Variety on SAG's Doug Allen: He's out! No, he's not!

I know what it's like to write on deadline, so I don't want to go crazy here, making fun of Variety's strike reporting team, which has a tough job to do as it is, trying to write objectively about the Screen Actors Guild soap opera. That's especially true when you consider that Variety's Big Kahuna, Peter Bart, is so obviously eager to paint the union in the worst possible light (although the union has been doing a pretty good job of doing that all by itself). Still, Variety had to be embarrassed to have run a huge story saying SAG had ousted its lead negotiator, the hapless Doug Allen, based on only one named source--the always excitable character actor Seymour Cassel, which is sort of like running a story on the internal squabbling involving Al Franken's bid for a Senate seat and quoting Ann Coulter. Cassel told Variety's Dave McNary that Allen had been removed during an emergency SAG board meeting that ended up lasting--SAG being SAG--a whopping 30 hours. Only one problem: It wasn't true.

Now Variety has had to eat its words, so to speak. It turns out that after 30 hours of contentious wrangling, Allen still has a job and the guild's strike vote will proceed as planned. Basically, SAG's current leadership prevented a dissident faction from passing a resolution that would have effectively relieved Allen of his duties as chief negotiator and rescinded the strike authorization vote.

Guess what? Allen will be ousted. It's just a matter of sooner or later. SAG's current bomb-throwing leadership has been trying to lead the union over a cliff by insisting on getting a better deal when everyone else in the country is simply trying to pay their bills and keep the dog from the door. In fact, SAG prez Alan Rosenberg will probably be the next out the door, having completely misread the mood of the union rank and file, not to mention the studio chiefs who sit across the negotiating table. The union needs new leadership--it's the only way SAG will live to fight another day.   

Comments

[R. Scott]

Patrick,

So sick of the media (LA Times & Variety) continuing to belittle and defame SAG's leadership during its dispute with AMPTP. Despite SAG's sometimes maddening internal politics, the present leadership is standing up for actors.

The huge conglomerates that now run the studios have continued to reduce actors' quotes and number of days worked year after year. Not to mention the past deals SAG agreed to depriving its members of DVD and cable revenues. Yes, the economy is hurting, everyone is hurting, but that doesn't mean actors should once again swallow an inherently unfair deal in regard to new media. Producers are once again trying to set a new precedent depriving actors of future revenue.

SAG's leadership and a lot of its membership see this contract as a defining moment for the existence of this union. So if the producers want to drive us, the TV schedule and some feature films over the cliff, then we'll all go over together.

[Mike Farrell]

Right on the money, thank you! Your only error was one of omission in that you effectively dismissed the proponents of Allen's dismissal as a "dissident faction' while failing to note that they constitute a majority of the members of the national board.

"Hapless" applies perfectly. This leadership has maintained power despite a series of incredible gaffes - the ATA, the anti-AFTRA fiasco, this strike business - only to deservedly lose the board majority last September. Now, unwilling to accept their richly-deserved minority status, they resort to anti-democratic tricks to frustrate the will of the membership.

Thank you for calling them on it. The sooner they're out, the sooner SAG can try to rebuild its reputation, though it will be a long climb back from the laughing-stock this gang has made us.

[Dan Plym]

Ha ha, I'm going to laugh when a decade from now everyone that took the crappy deals from the AMPTP and they are getting hosed down with little or no pay for online content. IT IS WHERE IT IS ALL GOING! www.hulu.com is just the start. Channels are springing up everywhere. More and more people are getting rid of their cable feed and now have digital media servers that give them access to the internet so they can choose what they watch. They are only thinking ten feet in front of their faces and letting the media get them so scared about this recession and the AMPTP knows it! Look at that RED camera! www.red.com. Thats not film and it is going to replace it, like it or not! What leverage will anyone have when everything is being produced for the internet digitally? Hmmmmm, I wonder.....