SAG's Pamm Fair resigning

Pamm Fair, deputy national executive director of the Screen Actors Guild, is resigning.

Fair, who heads SAG's legislative affairs and communications divisions, will step down by the end of the year, a person close to SAG said.

SAG officials declined to comment on the reason for Fair's resignation.  Fair was among the guild's highest paid staffers and saw her responsibilities grow during the controversial tenure of Doug Allen, the union's former executive director, who was fired by the SAG board earlier this year over his handling of a protracted contract standoff with the studios.

Fair declined to comment.

Update (1 p.m.): In a statement, the Screen Actors Guild Executive Director David White credited Fair for her efforts to redefine the guild's new media initiatives, organizing efforts and legislative advocacy on key guild issues. "Her contributions to the guild have been varied and significant and I thank her for her dedicated service. I know I speak for all of us in wishing her continued success," White stated.

--Richard Verrier

No halo over SAG video games contract

Actors who perform in the burgeoning video game industry have rejected a proposed new contract, sending their leaders back to the bargaining table.

Screen Actors Guild members, voting in secret ballots in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, voted 63% to 37% to reject a tentative interactive agreement, the union said Wednesday.

The contract, which expired Dec. 31, 2008, covers about 2,000 actors.

"The Screen Actors Guild will be pursuing further negotiations with the industry to address the concerns raised by members regarding the tentative agreement," the union said in a statement.

Among other things, actors have objected to a provision that would increase the number of voices that background actors would have to perform before they would receive double their standard pay rate.

SAG's board opted to send the contract to members without a formal recommendation. By contrast, the board of its sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, recently recommended approval, which must be ratified by members who work under the contract.

-- Richard Verrier

California passes new law to protect child actors from scams

Hollywood's smallest and most vulnerable players are getting some parental help from Sacramento.

For years, parents have complained to the L.A. city attorney's office and the Better Business Bureau about the unscrupulous practices of talent listing services and acting schools that charge exorbitant upfront fees -- sometimes as high as $9,000 -- on the promise of finding acting jobs for their children on popular TV shows.

With the help of the city attorney's office and the Screen Actors Guild, the state Legislature last week enacted a bill that clamps down on such rogue companies by providing a new set of consumer protections for aspiring child actors. Among other things, the legislation will make it illegal for third parties to charge advance fees for talent representation services to potential actors and models. It also would require them to post bonds with the state and use unambiguous contracts.

SAG officials touted the new regulations Wednesday at a press conference attended by a coalition of concerned parents, their children and local politicians and state politicians, including Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank), who wrote the bill.

SAG President Ken Howard, citing the guild's longstanding efforts to push for laws that protect the welfare of child actors, said the legislation will protect "innocent, well-intentioned people from paying for goods that no person or entity can promise or deliver."

Anne Henry, founder of the advocacy group BizParentz Foundation, said the bill was sorely needed. "We've seen literally thousands of complaints, so we're hopeful this bill will make an impact,'' she said.

-- Richard Verrier

SAG Board taps David White as new executive director and chief negotiator

The Screen Actors Guild board of directors has appointed David P. White as the national executive director and chief negotiator for Hollywood's largest union.

The appointment of White, who had been serving as interim executive director, was widely anticipated after a group of moderate actors who orchestrated the firing of his predecessor, Doug Allen, installed White in January. 

The moderates recently solidified their position on the national board when their candidate, veteran character actor Ken Howard, soundly defeated Anne-Marie Johnson, who was backed by the Membership First faction that had supported Allen and swept outgoing SAG President Alan Rosenberg into office four years ago.

Johnson and Rosenberg filed an unsuccessful lawsuit to block the board's firing of Allen, who led the union during a yearlong contract standoff with the studios.

Reflecting ongoing divisions in the 125,000 member union, SAG's board approved a two-year contract for White by a 71%-to-29% margin at a meeting Sunday in Los Angeles.

White is a former general counsel for SAG who has pledged to work toward improving relations with other unions, notably the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and to help unify the guild, which has been beset with disputes over negotiating strategy and how to deal with the smaller actors union that is making rapid inroads into prime-time television.

In a statement, White acknowledged the challenges he faces. "We will continue to get our house in order -- financially and strategically. I have great confidence in the guild's ability to navigate the dramatic changes taking place in our industry."

Supporters said White has brought stability and renewed effectiveness to the guild, which has ratified six contracts this year and taken cost-cutting steps to deal with a budget shortfall caused by the recession and work slowdown for actors. 

