DAVID WHITE APPOINTED SAG'S NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

WHITE CAN DROP "INTERIM" FROM HIS TITLE.

NATIONAL BOARD MEETING GOES INTO SECOND DAY.

NO RESPONSE FROM MEMBERSHIP FIRST PARTISANS AT PRESS TIME.

NO OFFICIAL BREAKDOWN OF HOW BOARD MEMS VOTED.

from SAG's press release:

Los Angeles (October 18, 2009) -- Screen Actors Guild announced today that its National Board of Directors appointed David P. White as National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator. White has been serving as the Guild's Interim National Executive Director since January of this year.

The board approved a two-year contract, by a vote of 70.91% to 29.09% at its national board meeting in Los Angeles this weekend.

Screen Actors Guild National President Ken Howard commented, "I am very pleased that our board has selected David White as National Executive Director. David is a highly skilled professional, with a remarkable ability to listen to the concerns of all sides of complex issues. He is respected by members and 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. We now have six previously open contracts ratified, new cost saving and administrative improvements in place, and innovative initiatives underway. I congratulate David on this position and look forward to working with him during my term as President."

White stated, "I am honored to accept this position and want to thank the National Board, and the many members who have reached out to me, for their support and statements of confidence in my leadership. I particularly want to extend my personal thanks to my colleague John McGuire for stepping up to the plate during this transition.

"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. Screen Actors Guild has a remarkable history and we look forward to the extraordinary future that we know awaits us."

Secretary-Treasurer Amy Aquino stated, "Screen Actors Guild is extremely lucky to have David White at the helm for another two years. From his hiring nine months ago, he made it a top priority to make a clear and unflinching assessment of SAG's financial situation, and then he took the difficult and necessary steps to address it. David truly appreciates and admires actors and understands the challenges we face as professionals. His expertise and previous tenure at the Guild make him the perfect choice for this crucial position, and his strategic vision will help SAG thrive as we navigate this critical phase in our history."

SAG veteran executive John McGuire, who was appointed chief negotiator when White came on as interim national executive director, will continue as senior advisor.
Prior to rejoining the Guild staff, where he previously served as General Counsel from 2002 to 2006, White was Managing Principal of Los Angeles-based Entertainment Strategies Group (ESG) providing consulting services to the entertainment industry.

During his tenure as the Guild's General Counsel, White directed the organization's 40-person legal and governance staff, and played a central role in contract negotiations, strategic planning efforts and diversity programs.

A graduate of Stanford Law School and a Rhodes Scholar, White was a labor and employment attorney at O'Melveny & Myers LLP before joining the executive ranks of SAG. Prior to law school, White served as Executive Director of the neighborhood-based, non-profit Youth Opportunities Unlimited, Inc. He also consulted for the Department of Justice, the Chapin Hall Center for Children (University of Chicago) and a variety of urban development projects in the United States, England and South Africa.

White has been selected as a "Southern California Super Lawyer - Rising Star" and has received numerous other awards for his work and service throughout his career. He is the former Co-Chair of the Sports & Entertainment Labor Law Standing Committee of the American Bar Association. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Grinnell College, and was appointed by the Mayor of Los Angeles as a Commissioner for urban area planning and development. White has served on the Board of Advisors for the Association of Media and Entertainment Counsel and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Posse Foundation-LA, an organization dedicated to expanding educational and leadership opportunities to students across Los Angeles County.

White has been a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Lawyer and, as a frequent commentator on entertainment industry trends, has been quoted on National Public Radio's "Marketplace," and in the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety, Broadcasting & Cable, and other publications.

SAG ELECTION '09: HOWARD AND AQUINO WIN !!!

KEN HOWARD WINS SAG NATIONAL PRESIDENCY. AMY AQUINO WINS SECRETARY-TREASURER. MODERATES SHOW WELL IN ALL AREAS OF ELECTION.
LOW VOTER TURN-OUT. MEMBERSHIP FIRST DELIVERS 'NAMES' IN HOLLYWOOD BOARD RACE. UNITE FOR STRENGTH SHOWS GREATER STRENGTH IN HOLLYWOOD, NY AND THE RBD.

FROM THE SAG PRESS RELEASE:

Guild Also Announces Results of National Board Elections

Los Angeles (September 24, 2009)—Screen Actors Guild today announced results of elections for its top two elected positions. Ken Howard will serve as Screen Actors Guild president and Amy Aquino will serve as secretary-treasurer. Both will serve two-year terms beginning September 25.

