By KATIE PARKER
Representatives of the Screen Actors Guild met with officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake Friday to officially recognize a new contract signed by SAG and Deseret Media Productions.
President James E. Faust, a member of the First Presidency of the LDS Church, hosted the luncheon in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
“Producing quality programs to meet the needs of a growing, worldwide church requires access to the broadest possible pool of professional acting talent,” said Elder Neil L. Anderson, executive administrator of the LDS Church Audiovisual Department and member of the board of directors of Deseret Media Productions.
“The contract signed between the two groups will enable LDS professional actors who are members of SAG to appear in LDS-produced films,” said Dan Rascon of public affairs.
This is the first time the LDS Church has made an agreement with a professional acting group.
It will allow the LDS Church to enhance the quality of its in-house productions by gaining access to experienced SAG performers, Rascon said.
The contract was signed in January, right before filming began on the new film replacing “Legacy,” Rascon said.
SAG members’participation in the new “Legacy” film, being directed by Keith Merrill, is a direct result of this new agreement.
“We look at this as a win-win situation,” Rascon said.
LDS professional actors who were members of SAG before the new contract existed were unable to participate in any movies produced by the church, he said.
“Now the church has a much larger talent pool to pull from to benefit new movies coming out,” Rascon said.
This will make the job of casting directors employed by the church much easier, he said.
