The Art Directors Guild (ADG) is an American labor union and branch of the International Alliance of Theatrical and Stage Employees (IATSE) representing almost 2,000 motion picture and television professionals.

The ADG's sponsored activities include a film society, the Annual ADG Awards, an art gallery called Gallery 800, an annual membership directory, technology-training programs and a professional quarterly news magazine called Perspective. They are also founding cosponsors of the 5D Conferences.

Local 800 has four main craft classifications:

In addition, the ADG is seeking to extend membership and subsequent union benefits to previs artists.

Individual crafts represented by the ADG:

Fifty-nine Art Directors, from all the major Hollywood studios, met on May 6, 1937 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, to found the Society of Motion Picture Art Directors (SMPAD).

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.

Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild which represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merged with the Radio and Television Directors Guild in 1960 to become the modern Directors Guild of America.

As a union that seeks to organize an individual profession, rather than multiple professions across an industry, the DGA is a craft union. It represents directors and members of the directorial team (assistant directors, unit production managers, stage managers, associate directors, production associates, technical coordinators, and location managers (New York & Chicago only)) in film, television, documentaries, news, sports, commercials and new media production.

The Guild has various training programs whereby successful applicants are placed in various productions and can gain experience working in the film or television industry.

As of 2011^[update], its 75th anniversary, the guild had about 14,500 members. The DGA headquarters are located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, with satellite offices in New York and Chicago and coordinating committees in San Francisco, Chicago and London.

Art director (A.D.) is the title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, marketing, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games.

Various artists may create or develop specific parts of an art piece or scene; but it is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vision. In particular, the art director is in charge of the overall visual appearance and how it communicates visually, stimulates moods, contrasts features, and psychologically appeals to a target audience. The art director makes decisions about visual elements used, what artistic style to use, and when to use motion.

One of the most difficult problems that art directors face is to translate desired moods, messages, concepts, and underdeveloped ideas into imagery. During the brainstorming process, art directors, coworkers, and clients are engaged in imagining what the finished piece or scene might look like. At times, an art director is ultimately responsible for solidifying the vision of the collective imagination while resolving conflicting agendas and inconsistencies between the various individual inputs.

Julia O'Hara Stiles (born March 28, 1981) is an American actress.

After beginning her career in small parts in a New York City theatre troupe, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet. Her film career has included both commercial and critical successes, ranging from teen romantic comedies such as 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) to dark art house pictures such as The Business of Strangers (2001). She is also known for playing the supporting character Nicky Parsons in the Bourne film series and the leading role in Save the Last Dance, and for her role in Mona Lisa Smile. She guest starred as Lumen Pierce in the fifth season of the Showtime series Dexter, a role that earned her Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.

Stiles was born in New York City, the eldest of three children. Her mother, Judith Newcomb Stiles, is a potter, and her father, John O'Hara, is a businessman. Stiles has English, Irish, and Italian ancestry. She started acting at age eleven, performing with New York's La MaMa Theatre Company.

Joseph Michael "Joe" Manganiello ( /ˌmæŋɡəˈnɛloʊ/ MANG-gə-NEL-oh; born December 28, 1976) is a classically trained American film and theatre actor. He holds a BFA in acting from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama. He played Flash Thompson in the original Spider-Man film series, and was previously best known for his recurring roles in television on ER, How I Met Your Mother and One Tree Hill, among others before landing his breakout role as werewolf Alcide Herveaux on the HBO television series True Blood for which he has garnered both popular and critical praise. For his work on True Blood, Manganiello received two 2011 Scream Awards for Breakout Performance – Male, and a shared award for Best Ensemble, as well as a Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role in Television and a NewNowNext Award. In 2011 Manganiello was voted "Favorite Pop-Culture Werewolf of All Time" by the readers of Entertainment Weekly. Along with the premiere of True Blood season five, he has roles in two summer 2012 films, the Steven Soderbergh-directed Magic Mike and the all-star ensemble, What to Expect When You're Expecting. Aside from his work in film and television, Manganiello is active with several charities including Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the Los Angeles based "The Art of Elysium."