i do not know if this is the proper place to respond to what i have just read from david white and alan rosenberg but i do know that i must write something.

i am bereaved by what has happened over the last months(for that matter, since i have been a member) inside of this union. i have followed this whole

process closely by many means: the sag emails which have been very helpful and talking with many members of this union of which i have been a part of for over two decades.

when the process around the new contract started, there were inquiries if people wanted to get involved, to which i responded that i did a couple of times and received no answer back from the channels which i had thought were listening. i think that i am what is so often referred to as a "middle class actor," a title which i find very repulsive though not for the way it is intended. i have been in many films and am now engaged on a television show which, talk about draconian, because of the way we, actors, are treated when testing for a television show, being shuttled in before executives and being forced to sign agreements on the spot under threat of losing a very lucrative job, i had no idea that i was signing up for an AFTRA show and of course my agent and lawyer did not inform me of this knowing that i would probably not have signed on.

if there is one thing that is absolutely clear about the present situation, it is that our business is experiencing rapid change, both from the standpoint of producer and actor, but the one thing that has not changed is that the producer still has the advantage in any one on one situation which is what we all have to deal with on a constant basis. the producers have banded together to act as if there are not major changes abrew and are trying to convince us that they know nothing about what the future holds but it is abundantly clear that they do have some means of knowing and that they are not forthcoming with any information because they are in control of the means of distribution even if they say that they are not.

there are two aspects of the present business situation that are glaringly ignored by our adversaries, and make no mistake that is what they are, and those are: one, the fact that they do not feel that it is our right to be informed about the number of dvd units that they sell and two that they are not responsible for making it clear what the business model is for what is so euphimistically referred to as "new media." the actual binding contract which we, the producers and actors, share requires that they share a certain amount of money with us whenever and however it is received by them for a product which we made together. in any other business, given their behavior, they would be forced to reveal such information as discussed above or they would be in jail for breaking that contract. we should not be forced to spend thousands of dollars to audit every movie or television show that is produced in order to be given our fair share. it is absolutely criminal behavior and morally repugnant.

as far as new media is concerned, it is apparent that it will only be a short time before all of television or at least the lion's share will be delivered through the internet. all one has to do is watch television for five minutes and every show, that is every show, refers its viewers to the show's or the channel's website, either to be able to watch that show which has just aired or to see other features related to that show, whatever it is, viewers are steered toward the internet. if the powers that control these shows were not profiting from the viewers going to these sites then you can be assured that they would not be guiding their veiwers in this direction and one would be a fool to think otherwise. as far as HULA and all other outlets that are playing "our" shows "unrestricted," it is not clear to me how they can be doing this but given the history of let's say napster in the last decade, i am quite certain that if the people who own these shows wanted to shut these outlets down, they certainly could. so why haven't they done this? one can only surmise that they are profiting by it and refusing to come clean with us, their partners by contract, about what the business arrangement is. it is only a matter of the means of delivery(broadband) catching up to the technology.

our only recourse is to remain united in our dealings with these forces. and what do we, the people in the union, see, divisiveness and disunity in public, jeapodizing our power.

i have not agreed with all that i have heard from our board members or doug allen but i am convinced that they were doing their best to secure something which would empower the members. i believe that we should have held a strike authorization vote a long time ago in order to increase the power of the negotiating committee in its dealings with the producers but that was not done and therefore we now have all the dirty laundry hanging us out to dry. clearly the country is experiencing very difficult times but we just went through eight years of people at the top of our government deadset upon breaking the power of any unions, ours included, only so the richest of the rich could increase the size of their coiffers. when i see major stars undermining the efforts of our union leadership, it disgusts me and can only lead me to believe that these people are sadly out of touch with what it takes to be a journeyman actor.

we ARE in real danger of wiping out all the gains for which so many have fought and which i believe we deserve. i have produced, in fact i have done just about every job that is involved with the making of movies and there IS a way to treat everyone concerned with respect.

the rancor that has existed between AFTRA and SAG in the past is very unfortunate, with the roots of these divides historically explicable, but as said before, this business is changing and because of technology, a union, AFTRA, has been thrust into a position that it seems not necessarily equipped to deal with: the onslaught and changed purpose of producers. because of that union's acquiescence which looked like a vindictive response to SAG's past treatment, we are all tremedously handicapped at this moment.

we should be able to remedy that situation eventually, if only because so many of us actors who have traditionally only worked in SAG now find themselves working under the compromised circumstances of an AFTRA contract and it does not look like that is going to change. therefore we must adjust.

all this in some way is only introduction to the actual problem of how to proceed.

who is david white? who appointed him? and why is it clear that alan rosenberg, our elected president, suddenly has been stripped of basically all power. i do not see how the board is in a position to make such proclamations. how can this be a positive thing? everything that rosenberg says about what might come instantly by way of securing concessions suddenly from producers reminds me of the behind the scenes dealings that went on with the hostage situation in Iran when Papa Bush, then vice president elect, secured a deal in which he promised arms to the Iranians for the release of the hostages on the day in which Ronald Reagan was sworn in as the president of this country to further humiliate Jimmy Carter. it will be a dastardly move and, as that public move was, very effective. at least let us understand the transparency of it.

WE MUST UNITE.

even if we do not deserve an increase in dvd percentage, as the percentage of profits on the whole has vastly increased from this sector of the business since the percentages were decided in the far gone past, then at least we deserve the right to have a clear accounting of these profits, unfiltered by slippery bookeeping. the technology for keeping track of such figures is easily accessbile in the age of the computer.

and we deserve fair and honest contract dealings as regards new media. the future is far more predictable than our partners in production are letting on because as has already been said by others, this is actually not the future but the present.

to ignore or waver in pursuing these ends is ludicrous and irresponsible to those that follow and to ourselves and our self respect. these must remain the minimum of our concerns. the present economic hardships do not dictate the ignoring of business models and practices and we, producers and actors, should all suffer together equally with what is and what is to come.

if we are not dealt with fairly in these areas which is what has happened to this point, how can we not respond using the means open to us?

but what seems to have happened tonight or today is very troubling.

who are we in the union to look to as our guide through such times when it seems as if some sort of coup has occurred,

our president's hands and mouth tied?

david white's message has no bite, no substance and offers nothing of any noteworthy information. it feels like a shroud has been wrapped around us.
and that is not a comforting place in such important times.

respectfully, mark boone junior

________________________ response ________________________

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 Guilds diversity of opinion should, and must, serve as a source of strength and solidarity. I believe in the Guilds 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 Guilds 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 Guilds 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 Guilds 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 Guilds 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