Anita Cooper-Avrick Click picture for larger view.

The combination of these traits has clearly gained her the respect of her colleagues, both in the DGA and on the many productions she's stage managed over the past 22 years, for Cooper-Avrick is this year's recipient of the Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award. The Award is given annually to "an associate director or stage manager in recognition of service to the industry and to the Directors Guild of America."

Anita Cooper-Avrick loves what she does, and clearly one of her primary skills as a stage manager — juggling many people and tasks at once — is a skill she applies to her daily life. She has worked on some 30 shows, raised a daughter, earned a law degree, and been active in Guild affairs from the moment she joined in 1980. In fact, not a single year has gone by since in which she hasn't been on a council or committee of some sort.

"The way I got started is a little embarrassing," she laughs. "I had been working for AFTRA for six years, and I was costing some companies a lot of money for the claims that I was filing. So one of the companies — Witt-Thomas — asked me if I would come and work for them. I said, 'As what?' Andy Selig, the producer of all their shows at the time, went through this whole list and finally he said, 'Well, how about being a stage manager?' I said, 'I don't know, what's it pay?'"

It paid enough, for Cooper-Avrick soon found herself on the set of Soap, then in its fourth season. "I knew nothing about stage managing," she recalls. "It was all on-the-job training. Luckily, I knew the actors because I had been their AFTRA rep. So I called each one individually to ask if they would mind if I jumped sides to become their stage manager. They were all wonderful and supportive. I also had a terrific first, Carl Lauten, who taught me everything. It was such fun! I enjoyed going to work every day."

Just to make her life even more challenging, she also started law school the same day she started work on Soap. By day she stage-managed, and four nights a week she went to classes. "I finished law school because I started it," she says, but the training did come back to help her years later in a way she never would have originally imagined: "I've used it in negotiations to help the DGA."

It also made for a memorable time working on The People's Court. Aware that she was in law school at the time, Judge Wapner enjoyed quizzing Cooper-Avrick on his cases. "He'd say, 'What's my decision?' I'd say, 'I don't know — I don't even remember the case.' And he'd say, 'Well, I'm not coming out until you tell me what you think the decision should be.' So I'd tell him, and then he'd go over why I was wrong, and we'd go back on stage. He was wonderful!"

In the years to follow, Cooper-Avrick moved on to a diverse slate of shows including This Is Your Life, Mr. Belvedere, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, America's Funniest Home Videos, and many more series and pilots. Mr. Belvedere, on which she worked for five years (1985-1990), especially sticks out in her mind for the closeness of its cast and crew.

"That cast was a family. They still get together, and I still see them. I was pregnant and had my daughter while we were doing the show, and she became part of the family. I've never worked on anything quite like that again."

The job of stage manager "hasn't really changed" in the last 20 years, says Cooper-Avrick. The key, as always, is communication. "I think if you're coming in as a second you have to sit down and really talk to your first. And you need to go observe other shows when you're new because everybody does something a little bit different. Personally, I run a fairly tight ship. I drive in from Redondo Beach, and if I can be there on time, everyone can. I have a real big thing that you have to start on time because then, even if everything falls apart, you still have a chance. Otherwise, you lose your momentum.

"Every show is different. I did a show where we had 60 kids a week from the ages of 5 to 15 as extras. You've got to keep them in control, but you can't yell at them. You just learn how to juggle different personalities." That challenge is precisely what Cooper-Avrick loves about her job because she adds enthusiastically, "Where else do you get to meet all these people and make all these friends?"

Matching her dedication to her job is her dedication to the Guild. Cooper-Avrick's record speaks for itself: Since 1980 she has served on the Women's Steering Committee, the Internal Complaints Committee, the Negotiating Committee and the Bi-Council Committee, among several others. She has co-chaired the AD/SM Negotiations Committee six times, reestablished the Mentor Committee, and served on the AD/SM/PA Council for 16 years — including two years as Chair.

Further, for eight years she was a member of the National Board, of which she is still an alternate member. She also currently serves on the AD/SM/PA Disciplinary Committee, the National Board Residency and Organizing Committee, the Membership Committee for the AD/SM/PA Council, and she is a Trustee of the Pension and Health Fund.

Which of her many accomplishments stand out most in her mind?

"Chairing the Council was a great honor. I also feel very honored to be a trustee on the Pension and Health Fund, and to be a member of the Benefits Committee. I thank Burt [Bluestein] for mentoring me on that because he was a Chair of that. And he's finally winning his Frank Capra Award, which he deserves because he's done so much."

She adds that she is also extremely proud of her work on the new "blended contract" which finally came to fruition last December. "It's one of the biggest things I've fought for over the past ten years." The historic agreement provides certainty to DGA members working in prime-time dramatic programming, as the film/video/digital recording technology evolves.

A major Guild problem today, in Cooper-Avrick's view, is the dearth of involvement by younger members. "We are trying new tacts, but I think we're missing in not getting our members in. We're not training them well enough. We're having people who don't understand what it means to work for a non-signatory and why you can't do it. We, who have been a part of this Guild for a long time, need to teach them why. That's part of the reason I brought back the Mentor Committee.

		Anitia Cooper Avrick at DGA Awards Photo by Elisa Haber

Winning the Schaffner Award, says Cooper-Avrick, is "nothing I ever expected. When they told me at a council meeting that they had nominated me for it, I was speechless. And then nobody could believe that I was speechless!" she says with a laugh. "That was a pretty big joke around the Council for awhile."

Even though she's known about it for some time now, Cooper-Avrick is still visibly moved by the thought of her colleagues selecting her for the Schaffner Award. "This Award wasn't even in existence when I came into the Guild. It's an Award we worked very hard to get. And it's an incredible honor that people in my category thought I deserved it ... It still gets me," she says as she wipes a tear from her eye. She looks up and sighs. "I hope I don't do this on March 9."

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