In Hollywood, the Industry Experience Roster occupies a niche but crucial role. The list, administered by a nonprofit founded under collective bargaining agreements between the industry’s employers and unions since 1965, keeps track of certain types of freelance crew members on the West Coast — from grips to make-up artists to plumbers — with experience in their roles. It’s a valuable resource for productions enlisting large volumes of crew members and, generally speaking, employers agree in their union contracts to hire creatives on the roster before they tap those that aren’t.
But in an era when Hollywood companies are producing fewer titles in the U.S. and shipping projects abroad, it’s getting difficult for some crew members to stay on the list. In recent weeks, administrator Contract Services has informed a few thousand members of the IATSE crew union that they have been flagged for removal from the roster, The Hollywood Reporter’s reporting has revealed.
That’s because these individuals are believed not to have met the list’s eligibility threshold, which generally is having worked one day on a union project in a three-year period, in this case between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2026. Teamsters Local 399, LiUNA Local 724 and United Association of Plumbers Local 78 members, who in addition to IATSE members make up the roughly 47,000 members currently listed on the roster, have yet to be notified of their list status, though it’s expected theirs will also undergo review. All who have been informed that they have been flagged for removal can protest the determination, a dispute resolution process that will likely take place over the next few months.
