SAG Board Split on Vote

According to Daily Variety, the Screen Actors Guild is in an upheaval following a controversial vote on contract ratification, with many high profile stars taking sides behind closed doors in a tumultuous fight of mudslinging and accusations, and in one case, an invocation of the Holocaust to make a point.

According to former SAG president Melissa Gilbert, during the closed door session last Thursday at the Renaissance Hotel, members of the board shouted each other down as they argued over a 42-page contract between the board and major Hollywood studios on rights and royalties to new media propositions.

In one outburst Seymour Cassel referred to Gilbert, who did not speak at the meeting, as "Little Miss What's Her Name" and referred to her as an "oppressor."

But the real low moment of the evening belonged to Ed Asner's comparison of the proposed contract to the Holocaust.

"That was a real lowlight for me," Gilbert said. "I have relatives who were Holocaust victims, so it's most distasteful."

Aside from Asner's invoking of Godwin's Law, many of the players involved in the dispute, including Martin Sheen, executive director David White and SAG President Alan Rosenberg, took the high road in a spirited debate featuring a series of videos and emails arguing for and against the measure.

"You can vote yes on the deal if it's OK with you that Warner Bros., Paramount, NBC Universal, ABC Disney, Sony and MGM are all free to make Internet and made-for-new-media shows non-union," Sheen argued in an ad for the "no" side. "Everyone knows that everything is shifting to new media at the expense of traditional media, so without jurisdiction, our losses in dollars will be huge."

Sheen was backed up by Elliott Gould, who declared in his own clip, "This deal is a betrayal to our spirit, to our work and to our fellow actors, to all our brothers and sisters."

Though the "yes" side were not as vocal, they were no less savvy in promoting their agenda.

"Don't be fooled into voting down a good deal," one internal email pleaded. "The opponents would like you to believe they have a 'plan' if this agreement is voted down. They've never actually said what this plan is, and for the last year, their plan failed miserably. You lost jobs, wages, and maybe even your health coverage. Just ask yourself if it's smart to say no to a deal with real, solid financial gains for SAG actors. After a year working without a contract . . . is that really smart? A yes vote is the smart vote."

Over 110,000 ballots were sent out to SAG actors last week, due June 9.

In April, the national board of SAG approved the contract with 53 percent in favor, 10 months after its TV-film contract with major studios expired.