490 Attends Catalyst Festival & AICP NEXT Awards!

IATSE Local 490 sent members to the 2019 Catalyst Content Festival and to the 2019 AICP NEXT Awards and Show.

Representing at Catalyst in Duluth, MN, Sept 30-Oct 4th was Interim Executive Board Member Molly Worre. Ms. Worre works as a script supervisor in our local and is an up and coming director of short films and commercial spots. She was excited to attend one of the best national festivals on TV series content and to spread the positives of being a member of IATSE.

IATSE Scripty Molly Worre, center, with other Minnesotans and SAG members at the Catalyst Content Festival. (Photo provided by Molly Worre)

This is what she had to say about the festival, “As I arrived at the Catalyst Content Festival, I worried for the out-of-towers, expecting beautiful Minnesota Fall, but instead were met with wintry, rainy weather. Then came the reality of just how bad the construction was on the streets of Duluth. Main Street was being completely torn apart, outside the door-fronts of each of the festival venues. But what better group of people to handle grit and glam, with grace - Content Creators...a city bursting with them. The energy was amazing, and the city of Duluth was impressive.

Duluth, photo provided by the Catalyst Website.

This unique festival is exciting to have so close to home. It's a market that draws people from everywhere. It's a place where Agents, Producers, and Production Companies are seeking content, and the Content-Creators are there to provide. This well-attended combination of chemistry, is the catalyst for great ideas to launch into projects.

IATSE 490 Brochures, stickers and postcards were handed out to attendees.

The venues and parties were fantastic. The panels and workshops were inspiring, and the chance to pitch your project is not exclusive to the official selections. It is technically a long-from (series) festival, that awards selected projects with pitch meetings, but whether you have a project in the festival or not, it is almost impossible to not get the opportunity to pitch to someone.

photo provided by the Catalyst Website.

Over the course of the week, I had the opportunity to support local collaborators, to promote Minnesota as the place to shoot, to represent the local 490, to partner with SAG in representing a strong union presence in Minnesota, and to make connections to pitch my own project.


There was a great turnout from Minnesota artists at the fest. I hope that number grows each year. Minnesota artists are the most likely to shoot here. As for the out-of-towners, they are now left with a beautiful sense of what our state has to offer.

On Sept 26th, the AICP NEXT Awards and Show was held at the Cowles Center in Minneapolis. Local 490 offered two tickets to its’ membership. Seamstress Kathryn Rogers and Crafty Terance Phillip claimed the tickets.

The AICP NEXT awards and Show celebrates the best in American commercial. The local chapter of AICP-MN uses this as a fundraiser for their chapter and to support our MN Film & TV industry.

Local 49o Member Kathryn ROgers attends the AICP Show.

Ms. Rogers said she found the event, “Very informative, educational and knowledgable. The virtual reality of researching, producing and directing international brands was phenomenal. It was an honor to see and hear the voices behind the messages of commercial and print advertising.”

AICP MN Vice President Ace Allgood hits the Red carpet.

To see the red carpet pictures of the AICP NEXT Awards, go to this Link.

Unfortunately in the end, the other 490 ticket holder, Ms. Phillip, was not able to attend the Gala. We have no report from her. Nevertheless, 490 was happy that a couple of our union members could attend these important Minnesotan industry events.

It is important for our local to support our industry events either as sponsors or attendees. We see these events as an opportunity for our members to network and get involved in socially in our industry. These free tickets to our members come up often, so stayed tuned to your union emails for their release.

An upcoming event 490 is planning to send a couple of our members to is the FilmNorth Illuminate Gala in November. Stayed tuned for more details on that, till next time, Go union, Go IATSE!