On November 14, 2009, DGA 1st AD members gathered in the Guild’s Los Angeles Boardroom for a three-hour breakfast and discussion event hosted by the Western AD/UPM Council’s 1st AD Committee. The 1st AD breakfast was designed to provide members of this category with the latest information necessary to stay competitive in today’s workplace.

Following a breakfast/social mixer, Western AD/UPM Council Alternate Member Mark Hansson (High School Musical 3) introduced Council Chair Cleve Landsberg (FlashForward), who welcomed the attendees and gave a brief presentation on the state of the Guild and the forecast for jobs in the months ahead.

Next Hansson and Council member Alan Curtiss (The Happening) introduced 1st ADs Stacey Beneville (Criminal Minds), K.C. Colwell (It’s Complicated), Scottie Gissel (True Blood), Greg Jacobs (Che), Ron Moseley (Sonny with a Chance), Liz Ryan (90210), and Bob Wagner (Public Enemies), who served as co-hosts for the breakout discussion groups. During the introductions, each of the co-hosts stated their primary work genre with a couple of recent credits and then gave a short example of a 1st AD staffing issue they’d encountered and how it was resolved.

The attendees were invited to sign up for the discussion groups that followed in several rooms of the DGA headquarters building. Each group then attempted to have a dialogue on a variety of pre-suggested subjects that included: staffing issues for 1st ADs, the biggest challenges faced on the job, when to call the Guild for reinforcement of a contract or dispute, strategies and resources for getting work, how to utilize the Availability List on the DGA website, and what skills are now needed to stay employed in a competitive field. After the separate sessions, the groups reassembled in the Boardroom to report the results of their discussions to the entire group, then opened the room to an open discussion on what had transpired and questions on other topics.