Puppy love leads Barrett to ankle
Barrett, who had been senior vice president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers' public-affairs coalition, said Tuesday she will leave her post at the end of this month.
Barrett, who is on the Los Angeles animal regulation commission, said the new job will give her a chance to pursue a lifelong passion as an animal rescuer.
She will become the Humane Assn.'s Western regional director and plans to pursue a number of new programs, such as including a public campaign to illustrate the connection between cruelty to animals and child abuse. In L.A., the group focuses on protecting animals, and oversees the use of animals in film and rates movies about how animals were treated.
"As many of my colleagues and friends know, I have been an animal rescuer my entire life," she said in a state-ment. "Now I want to concentrate on that lifelong passion and make it a second career."
AMPTP president Nick Counter said the search will begin next month to fill her post. He will oversee the org's activities in the interim.
Barrett established the coalition in 1991, and played a major role in merging the L.A. city and county film offices to streamline the permit process. She also commissioned an economic study that outlined the industry's contribu-tion to the local economy, and launched an education initiative for the training of digital artists in high schools.
After eight years with the AMPTP, Barrett also said she was attracted to the idea of building a new organization.
"The idea of building something is really important," she said. "This seemed like an ideal thing. It is just right up my alley."
