SAG's Rosenberg still defiant

Dissent not dissuading guild president

By DAVE MCNARY

Rosenberg

The SAG standoff over national exec director Doug Allen remains inflamed, with president Alan Rosenberg still defiant in the face of efforts by the board's majority to topple Allen.

"These people are like children," Rosenberg said of his opponents in a Tuesday interview with Daily Variety. "They refuse to take responsibility for anything they do."

The moderates have pledged they will fire Allen on grounds that he's bungled SAG's negotiations, defied the will of the board and left members without a new feature-primetime contract for nearly eight months. Despite having the votes to toss Allen out, the moderate wing was blocked by Rosenberg and his allies at the Jan. 12-13 board meeting via a 30-hour filibuster.

Rosenberg said it remains unclear when the strike authorization may be sent out as he and Allen attempt to persuade other board members to go along with a new plan to enter last-ditch negotiations with the congloms, then send the final offer out to the members without a recommendation. The moderates have already ridiculed the plan, saying they don't trust Allen.

Rosenberg questioned the latest promise by the moderates, asserting they may not have enough votes to dismiss the exec by the process of obtaining individual written signatures -- which could be submitted before the end of the month. "I suspect that they can't get enough votes for written assent, which would take us back to the dark ages," he added.

Rosenberg also defended his efforts in blocking the board vote, which would have fired Allen, canceled the strike authorization and replaced the negotiating committee. He said that doing so wasn't undemocratic -- particularly since the moderates' efforts to oppose the authorization had undercut Allen's efforts to sweeten the congloms' June 30 final offer.

"The resolution was horribly written, and we were blindsided," Rosenberg said. "They slipped it under the transom. You don't trash a man's reputation like that."

New York board member Paul Christie disputed Rosenberg's characterizations of what took place at the marathon meeting.

"The resolution was written well enough to be understood by a 5 year old, and he knows everybody in the room understood every word of it, especially the 'children' making up the majority of the SAG National Board," Christie said. "This resolution is the most responsible step taken by the Guild in over a year. The only 'child' in all of the proceedings at the plenary was the petulant, foul mouthed one posing as president and chairing the meeting. He, along with Doug Allen, should resign. It would actually be the 'adult' thing to do."

SAG New York president Sam Freed said Rosenberg's out of line.

"A clear majority of the board expressed our concerns about the state of our negotiations and our leadership at the recent plenary," Freed said. "We stand by those concerns today."

Former SAG secretary-treasurer James Cromwell blasted back Tuesday at Allen's defenders, noting he's filed a copyright infringement complaint with SAG over an unauthorized revamp of his recent "Save the Biz" video. The revamp replaced Cromwell's voiceover with an apocalyptic forecast of what would happen if SAG accepted the final offer.

Cromwell, who's among the 2,150 SAG members who've come out against the strike authorization, said the "Keep SAG Relevant" video reflects the "win at all costs" mentality of the proponents.

"Their video is indicative of the kind of people who would ask for a boycott in SAG Awards voting of those who oppose the authorization," he added. "The negotiations have remained in the hands of people who are misinforming the members."

The video featured Cromwell, "The Big Bang Theory" star Kaley Cuoco and former SAG Foundation prexy Mitch Ryan and was produced with a volunteer cast and crew. It presents a bleak two-minute vision of the biz's future if another strike occurs.

In a note at the YouTube site where the "Keep SAG Relevant" video had been posted, the authors said they had removed it due to a copyright claim by Save the Biz, which they accused of hypocrisy in supporting the strike authorization and then backtracking two months later.

A spokesman for the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers had no comment on the developments. It's uncertain whether the congloms would be willing to resume talks with SAG with Allen's future in doubt and with SAG already proclaiming that it won't recommend the deal.