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DGA Outreach Team

Join the Outreach Team!

What's the Outreach Team? 
Led by four member co-chairs, the DGA Outreach Team is made up of hundreds of member leaders representing every classification across the country who volunteered to come together for regular updates and then let thousands of other members know what was going on during the last round of contract negotiations.  After that contract was ratified, they agreed to continue to educate and activate members around the contract gains and share other important information about the work of the Guild.  These OT Leaders and their pod members are building a sense of community, enhancing two-way communication, providing valuable tools for advocacy, and making sure the structure remains strong for future rounds of negotiations.  If you want to find out more about the program or join the team and be placed in a member pod, please email us at outreachteam@dga.org.

Our unity is our strength.


DGA Outreach Team Co-Chairs

Paris BarclayParis Barclay
Paris Barclay, an acclaimed TV Director with nearly 200 episodes to his credit, has won two Emmys and received six additional nominations. He served as the Directors Guild of America's President from 2013 to 2017, making history as the first African-American and openly gay person in this role. Barclay has been an active DGA member since 1992, holding various leadership positions within the Guild, including helping to co-found the Outreach Team during the 2023 BA/FLTTA negotiations.

DGA Arthur E LewisArthur E. Lewis
Arthur Lewis has worked in television, theatre, and event production for over 30 years. His career has included stage managing The Oscars, The Tonys, The Grammys, Inaugural and special events for Obama, Bush, and Clinton, The Kennedy Center Honors, Super Bowl Halftime, Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies, Saturday Night Live, and The Vagina Monologues . He has also toured internationally with theatrical productions of avant-garde visionary Robert Wilson and composer/director Phillip Glass. Arthur stage managed and directed the soap opera Another World. He also worked as First Assistant Director for the sitcoms, Murphy Brown (2018) and Are We There Yet?. Always happy to mentor, Arthur has been a guest lecturer at Columbia University, New York University, Hofstra University, Emerson College, Long Island University, and University of Texas at Austin. He and his family live in Brooklyn.

DGA Chemen A. OchoaChemen A. Ochoa
Chemen has been a DGA member for over 30 years working on features and television as an Assistant Director all over the U.S. and also in Thailand. She is Mexican-American, born in Lima, Peru, and raised in Southern California, New York, New Jersey, and Tennessee. She grew up on sets as both of her parents were in the entertainment industry. In 1992, Chemen graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts for Drama. She studied acting at Circle In A Square Theater and at the Mali Theatre in Moscow. During the summers she worked as a Set P.A. on feature films such as Three Men and a Little Lady and A River Runs Through It. After graduation she was grandfathered into the DGA on Gettysburg as the Addl. 2nd A.D. She then relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she worked with her mother, 1st A.D., Kaaren Ochoa, for many years as a Mother-Daughter A.D. team. Chemen has served on the Proposals Committee and the 2023 Negotiations Committee. She was recently elected as a 2nd Alternate on the National Board and an Alternate on the Western AD/UPM Council and currently serves on the 1st A.D. Committee. She was a DGA Award Nominee for Martha Coolidge’s Introducing Dorothy Dandridge in 1999 and Patricia Riggen’s Lemonade Mouth in 2011.

DGA Thomas SchlammeTommy Schlamme
Thomas Schlamme is a renowned TV Director, best known for his work on The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Sports Night, and The Americans. He has been a pivotal figure in the DGA since joining the National Board in 2005. Schlamme served as DGA President from 2017 to 2021, following years of service in various leadership roles. He has been instrumental in negotiations, creative rights advocacy, and political action within the Guild. In 2017, Schlamme received the Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award for his extraordinary service to the DGA and its members. Thomas is also co-founder of the Outreach Team.