July 21, 2006

SAG EXECUTIVE JOINS IMAGEN BOARD
One of the most important organizations in the entertainment industry is the Screen Actors Guild which was founded in 1933 to protect performers. With 20 branches nationwide, SAG represents nearly 120,000 actors in film, television, industrials, commercials and music videos. The organization’s primary concern is wages and working conditions, as well as negotiating and enforcing collective bargaining agreements that establish equitable levels of compensation, benefits and working conditions for performers.

Occupying one of SAG’s most vital positions is Imagen’s newest board member Angel Rivera. As national director of SAG’s Department of Affirmative Action and Diversity, his department has offices and staff in the Hollywood Headquarters and New York Divisional Branch Office.

With a diverse background in public, nonprofit, education and the private sector, Rivera brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to his SAG position, as well as to the Imagen Board. A graduate of Fordham University, he has served under three NYC Mayors, and as a special assistant to the Fire Commissioner and Director of Employment Initiatives at the NYC Fire Department. He served as director of Corporate Global Diversity at a global advertising, public relations and marketing communication holding company and prior to that, was manager of Global Diversity at True North Communications.

Rivera joined SAG in October 2002. In his role as national director of Affirmative Action and Diversity, Rivera develops, supports and promotes programs and services designed to enhance career opportunities for SAG actors, stunt-performers, singers, dancers, puppeteers, and voice-over performers who are in any of the federally protected groups (minority, women, performer with disabilities and performers who are 40 years of age and over) working in primetime television, film, commercials, industrials and music videos.

His responsibilities also entail creating industry and community awareness regarding the need for more inclusiveness and diversity in the industry, as well as ensuring compliance with municipal, state and federal anti-discrimination and sexual harassment laws, the American with Disability Act and all SAG non-discrimination and diversity contract agreements.

In the three years that Rivera has directed the department, the Guild reported the three highest annual percentage shares of roles for minority performers. In 2004, the department reported an overall increase in the share of roles for Asian-American performers, including a 21 percent gain in episodic television roles and an increased share of roles for Latino performers in film and television, despite a decrease of 7.8 percent of roles for all performers.

Rivera has helped accelerate the number of casting calls to the department’s free Diversity, Special Skills and Talent Bank service and increased the number of network/studio talent showcases including the first performers with disabilities talent showcase with CBS. He is a frequent speaker on numerous panels, workshops and conferences, and during his tenure, has successfully secured outside grants totaling over $400,000.

There’s little doubt that folks like Rivera have any idea what it is to work from 8 to 5. Their day is as long as it needs to be in order to meet all their commitments, especially those they fulfill after they leave the office. Instead of heading home, Rivera often finds himself scrambling from one meeting to another. His list of community and professional memberships is lengthy as it is impressive. Among them are the NAACP Image Awards Nomination Committee, the Association of American Advertising Agencies’ Diversity Advisory Board, Board of Advisors of RockNRelief (a concert series to help victims of natural disasters), and the TORCH program for inner-city NYC high school students interested in the entertainment and media industry. In addition to the Imagen Board, he also participates on the National Council of La Raza’s Blue Ribbon Panel for the ALMA Awards, and the Arts Advisory Council of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration, among others.

There is no doubt that Angel Rivera is a modern day dynamo whose accomplishments in the public, nonprofit, education and private sector represent a lifetime of dedication, as well as a keen desire to help make a difference. And when the workday is finally over for this father of two (Kaelin 10 and Sean 9), he heads for the hills — Beverly Hills that is, or perhaps his other home in New York City, before starting the drill all over again the following day.

NORMAN LEAR AWARD HONOREE NAMED
The Imagen Foundation has selected the John Wells Productions, in association with Warner Bros Television, as recipient of its prestigious Norman Lear Award. At the helm of the production company is John Wells, a multi-award winner who has earned a reputation as one of the most prolific producers, directors and writers in all mediums of the entertainment industry.

During the 2004-2005 season, his three shows — all for NBC — ER, The West Wing and Third Watch received 203 Emmy nominations and 46 wins. The critically acclaimed ER has received more Emmy nominations and wins than any other drama series in television history.

John Wells’ production company will be presented with the Norman Lear Award in recognition of their commitment to diversity, an honor previously bestowed upon Wells and ER by the Producers Guild of America. Imagen’s award recognizes his production company for the West Wing, recipient of four consecutive Emmy wins for Outstanding Drama Series. The West Wing, which won Imagen’s Best Primetime Series in 2000 and 2005, has been nominated again this year in the same category.

Imagen President Helen Hernandez noted that Imagen chose to pay tribute to this particular production company because its commitment to diversity not only brought actors such as Martin Sheen and Jimmy Smits to the small screen, but were also cast in key roles that drew attention to Washington politics and the electoral process that envisioned the election of the first Hispanic President.

“Jimmy Smits' character speaks to the possibilities of a future for our children, gives us a better sense of self worth as a community, and helps to change other people’s perceptions of us as a community. We can be seen as more educated, more sophisticated, and intelligent, rather than the stereotypical portrayals that have plagued us in the past,” said Helen Hernandez, Imagen’s president and founder.

The award will be presented at the 21st Annual Imagen Awards Gala, Aug. 18 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. For more information regarding this event, click on “Imagen Awards.”

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