Ballots were mailed to 99,485 paid-up SAG members on August 25, and 27,295 were tabulated today, for a return of 27.44 percent. Presidential candidates Ken Howard received 12,895 votes, with Anne-Marie Johnson coming in second with 8,906 votes, Seymour Cassel got 4,838 votes, and Asmar Muhammad received 402 votes.

DAVID WHITE SPEAKS:
“I’d like to be among the first to extend my heartfelt congratulations to our newly elected Screen Actors Guild national leadership. I look forward to working closely with our new president, Ken Howard, and new secretary-treasurer, Amy Aquino, as we focus on the wide range of critical issues facing our members in the coming year,” said SAG Interim National Executive Director David White. “I also extend my thanks, and the gratitude of SAG members and staff to Alan Rosenberg and Connie Stevens for their service and sacrifice on behalf of our union.”

KEN HOWARD SPEAKS:
“I am deeply honored to be chosen by the membership to lead the Screen Actors Guild,” said Ken Howard. “I campaigned on the promise that I’d do everything in my power to strengthen our position at the bargaining table by building a greater unity with AFTRA and the other entertainment unions, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. Despite the sharp differences that those of us active in Guild affairs sometimes have over strategy and tactics, we need to continually remind ourselves that we’re all on the same team, fighting for the same thing — and by pulling together, we’ll only grow stronger.”

AMY AQUINO SPEAKS:
“I am truly honored that the members have entrusted me with this responsibility,” said Amy Aquino. “Progress has already been made toward strengthening SAG’s finances and I want to make sure it continues. Only by fortifying SAG in this way can we hope to ensure the protections that performers need in these challenging times.”

Screen Actors Guild also announced election results for the National Board of Directors. Twenty-two of the 69 national board seats were open for election this year, representing Screen Actors Guild’s Hollywood, New York and Regional Branch divisions.
“It is my privilege to welcome and congratulate our newly elected Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors for 2009-2010,” said White. “Along with our staff nationwide, I look forward to working with them to pursue a robust agenda as we navigate the Guild through these changing times.”


The National Board members elected today will assume office on September 25 for terms of three years.

SAG’s Hollywood Division elected eleven National Board members; the New York Division elected four National Board members; and seven National Board members were elected from the union’s branches in Chicago, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Philadelphia, Portland and San Diego.

National Board members elected from the Hollywood Division: Martin Sheen, Ed Harris, Elliott Gould, Ed Asner, Anne-Marie Johnson, Connie Stevens, Diane Ladd, Dulé Hill, Hill Harper, Nancy Travis, and Marcia Wallace (all three-year terms).


The following were elected to serve as National Board alternates and to the Hollywood Division Board of Directors (all one-year terms). Gabrielle Carteris, Jenny O’Hara, Michael O’Keefe, Clyde Kusatsu, Dawnn Lewis, Doug Savant, Michelle Allsopp, Alan Rosenberg, D. W. Moffett, Joe Bologna, Robert Hays, Jason George, L. Scott Caldwell, Clark Gregg, Patrick Fabian, Bill Smitrovich, Ellen Crawford, Stacey Travis, Mandy Steckelberg, Renee Taylor, Bernie Casey and John Carroll Lynch.


National Board members elected from the New York Division: Sharon Washington, Monica Trombetta, Sam Freed and Liz Zazzi (all three-year terms). Additionally, New York Division members elected Mike Hodge as NY Division President.


The following were elected to serve as national board alternates and to the New York Division board of directors (all one-year terms.) Manny Alfaro, Sheila Head, Marc Baron, Joe Narciso, Jay Potter, Dave Bachman, John Rothman, Kevin Scullin and Justin Barrett.
National Board members elected from the Regional Branch Division: John Carter Brown (Chicago – three-year term), David Hartley-Margolin (Colorado – three-year term), Dave Corey (Florida – three-year term), Scott Rogers (Hawaii – three-year term), Helen McNutt (Philadelphia – three-year term), Mary McDonald-Lewis (Portland – three-year term), Don Ahles (San Diego – three-year term).


Ballots for all eligible SAG members in Hollywood and New York were mailed on August 25 with a September 24 return deadline and were tabulated today by the independent election company Integrity Voting Systems. A total of 13,718 ballots were tabulated in the Hollywood Division (representing 25.25 percent of ballots mailed in the Hollywood Division) and 5,997 ballots were tabulated in the New York Division (representing 26.11 percent of ballots mailed in the New York Division). The number of ballots returned in the Regional Branch elections varied by region.