"David is a highly skilled professional, with a remarkable ability to listen to the concerns of all sides of complex issues,'' Howard said in a statement. "He is respected by members of staff and I am confident that under his leadership, the guild will continue building on the achievements he has overseen in the past nine months."

-- Richard Verrier

Photo Credit: Screen Actors Guild


 

SAG's Unite for Strength wins, but its leader Ned Vaughn loses

The party wins but one of its leaders gets left in the cold?

That's one of the surprising outcomes from yesterday's Screen Actors Guild election.

The so-called moderate faction known as Unite for Strength garnered a big victory yesterday when its candidate, veteran character actor Ken Howard, won a decisive victory in the presidential contest, soundly defeating his principal challenger, Anne-Marie Johnson, from the Membership First group that swept control of the union four years ago.

In addition, Unite for Strength won four additional seats on the 69-member national board, and 17 of the 22 seats for alternate board members in Hollywood who serve on the national board when regulars can't attend.

So why didn't one of the leaders of the group and its chief spokesman, Ned Vaughn, make the cut? Vaughn lost his position as an alternate board member.

Part of the reason might be that in Screen Actors Guild elections, perhaps more than any other guild, name recognition counts. After all, these are actors. And it's no coincidence that the top vote-getters happened to also be the most famous actors, such as Ed Harris, Martin Sheen and Ed Asner -- all from the Membership First ticket.

Like many working actors, Vaughn, despite nearly 60 credits to his name and having appeared in such shows as "Cane," "Commander in Chief" and "24," isn't exactly a household name.

Still, there were several other lesser known actors who still got elected to the board. A further explanation might lie in the fact that Vaughn was also targeted by by his opponents precisely because of his high profile role last year in helping to stage a boardroom coup against the former leadership. One anonymous e-mail urged SAG members to vote for anyone except Ned Vaughn. Johnson also singled out Vaughn in her campaign.

For his part, Vaughn took the loss in stride, joking that he'd have more time now to spend with his family, and looks to the big picture. "It's about a movement, not any individual,'' he said. "I'll continue to be in the mix."

-- Richard Verrier

Ken Howard, a moderate, elected Screen Actors President

That's the second big win for Ken Howard this week.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild have elected the veteran character actor, who just won won an Emmy on Sunday for his role in HBO's "Grey Gardens," as the union's new president, capping a bitter election campaign that sharply divided Hollywood's largest and most fractious union.

Howard defeated actress Anne-Marie Johnson, SAG's first vice president who was his leading challenger and backed by the faction that swept outgoing president Alan Rosenberg into office four years ago. Supporters of Howard further consolidated power by winning a majority of the 22 seats on the 69-member national board that were up for grabs.

The result further tilts the balance of power inside the actors union toward a group of moderates endorsed by Tom Hanks and George Clooney, who led a revolt against the union's leadership, forcing the ouster earlier this year of its executive director.

The group installed a new negotiating team and appointed former general counsel David White as the union's interim executive director, but the actions sparked a lawsuit by Johnson and Rosenberg.

Howard, whose credits include the TV series "Crossing Jordan," campaigned on a platform that included merging with the smaller actors union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

AFTRA suspended its longtime bargaining partnership with SAG last year after a dispute over turf, freeing the union to negotiate directly with the studios for the main prime-time TV contract. The smaller actors union, which has long played second fiddle to SAG, has suddenly emerged as the go-to union for new prime-time TV shows, weakening SAG's grip in area it has traditionally dominated.

Howard argued that having two actors' unions allows studios to pit one against the other, severely undercutting SAG's leverage at the bargaining table.

Johnson, star of  the TV series "In the Heat of the Night" and "That's So Raven," countered that merging the two unions was a bad idea because their memberships are too dissimilar. Although both unions represent actors and share about  44,000 members in common,  AFTRA's members also include broadcast announcers, recording artists and radio show hosts. 

Johnson's close association with Rosenberg, however, may have hurt her campaign. Rosenberg waged an unsuccessful campaign to defeat a contract negotiated by AFTRA, fiercely opposed a SAG contract that was approved overwhelmingly by members, and lost a battle to keep Allen in his job.

The result follows a similar outcome in a closely contest election at the Writers Guild of America, West, where members also tapped "Southland" executive producer John Wells, a moderate, over "MASH" writer Elias Davis, who had been strongly supported by the former president Patric M. Verrone, who led the union during a 100-day strike.

-- Richard Verrier

Photo: Ken Howard (courtesy of Howard); Johnson (AP/Reed Saxon)

Writers Guild Presidential Candidate John Wells calls out Verrone

John Wells fired back at the outgoing president of the Writers Guild of America, West, accusing Patric M. Verrone of lying about his involvement in last year's contract negotiations.

