National Director, New Media, SAG-AFTRA
Mark Friedlander is the national director of new media for SAG-AFTRA, a labor union representing more than 160,000 actors, broadcasters, recording artists and other media professionals. As head of the New Media Department, he oversees the union’s policies, contracting procedures, contract interpretation and business development in the area of new media. He provides strategic guidance to senior staff on all issues relating to emerging technology and associated business trends in the entertainment, broadcasting and advertising industries. He serves as a primary consultant to several member-led committees, including those focusing on new technologies, performance capture, commercials, television, motion pictures and interactive games. Friedlander also serves on the negotiating teams for all the union’s collectively bargained agreements dealing with new media and emerging technology.
Prior to the merger of Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Friedlander, a practicing entertainment attorney, began at SAG in 2005 as a business representative in the Contracts Department, specializing in theatrical, new media and interactive projects. After earning a Bachelor’s in Political Science from USC, he earned a Juris Doctorate from California Western School of Law, as well as a Masters of Laws in Entertainment and Media Law from Southwestern University. He also attended the Donald E. Biederman Entertainment and Media Law Institute at Cambridge University.