Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/618780
separate from them, the Guild is this institu- tion. They may think it does good things for them but they don't see that it is them, that the people who serve on the councils and boards, the people who give their time, the people who hire the staff, that the reason they pay their dues are not for some entity that is separate from them. It is them. So that is the first thing. I'll have this conversation every once in a while. 'Well, you know, I'm do- ing well in my career. The Guild doesn't re- ally do much for me.' 'What about residuals?' 'Well, everybody gets residuals.' 'Where do you think residuals come from?' There's this concept that the producers happily grant re- siduals. Like, if we weren't here, they would get them anyway. Or the pension and health plan. 'Oh, well, that's just part of my job.' But where do you think that comes from? 9. What reasons would you give directors just starting their careers to become mem- bers of the Guild? If you want an institution and a community that is going to protect your economic and creative rights against what are very power- ful entities, you are not going to be able to do this alone. You're not going to be able to do this with just you and your agent. You will find at the beginning, and the middle, and at the end, that you are going to need this community and this Guild, whether it be collecting your residuals or protecting your basic economic rights and creative rights or providing pension and health for your family. You may not be thinking about that when you are 28. You may not have a family. You're not thinking you'll ever need health care. All you want to do is get your film made but then you wake up and you've made something that's success- ful and you're not getting any back-end at all because you have no one there to make sure that there was a minimum and to col- lect it. You don't have residuals to carry you through the low periods. The Guild is the only institution dedicated to protecting di- rectors, their teams, and the craft of direct- ing, therefore, I would say to anyone who was thinking about really making this their life and their career, they need the Guild. 10. You've been the executive director for 20 years. What do you think the future holds for the Guild in the next 20 years? If we believe that people are still going to be telling audiovisual stories, which I do, and if we believe that there is going to be more desire and more consumption of these sto- ries in ways we can't conceive of in 20 years, which I do, I believe that if the Guild con- tinues to do what it has been doing—adapt- ing and changing—that it will be stronger than it is in 20 years. There were some who said 20 years ago when I came here, 'Oh, you know, the world is changing. The Guild can't be as strong in 10 years, in 20 years, as it is now.' Well, we've proven those people wrong. ®