This magazine is a record of our union’s history.
When I first took office in 2015, my goal was to make sure that everyone, including the employers, knew that we were not just the “Sound Local.” That may have been our humble beginning in 1930, before the advent of video, but our role in our entertainment community goes far beyond that now. My first order of business was to change the title of our 695 Quarterly magazine and, in the spring of 2016, we launched our revamped publication entitled Production Sound & Video—the very same magazine you are reading now. We’ve come a long way since 2015.
We have a one-on-one with Academy Oscar winner Willie Burton on his time working with Eddie Murphy. On a personal note, Wille is a longtime friend of our family. He worked with my father on Gunsmoke, and I spent a few long cold nights working with Willie and Microphone Boom Operator Marvin Lewis as their Utility Sound Tech. I highly encourage you all to read it and learn from a man who taught me so much.
As this is our final issue of 2024, I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season with family and friends. I know that for many, this year has been challenging as we’ve experienced California’s entertainment industry contraction. In this edition of Production Sound & Video, we closely examine California’s Film & Television Tax Incentive Program and give you a timeline of where we are and where we need to go in 2025.
Local 695 is one of the founding members of the California IATSE Council (CIC) and we were boots on the ground in 2009 to get the first film and television tax incentive program in our state. Our Local is now involved in efforts to expand the current program and will take a leadership role in fighting to bring work back to California.
However, we will need your help. Just as we needed our members to succeed in negotiations in 2024, we will need our members in order to succeed in lobbying for new legislation in 2025. So, keep an eye on your communications from the Local on ways to get involved in the new year.
Happy holidays everyone. Here’s to a phenomenal 2025.
Scott Bernard