Art Directors Guild

The Art Directors Guild was originally named the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors (SMPAD),[5] which was founded by fifty-nine Art Directors at a meeting on May 6, 1937, at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

After World War II, many "below the line" industry labor organizations, including SMPAD, signed on with the IATSE for overall union representation. SMPAD became more active, grew in membership, and expanded opportunities as television developed. In 1967 the Society included "television" to their name before settling on its current moniker, the "Art Directors Guild" in 1998.[6]

The creation of its own local (formerly known as Local 816) in March 1949 marked the first time the Hollywood Scenic Artists and Title Artists had its own local representing its unique needs. Previously, the members were part of Local 644 of the Conference of Studio Unions (CSU) working in film and theater. The overwhelming majority of Local 644's membership, however, had been made up of set painters and paperhangers and included set designers as well. It was not until the dissolution of the CSU after a long series of bitterly contested strikes that the scenic artists were able to organize exclusively. Those artists had been pioneers in their field, responsible for devising and developing the methods used to create representational scenery unsurpassed anywhere in the world.

The size and strength of the local grew with the inclusion of television contracts in the early 1950s. Television, at that time, was in effect an extension of live theater and required a lot of painted two-dimensional scenery instead of the three-dimensional sets used in film. As the nature of television scenery changed, the responsibilities of the television scenic artist broadened to include those of the set painter. Local 816 was the only local in the entertainment industry that worked in all three major areas of the business: film, television and theater.

In January 2003, the 850 members of ADG merged with the 650 member Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists to form the Art Directors Guild & Scenic, Title and Graphic Artists.

In the 1930s, the Illustrators and Matte Artists were part of the Federation of Motion Picture Crafts. By 1941 they became a part of the Conference of Studio Unions. In 1945, they received their own chartered local, Local 790 in IATSE, which by the 1950s became the dominant labor organization representing the motion picture and television job categories working behind the camera.[7]

On July 1, 2008, under the orders of IATSE International President Thomas C. Short, Local 790 Illustrators & Matte Artists and Local 847 Set Designers and Model Makers were merged into Local 800.[8]