A Union Replies

Editor’s note: The March 18 cover story, “Paramount’s Big Spin,” said that, according to published reports, a union pension fund threatened to sue Paramount on the ground that producer Frank Mancuso Jr. had set up a sham corporation designed to avoid labor contracts. Mancuso, according to the article, said the union is trying to renege on its agreement to let independent companies film for the studios under certain conditions. The response below is from a representative of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes and Moving Picture Machine Operators.

Frank Mancuso Jr.’s statement left the reader with an impression that is not remotely true.

The Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan, whose trustees are from both labor and management, is investigating the filming of Mancuso’s “Internal Affairs” as required by federal law to determine whether the film was a truly independent non-union production or whether it was a Paramount Picture using Mancuso’s Out of Town company to avoid contract obligations.

The statement attributed to Mancuso that union contracts permit independent companies to film for the studios under certain conditions puts entirely the wrong emphasis on the contract’s language. Studios, i.e. signatory companies, are required to inform unions when they are financing independent productions that may be non-union. The labor organizations then attempt to organize those companies, as was the case with Mancuso’s “Internal Affairs,” which, by the way, was finally signed to a labor contract for post-production work only.

The question is whether Paramount had artistic control over that film as opposed to simply financing same. If so, Paramount is in violation of its contract with the IATSE and basic crafts.

MAC ST. JOHNS

Spokesman, IATSE trustee

Industry Pension Plan

Sherman Oaks