By F. Hudson Miller
Now that last fall’s board election is behind us, I am grateful for the opportunity to lead the Editors Guild for the next three years. I look forward to working with the board of directors and officers, National Executive Director Scott George and the Guild staff, and our rank and file to improve our members’ working lives (wages, benefits, and conditions) and to protect our federally guaranteed workers’ rights.
I wish to thank outgoing president Alan Heim for his confident leadership during the past nine years. Alan steered us through the pandemic, strikes, production slowdowns, and natural disasters. He led our groundbreaking 2024 negotiations for the strongest contract in decades, delivering significant wage gains and improved conditions for Local 700 members.
Personally, I will always be grateful to Alan for being the best mentor I ever had. Alan selflessly invited me into the presidential decision-making process, allowing me to participate and learn from his skilled leadership. From my earliest days as vice president, Alan openly demonstrated and shared the skills to lead an organization as important as the Motion Picture Editors Guild. Alan, thank you for being my friend and my teacher. I am honored and enriched by your generosity.
On behalf of the membership of the Editors Guild, I must express my heartfelt gratitude to Bill Elias, who is retiring after more than 50 years on the board of directors and served as our sergeant-at-arms for an amazing 33 years. His perfect memory has been an indispensable institutional archive for the board and our staff. At the recent 70th IATSE Quadrennial Convention, Bill received a special commendation in gratitude for his 50 years of perfect attendance at IA conventions, a remarkable achievement to cap his career as a trade unionist. However, I believe Bill’s greatest asset is his devotion and love for this union. Bill, I am proud to call you my brother and my friend.
Alan and Bill remind us that as we look toward the future, we must always remember that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us. Our forebears’ hard work and sacrifice established the wages, benefits, job protections, and worker rights that we enjoy to this day. From one-reelers to features, to sound and television, and now gaming and streaming, the business of filmed storytelling has always been changing, evolving, and reinventing itself. If we are to survive as a union of film workers, it is essential that we acknowledge and embrace that change is part of our culture.
The Guild is facing its greatest multi-pronged threats in our nine-decade history. Our federal leaders are determined to weaken or destroy American trade unions. Streaming has disrupted our traditional distribution models, and the producers have yet to construct reliable replacements. Corporate takeovers and consolidation risk are reducing the number of Hollywood productions. The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence and remote technology may be improving how we work, but they also threaten to eliminate or offshore our members’ jobs. We are facing unemployment, economic uncertainty, and our members being forced out of the business.
Solving this crisis requires that we acknowledge these problems and systematically fight back with ONE unified voice for ALL our members. Organize, Negotiate, Enforce. This is the core of what a trade union does.
While maintaining a laser focus on traditional motion picture work, we must also organize other forms of storytelling. Short-form video, verticals, and gaming are examples of potential work for our members. While the IA and the Guild’s professional organizers do much of the heavy lifting, each of us has a vital role to play. For example, we must always remember to complete the “I Started a Job” form on the Guild website. Union or non-union, traditional or new format: the more information we provide, the better the Guild can organize work, negotiate, and enforce our contracts.
Advocate. As a Guild, and as members, we need to become more vocal. We need to ensure our voices are heard within the Guild, across the broader entertainment community, and beyond. We must advocate for worker rights, our families’ needs, and our career desires. At work, in our union, with our elected politicians, or in the streets, as a guild or individually, LET’S MAKE SOME NOISE!
Legislate. As a union, we must lobby our local, state, and national lawmakers for jobs and labor rights. Local 700’s lobbying efforts were instrumental in the passage of the New York Post Tax Incentive as well as doubling the California Tax Incentives. Now we must lobby our representatives for a California Post Tax Incentive and join forces with the IATSE to enact a Federal Motion Picture Tax Incentive. We must be heard in Albany, Atlanta, Sacramento, and Washington, D.C.; we no longer have the luxury of sitting on the political sidelines. When the Guild’s Political Engagement Committee asks, please take a moment to reach out to your legislators; this really does make a difference. As the old political adage goes, “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”
Learn. We must be the best-trained film workers in the world. The Guild will continue to invest in our state-of-the-art training programs. Emerging technologies and AI training are the keys to our professional future. When the producers seek the best-trained workers in the world, they need look no further than our members. Invest in yourself. Invest in your union. Sign up for Editors Guild training today.
By working together, we will create the jobs of today and build the foundation for the jobs of tomorrow.
F. Hudson Miller, MPSE, is President of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.
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