NYWIFT Talks: In Conversation with IATSE Members

NYWIFT Talks is a weekly series to bring updated news and vital information about the impact of COVID-19 on the media and entertainment industry. Industry professionals will be in conversation discussing what you need to know about theatrical releases, digital advances, virtual tools, festival opportunities, production updates and more. NYWIFT Talks are free for all to attend.

On this week’s NYWIFT Talks, the pandemic has started the conversation on changing the work environment in many different careers. But, what about the crew behind the scenes? We speak with IATSE members in film/television to discuss unhealthy work environments in the industry and what the strike means to its members. 

This conversation will include Marisa Shipley (VP and Member of Local IATSE). Moderated by NYWIFT Board Member, Leslie Fields-Cruz.

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Marisa Shipley is the Vice President of Local 871 and a freelance Art Department and Set Dec Coordinator for tv/film in Los Angeles. She initially got involved with the Local as a member of the ad-hoc Art Department Coordinators Public Relations Committee, working to get signatures on a petition showing support for better wages for her craft prior to 2018 negotiations. As the chair of the Local 871 #ReelEquity pay equity committee Marisa continues to focus on a collaborative approach to tackling pay equity issues affecting women in entertainment, particularly those working behind the camera.

Leslie Fields-Cruz (moderator) started at Black Public Media, formerly National Black Programming Consortium, in 2001 managing grant making activities that supported the production and development of documentary programs for PBS. By 2005, she was the Director of Programming, leading the distribution of all funded programs to public television. In 2008, with six independent titles in need of a public television broadcast, Leslie launched AfroPoP: The Ultimately Cultural Exchange, a documentary series highlighting the variety and depth of the global black experience. AfroPoP has garnered several awards and is the only national public television series focused solely on stories from the black experience. In the fall of 2014, Leslie became BPM’s third Executive Director. Though she keeps the pulse on the development of program content and its distribution across public media platforms, she is focused on growing BPM’s resources to enable it to support more stories about the Black experience.