SAG TOWNHALL MEETINGS IN HOLLYWOOD AND NEW YORK: VOTE "YES" ON THE TV/THEATRICAL CONTRACT

SAG NEWS: A Letter from David White:

As you know, the Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors voted April 19, 2009, to approve and recommend to members, new, two-year successor agreements to the 2005 Producer-Screen Actors Guild Codified Basic Agreement and 2005 Screen Actors Guild Television Agreement.



Ballots will be mailed to all eligible members on May 19, 2009. Ballots must be mailed in the return envelope provided and received at the Everett, WA, post office box no later than 5:00 p.m. (PDT) June 9, 2009. Ballots received after this deadline, or at a location other than the post office box, will not be counted.



We are holding member informational meetings so that you can hear about the tentative agreement and ask questions. Member informational meetings are scheduled for Hollywood and New York as follows and will be announced for Branch locations next week.



HOLLYWOOD

Thursday, May 21, 2009

7 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Renaissance Hollywood Hotel

Hollywood Ballroom

1755 N. Highland Ave.

Hollywood, CA 90028



PARKING: No-host self parking at Hollywood & Highland – validation available at the Hollywood & Highland complex: $2 for 4 hours when you are validated in any shop, restaurant or theatre that is part of the mall. Guild not responsible for illegally parked vehicles.



NEW YORK

Monday, June 1, 2009

6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Directors Guild of America

110 West 57th Street (between 6th & 7th Aves.) New York, New York



Unfortunately, no guests will be allowed. Parents/guardians of younger performers under 18 years-old are welcome. PLEASE BRING YOUR SAG MEMBERSHIP CARD FOR ADMITTANCE (paid thru April 30, 2009). For more information call the National TV/Theatrical Contracts Hotline (323) 549-6665 or email contract2009@sag.org.



Member informational meetings are also planned for Branch locations across the country. More information on Branch member informational meetings will be available shortly.



Please plan to attend the member informational meeting in your area to get important facts regarding the tentative agreement. Screen Actors Guild negotiators, national board members and staff experts will be on hand to provide a thorough overview of the tentative agreement.



You can also find more information on the upcoming referendum, including details of the tentative agreement, by visiting the TV/Theatrical Contracts Center at www.sag.org or by emailing contract2009@sag.org.



We know how important this contract is to all Screen Actors Guild members. We urge you to stay informed by visiting www.sag.org often, attending the member informational meeting in your area and contacting us with questions and comments.



Watch for your ballot which is mailing May 19, 2009, and when you receive it, vote yes and return your ballot right away. Don't delay, ballots must be received by June 9.



In unity,



David P. White

Interim National Executive Director



John T. McGuire

Chief Negotiator



Screen Actors Guild National Board of Directors Strongly Recommends your “Yes” Vote on this contract. Let’s get back to work with a raise.

A MESSAGE FROM NEW NED DAVID WHITE

Dear Screen Actors Guild member,

As I enter my first full day today as your new Interim National Executive Director, I have reflected on a Los Angeles Examiner story from 1937 that once hung on the wall of my Screen Actors Guild office when I served as General Counsel.

The article chronicled the moment when the studios had finally recognized the Guild as the labor representative for actors in the motion picture industry. A grainy photograph captured members celebrating the news together, the joy in their faces richly evident. That moment, and the incredible work that it took Guild members to reach that moment, have served as the foundation for 75 years of history that has followed.

In my previous tenure at the Guild, I worked alongside several elected National Boards, two presidents (current President Rosenberg and former President Melissa Gilbert) and three National Executive Directors. My intention now, as Interim National Executive Director, will be to work with your current National Board to navigate through a period that is brimming with both challenges and opportunities – from completing our TV/Theatrical negotiations; to preparing for and securing a new Commercials contract as well as several other smaller but critically important labor agreements; to repairing relations with our sister unions; and addressing a polarized political system that is perceived by too many of our members as being close to broken. As we confront these efforts together, my overarching goal is this: to help restore your confidence that this is a union where strong and wise decisions are made despite political differences.

The greatest challenge facing this union is to find a way for democratic leadership to flourish – for disagreement and debate to build into unity and power. The Guild’s diversity of opinion should, and must, serve as a source of strength and solidarity. I believe in the Guild’s capacity for this. And that is why today I offer two messages to each and every member: First, I will be at the office each day to work with your talented staff and your National Board to achieve objectives that advance your interests as actors; and, second, it is time to turn the page on the most destructive aspects of the Guild’s internal politics.

