SAG Executive Director Allen to Step Down

According to Variety magazine, Screen Actors Guild national executive director and chief negotiator Doug Allen has announced he is stepping down due to an internal battle about how he's handled the SAG's long stagnant negotiations.

Allen notified his staff Monday in an email, which thanked them for their hard work.

The decision came a few hours after the SAG delivered a letter of "written assent," authorizing the replacement of Allen. The signatures on the document represented 53 percent of the national board of the SAG. It was delivered to the Hollywood office Monday afternoon.

Former SAG general counsel David White will serve as interim executive director. The move came two weeks after a filibuster prevented Allen's ousting at a marathon board meeting.

The moderates, who were blocked during a marathon Jan. 12-13 meeting from voting on Allen's removal, also said that SAG senior adviser John T. McGuire will replace Allen as chief negotiator of all SAG contracts.

Additionally, the moderates said they will replace the feature-primetime negotiating committee to complete the long-stalled negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers.

Allen had been in his dual position for two years. He had a year to go on his contract, which pays $500,000 annually.

The moderates said that the "written assent" step 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," they added. "In this case, the unrelenting obstruction by a minority of board members has left us no alternative."

SAG had no immediate comment, but president Alan Rosenberg told Daily Variety, "This is the darkest day within my memory. It kills democracy at SAG."