A small run down of what needs to be done. Before you are eligible you need to have 190 days of PAID (yes paid) work on film, theater or television productions. You then need to show proof of these 190 days by collecting call sheets, W2's, tax returns, pay stubs, or whatever it is the higher ups at the union decide to accept on any given year as it changes constantly. Then you need to make copies of all original documents and have them notarized. You then need to put all your proof paper work together along with reference letters, images of your work, copies of your resume and a million other documents and ship it to the union office via certified mail by the deadline they have designated...and then you wait. Now keep in mind, they can just choose to not accept you simply on your paperwork in which case they do NOT send you your heavenly packet back to edit and resubmit, leaving you to do all this again next year.
The 190 days of work in and of it's self can be a challenge for a freelance hairstylist in NYC. This would require you to be working 3-4 days a week on a set that is even considered eligible. Being that there are tons of thriving hairstylists trying to fight and pry their way in to this business, and do whatever work they can to build their name, this is tough. In the beginning you are lucky to work 2 days a week in the industry, let alone 3-4. Trust me I know this first hand, when I first moved to the city I was waiting tables all night and interning on movie sets all day..for free..and because these were unpaid gigs, they would not be considered useful on my union application. So as you can see it turns out to be a bitter cycle. So anyway, back to the point. Year one of my union attempt and year 3 in NY, I have now been able to prove my 190 days of paid work. I at this point, had just booked my first "on location"
Moving on to year 2 of my union attempt and year 4 in NY, the lovely union has this year decided that they are no longer going to accept call sheets from productions as a form of proof of your work days. They are now only accepting W2's, tax returns or pay stubs. All of which I wasn't prepared for as I had made myself crazy trying to keep all my call sheets from previous work as previously stated the year before. They also decided that things no longer needed to me notarized this year for whatever reason which was a big factor in me not having my shiz together the year prior. Ummm really?? So again, union attempt #2= EPIC Fail!
The third attempt was quick as the union decided to simply just not accept any new applications that year, so that was
March..April..May..June!!! In JUNE I finally freaking get a letter from these wonderful people asking me to come in for an interview on, wait for it, August 18th. Are they kidding, it's only June, that's light years away! As if I haven't been tortured by the impending wait already. And this time it was almost worse, because at least before if they rejected me it would have been because of missing paper work or not enough days or some sort of BS technical reason, but this time if I were to be rejected, it is purely and solely because of me. They either wouldn't have liked me, or my work, or my hair, who knows, either way I was stressed the eff out!
After learning a few weeks before the interview that a hard copy paper portfolio showing my work would just not be completed in time, I decided to up date the crap out of my website and show that to them on that morning as that was an original option given to me. So I called the lady who had been so surprisingly helpful to me in the preparations and told her I now planned on showing them a web portfolio. "Sure that's totally fine as long as you have it on a disk because the internet on the 3rd floor where we will be conducting interviews is sketchy but should work" was her response. Ummm problem, I have a net book lap top, with no CD drive and all the interviewees will have iPads so I am instantly taken back to that day at Best Buy when my dad asked me "Are you sure you don't want the one with a CD drive?"
So Finally August 18th comes around. Bitter sweet as I had been waiting for this date all summer, wishing for it to hurry up and get here but at the same time that would mean that summer was sadly coming to an end as well. And we all know summer is my jam. So at this point I have thought about this day for months, what I would wear, what I would say, how I would say hello..what? I know, I know how to say hello, but at this point I was making myself cray cray. But when it came down to it, I strutted in there in a nice pair of skinnies, an orange blazer, and my favorite pair of wedges because pumps would have been over kill of course. The out fit was a huge deal, I needed to look professional but not too serious. I needed to look trendy with out trying to hard. And I needed to look young and hip without freaking out the old heads that live in fear the younger generation is going to take over the union. Ugh the pressure. Long story short, I got there, sat before a panel of 3, and ultimately had the best interview of my life. I mean this thing went so well I didn't even know how to deal with it. I had pumped myself up with visions of these people having 3 heads and eyes like daggers from all the horror stories I had heard, so you can imagine my relief when I had 3 normal seeming people. 3 normal seeming people with 3 normal working iPads with normal working internet and I didn't have to pull my room mate's laptop out once, deeming the freak out the night before unnecessary. Now to be fair, just because it was the best interview of my life in no way means it was the easiest. I was asked some hard questions and forced to talk about my work and personality and what the term "unionism" meant to me bla bla bla. But in the end I walked out of that office with the idea that there was absolutely NO way I was NOT going to get in. The people who interviewed me were lovely and I feel like they really listened to me and showed interest in me and for once I walked away with a good feeling about this whole union thing that I wanted to badly.
And then the wait continued. I didn't get a letter in the mail for another month and a half, and even then it came certified signature requested while I was at work, so I had to wait to pick it up on the following Saturday..I mean REALLY?? But it was of course worth the wait as I rushed to the post office, fought the Saturday line, ripped open my letter with an urgency as if it were a letter from a lover in prison, and it was indeed, a letter of acceptance!!!! WOOOO FREAKING HOOOO! I literally was so excited, and for the first time, very proud of myself. This was such a huge deal for me and something that I had worked so hard to be a part of and I am so, so very thank full and greatfull for all the awesome people (you know who you are) who helped and inspired me along the way. Now all I have to do is pull $3600.00 out of my back pocket and send it in to these lovelies, no big deal. (sarcasm)
UNION Hair stylist??? CHECK! Phewww. Can't wait to continue to grow and make a difference in this industry and I can't wait to share it all with you guys!
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