In this swiftly changing environment, we will not be successful if we do not work together. This effort will take an entire union – all members, from background actors, to stunt performers, to voice over actors; those working in film television, commercials, industrials and video games; dancers and singers; middle-class actors, to high-profile ones, to struggling artists working each day to break through for their first chance. We must work together. Because if not, the well-known words that a previous leader offered to a once-divided collection of citizens will matter to us now: united we stand; divided we fall.

During this extraordinary period for both our union and country, I am again reminded of the achievement of the Guild’s founders as recounted in that 1937 Los Angeles Examiner story. Their achievement came as a result of a supreme effort by a group of committed performers willing to set aside their differences in pursuit of that shared purpose. The result: they built an organization whose membership card today remains the ultimate benchmark for professional performers. The triumph of the Guild’s founders cannot be overstated – nor can the sacrifice, wisdom and political maturity that was required to achieve it.

I enter this interim role with the grand history of the Screen Actors Guild rooted firmly in my mind. I did not seek this position, but I am honored to act as its temporary custodian. You have my pledge that I will direct all my energies to steadying this historic organization and ensuring its success. I thank the Guild’s National Board for the confidence and trust they have placed in me on your behalf. And I look forward to working together, in solidarity.

David White
Interim National Executive Director
Screen Actors Guild

MESSAGE FROM SAG'S NATIONAL BOARD REGARDING DOUG ALLEN FIRING

SAG'S NATIONAL BOARD BREAKS THROUGH CONTRACT NEGOTIATION STALEMATE--FIRES INEFFECTUAL NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DOUG ALLEN AND REPLACES HIM WITH INTERIM NATIONAL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DAVID WHITE. NATIONAL BOARD WORKS TO GET CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS ON TRACK.


SAG PRESS RELEASE
A Message to Members from the SAG National Board Majority

Today we took an important and necessary action to address the leadership crisis at Screen Actors Guild. Representatives from SAG’s National Board majority delivered a “written assent” document to SAG headquarters which authorized the following: Doug Allen is immediately replaced as National Executive Director by former SAG General Counsel David White, who will serve as interim NED; Guild Senior Advisor John T. McGuire is appointed as Chief Negotiator of all SAG contracts; the TV/Theatrical Contract Negotiating Committee is replaced by a Taskforce which will complete negotiations on behalf of the Board of Directors.

In a meeting two weeks ago, a majority of the board sought to make the crucial changes now contained in the written assent, but were derailed by President Alan Rosenberg and a minority of board members through endless parliamentary games and improper behavior. By filibustering for over 28 straight hours, they prevented the Board from ever taking a vote on the majority’s proposal.

This unprecedented level of obstruction has paralyzed the Guild.

Written assent is included in SAG’s constitution to allow a majority of the Board to take action outside the boardroom if necessary. While extraordinary circumstances may require the use of written assent, we do not believe it is a desirable way to conduct Guild business. In this case, the unrelenting obstruction by a minority of board members has left us no alternative.

This action has the support of all but one of the National Board members from SAG’S New York and Regional Branch Divisions, and all in the Hollywood Division except those affiliated with the group Membership First. The signed written assent documents were delivered today to SAG headquarters in Los Angeles.

Upon implementation of the approved motion, Interim National Executive Director David White will assume control of all Guild operations and will coordinate with Chief Negotiator John McGuire to contact the AMPTP to undertake resolution of TV/Theatrical Contract negotiations, which ground to a halt nearly seven months ago. The leaner TV/Theatrical Taskforce will work alongside Mr. McGuire as the "eyes and ears of the board," providing input and support as contract negotiations are concluded.

Beyond the stalled TV/Theatrical negotiations, there is much work to be done and SAG members can rest assured that we have secured an exemplary leader in David White. A Rhodes Scholar, Mr. White has extensive industry experience and was SAG's General Counsel from 2002 to 2006. He knows the Guild and its contracts, and has the respect of our staff and the entertainment community. Our Chief Negotiator, John McGuire, is a 40-year SAG staff veteran who has negotiated over 30 contracts and is held in enormous esteem throughout the industry and the labor movement. We have complete confidence in his ability to deliver the best possible contracts for our members.

These much needed changes will allow SAG to chart a new course. We will work to secure a TV/Theatrical Contract that can be sent to members with a positive recommendation, and to effectively resolve all our outstanding contracts, including the Commercials Contract. We will also work to rebuild vital relationships in the entertainment and labor communities, and to reestablish Screen Actors Guild as a respected and powerful institution, protecting and defending performers nationwide.