and re-electing Rebecca Damon to serve as executive vice president, the union's second-highest office. "I believe that when you are a leader of this union, you have a calling to make things the best they can be," said Damon. On Friday night, after the work was done, it was time for a wardrobe change. Delegates donned their evening finery for the gala, which was themed Casino Unconventionale. As guests filed into the International Ballroom, which also hosts the Golden Globe Awards, they were greeted by table games and elegantly appointed tables. Attendees could swap poker chips for raffle prize entries. Host Sydelle Noel, of Netflix's GLOW, took the stage to kick off the evening's awards presentations. The American Scene Awards recognize producers whose projects exemplify a commitment to employing SAG-AFTRA's diverse union membership. This year's winners were NPR, which received the Belva Davis News & Broadcast Award for It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders; Hulu & A24, which won the Entertainment Award for Ramy; and Columbia/Sony Music, which won the Music & Sound Recording Award for Old Town Road (remix) by Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. "Hands-down, [it was] the most difficult selection process we've ever had," said Jason George, chair of the SAG-AFTRA Diversity Advisory Committee. "There were so many worthy projects nominated, it was a brutal decision for everyone involved just to narrow down the submissions to a set of finalists." After the American Scene Awards, three of the union's finest — SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris, Executive Vice President and New York Local President Rebecca Damon and Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland — were AMY TIERNEY AMY TIERNEY