Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1506201
PEOPLE ARE TALKING Here's what members are saying about the podcast contracts: Working with SAG-AFTRA has been such a rewarding and full-circle moment for me. As a kid, I dreamt of being a union actor, and now having a union podcast that I co-created feels very validating as an artist. Logistically, it made so much sense for us to be a SAG-AFTRA pod. Because of this agreement, I am able to invest in my pension and get health insurance, and it all combines with my commercial and theatrical work. I think so many actors don't just do one thing anymore. Those days are gone. We are all doing a little here and there to make our way and help pay our bills. I think of it like a piggy bank; it all adds up and combines to a greater sum. I can funnel all my work through the union. Also, I was shocked how easy it was to sign up. The paperwork took 15 minutes for me to fill out. Thankfully, SAG-AFTRA has adapted its signup process based on feedback from podcasters. It could not have been a better experience for me to adapt Reality Gays to a SAG-AFTRA podcast. MATT MARR SAG-AFTRA member and co-host of the Reality Gays podcast I have had my pod, the One Broke Actress podcast, for six years now. I created it at a time when I was so lost in this career I had nowhere to turn and wanted a place to share these thoughts while also feeling less alone. I had no idea that, years of work later, it would be the thing that helped me qualify for SAG-AFTRA health insurance and my first pension credit. I was so intimidated by the process of signing up my own work for a podcast contract, but SAG-AFTRA staff gave me so much one-on-one help, it's almost embarrassing to say how easy it was to get it running. Now, with a few signed pieces of paper and sending my check into SAG-AFTRA from my podcast every month, I get to be in control of my qualification for SAG-AFTRA health insurance, something that is usually tied to auditions and lucky breaks. I get full protection (hello, lawyers on retainer) from my voice or message being stolen. And I get to sleep a little easier knowing I am one step closer to a pension plan in my later years. In a time like this, with this business in transition, a rocky economy, and a wild political climate ... I could not be happier to be using my own creative work to fuel my career. SAM VALENTINE SAG-AFTRA member and podcast host of One Broke Actress sagaftra.org | Summer 2023 | SAG-AFTRA 39