How To Work With Guilds and Unions To Ensure Your Project Is A Success

Hosted by Rosi Acosta

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Rosi Acosta

Webinar hosted by: Rosi Acosta

Former Film Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Unit Production Manager, DGA Member at Physical Production Professional

As a seasoned physical production professional, production manager, film budget estimator and analyst, advocate and spokesperson, mentor/professor, content writer and film commissioner, Rosi Acosta's career in the film industry has been driven by passion and her love of film and television. Rosi is the former Film Commissioner for Puerto Rico and is a Unit Production Manager (UPM) and DGA member who has worked on over 75 television and television projects, including the feature films DRIVEN, SPEED KILLS, and IMPRISONED.  As a Senior Level Executive, Rosi brings an innovative and bold strategic planning vision. She has raised awareness about the film industry while building international relations with film communities locally and internationally. Additionally, Rosi has spent her professional career nourishing relationships with creatives, producers, investors, and well cultivated relations with the unions, craft organizations, studios and many industry leaders internationally. Ethics, integrity, honesty, strong values and transparency define her every day. Rosi has collaborated directly and indirectly in hundreds of film projects assuring diversity, inclusion, safety and delivery within the allocated budget and schedule. Her career as a visionary and a bold and solutions-driven professional has always promoted dialogue, partnerships, and teamwork. Rosi serves as a Senior Level Executive in Film Programs Strategic Development, specializing in film commissions administration and film programs development with extensive expertise in incentives administration, workforce development and organization, film culture awareness, film friendly environment optimization and infrastructure promotion and analysis. Through her extensive work with multiple production companies, unions, guilds, and governing bodies for film, Rosi brings strong leadership skills to any project with the ability to provide structure, organization and flow to build bridges and alliances. Full Bio »

Webinar Summary

Learn the broad strokes of what The Writers' Guild Of America strike means and how a union strike can affect the industry and your work

And understand how to effectively work with the entertainment industry guilds and unions to ensure your film and TV productions run smoothly when in production from the former Film Commissioner for Puerto Rico 

PLUS! You will receive exclusive downloads that lay out best practices for working with guilds and unions that you can use on your projects!

 

Navigating the landscape of guilds and unions can be overwhelming for filmmakers, producers, and other creatives looking to make and control their own content. That dynamic becomes even more complicated when one of the major unions go on strike. 

That's why Stage 32 has brought in a former film commissioner to explain it all to you in this information-packed webinar. 

The sheer amount of information, from collective agreement requirements and guidelines to union rules, can be confusing and intimidating even to veteran filmmakers. Additionally, union strikes can have detrimental results on your project and disrupt physical production, resulting in unpaid time for union members and further delays in your project's progress. As the demand for content keeps growing it is crucial to understand how to manage budgets and schedules effectively, starting with knowing how to work with unions and guilds to comply with their rules, contracts and policies. Failing to do so can result in setbacks and hinder the momentum of a project. Additionally, it is particularly important to understand the effects of union strikes, as they can result in unplanned delays, thus impacting the overall budget.

Here to demystify how to work with industry guilds and unions is the former Film Commissioner for Puerto Rico, Rosi Acosta. Rosi is a Unit Production Manager (UPM) and DGA member who has worked on over 75 television and television projects, including the feature films DRIVEN, SPEED KILLS, and IMPRISONED. As the Film Commissioner for Puerto Rico, Rosi dealt extensively with all the production guilds and unions to ensure all projects shot in the territory followed the proper guild regulations. Rosi will share with you her plethora of experience and knowledge on working directly with guilds and unions to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks on your project, and that your set and production run smoothly.

In this exclusive Stage 32 webinar, Rosi will walk you through everything you need to know about rules, contracts, and negotiations with guilds and unions so your project can run smoothly and efficiently.

Rosi will teach you how to best address the many variables associated with guilds and unions early on in the filmmaking process, so you can minimize surprises and complications during production in order to successfully bring your project to life.

PLUS! Rosi will provide you with exclusive handouts to help you navigate working with guilds and unions on your project. Downloads include:

  • Infographic showing how to navigate working with unions & guilds
  • Safety bulletins that unions & guilds abide by

If you are a filmmaker, producer, UPM, or involved in the production of creative projects in any capacity, this Stage 32 webinar is a must!

Praise For Rosi's Stage 32 Teaching

"Rosi is phenomenal! She really helped me in understanding the necessary hoops I had to jump through to get my movie made with SAG, IATSE, and WGA." - John M.

“This webinar saved me countless hours and headaches on my production. I'm fortunate to have learned from Rosi instead of making mistakes on my own and learning the hard way!” - Samantha S.

“Rosi is not only incredibly informative, but very personal and funny. She's a joy to work with. Thank you, Stage 32, for providing a platform for her to educate.” - Margaret L.

 

What You'll Learn

  • What Are Unions?
    • Overview
    • History of unions and guilds in entertainment
    • Industry Organizations and how they operate
  • Working With Unions
    • Benefits & limitations of unions in the film and television industry
    • Union representatives and how to approach them
    • How to address grievances
    • Becoming a signatory
          • Union vs Non Union
          • Demystifying what unions mean
    • What does "being flipped" mean and how can it impact your production?
  • Strikes And Their Effects
    • Why strikes come up?
    • Timing for strikes and how the duration effects the entire industry
    • SAG 2000/WGA 2007-2008 strikes
          • Effects and results of these strikes and their implications today
    • IATSE strike threat 2021
    • WGA 2023 strike
  • Unions Social Responsibility And Affirmative Action 
    • Additional responsibilities of unions
    • The power of unions on a global stage
  • Q&A with Rosi

About Your Instructor

As a seasoned physical production professional, production manager, film budget estimator and analyst, advocate and spokesperson, mentor/professor, content writer and film commissioner, Rosi Acosta's career in the film industry has been driven by passion and her love of film and television. Rosi is the former Film Commissioner for Puerto Rico and is a Unit Production Manager (UPM) and DGA member who has worked on over 75 television and television projects, including the feature films DRIVEN, SPEED KILLS, and IMPRISONED. 

As a Senior Level Executive, Rosi brings an innovative and bold strategic planning vision. She has raised awareness about the film industry while building international relations with film communities locally and internationally. Additionally, Rosi has spent her professional career nourishing relationships with creatives, producers, investors, and well cultivated relations with the unions, craft organizations, studios and many industry leaders internationally. Ethics, integrity, honesty, strong values and transparency define her every day.

Rosi has collaborated directly and indirectly in hundreds of film projects assuring diversity, inclusion, safety and delivery within the allocated budget and schedule. Her career as a visionary and a bold and solutions-driven professional has always promoted dialogue, partnerships, and teamwork.

Rosi serves as a Senior Level Executive in Film Programs Strategic Development, specializing in film commissions administration and film programs development with extensive expertise in incentives administration, workforce development and organization, film culture awareness, film friendly environment optimization and infrastructure promotion and analysis.

Through her extensive work with multiple production companies, unions, guilds, and governing bodies for film, Rosi brings strong leadership skills to any project with the ability to provide structure, organization and flow to build bridges and alliances.

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