Verrone and John Bowman, who chaired the guild's negotiating committee last year, alleged in a missive last week to union members that Wells kept them in the dark about his "negotiations" with the Directors Guild of America, which reached an early contract with the studios while the writers were on strike. The men said Wells' actions undermined their own bargaining efforts.

But in his own letter to members, Wells accused the men of "mischaracterizing" his actions. Wells, a candidate for president in elections that will be decided Sept. 18, wrote that he was not involved in the DGA negotiations and never claimed to be. Rather, he said he was attempting to "find out whatever I could about the details of the deal they were planning to negotiate, which would inevitably become the basis of our deal." He added that he was also trying to "lend much needed credibility to our very strained relationship with the DGA."

Moreover, Wells said he briefed negotiating committee members on several occasions, and cited specific meetings and e-mails in which he communicated with Bowman about the DGA talks. Two members of the guild's negotiating committee confirmed that Wells did in fact keep them informed about the DGA negotiations.

"Let me say simply and directly that Patric Verrone and John Bowman are not telling the truth, and that they know they are not telling the truth,'' Wells wrote. He further accused the men of "besmirching my name in order to win an election for their colleague Elias Davis."

Verrone and Bowman had no immediate response. They are backing Davis, who is the union's secretary treasurer, and sought to portray Wells, the executive producer of NBC's "Southland" and the hits "ER" and "West Wing," as someone who is too close to management. Wells' supporters have cited his experience as a former guild president and his deep knowledge of the business.

-- Richard Verrier

Photo: John Wells. Credit: Jill Connelly / Associated Press

 

SAG group announces slate

Ken Howard is running for president of the Screen Actors Guild as head of the Unite for Strength ticket, the group of moderates seeking to strengthen their hold on the national board.

A current Emmy nominee for best supporting actor in HBO's "Grey Gardens," Howard's career has spanned four decades. (Avid television viewers may recall him from his role as a retired professional basketball player who takes a job as a head coach of a Los Angeles high school in the late 1970s series, "The White Shadow.") He is joined on the slate of 33 nominees by Amy Aquino, a candidate for secretary-treasurer.

"With increasing consolidation of media companies and new technologies transforming our business, we will pay dearly if we're not smart and strategic about our future," Howard said. "I'm running for president as a Unite for Strength candidate because I believe the only way actors will get our fair share of the pie is if we're united both internally and with our labor partners."

This coalition of self-described moderates were behind the January ouster of the Union's executive director, Doug Allen, whom they accused of mishandling negotiations with the major Hollywood studios and dividing the 120,000-member union.

--Dawn C. Chmielewski

SAG members, finally, approve contract

Hollywood's largest actors union strongly endorsed a new film and TV contract, closing the chapter on a year-long dispute with the major studios.

The vote, which was expected to be close, drew a stronger show of support from the membership of the Screen Actors Guild, with 78% supporting the deal, and 22% opposing it.

The approval comes nearly a year after the guild's current contract expired and is largely similar to a deal the studios offered the union last fall. SAG's bargaining clout was hurt by the weak economy and a series of strategic missteps by the union's former chief negotiator, who was ousted in a boardroom revolt in January.

Although the contract was expected to be ratified, the vote puts to rest lingering fears in Hollywood that the entertainment industry would face another strike following last year's walkout by writers.

It could also help spur at least some independent film production that has been held up because of the dispute. The uncertainty had caused some insurance companies to stop issuing completion bonds -- ensuring that a film will be done on time and within budget -- that independent filmmakers depend on.

The contract was patterned after similar agreements negotiated last year by three other talent unions. It includes an immediate pay increase of 3% and for the first time gives actors residual pay for shows that streamed for free on websites like Hulu.

But SAG's members were sharply at odds over the terms. Stars lined up on either side of dueling campaigns. A group of A-list actors led by Tom Hanks and George Clooney backed the contract as the best that could be had in a difficult economic climate.

Another group that included former SAG President Ed Asner, Ed Harris and Martin Sheen blasted the agreement, saying it shortchanges actors for work that is distributed on the Internet.

Underscoring the divisions, the contract was supported by a majority of the board and the union's executive director, but opposed by the union's president, Alan Rosenberg, who vigorously campaigned against the contract.

Rosenberg was an ardent backer of former SAG executive director Doug Allen, who was ousted after a group of dissident actors won control of the board in elections last fall. They replaced him with veteran negotiator John McGuire and David White, the union's former general counsel.

--Richard Verrier