Dueling scripts for sag vote

On the eighth floor of the Screen Actors Guild headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard, interim Executive Director David White is pacing his new office, marshaling arguments in support of the union’s recently negotiated film and TV contract.

“It’s a good contract with solid gains,” said White, who was installed in late January after moderates on the union’s board orchestrated a revolt against the former leadership. “We protected against the more extreme measures that the studios wanted to implement, and it lays the foundation for us to fight for more in the upcoming round of negotiations.”

But a few doors down the hall, SAG President Alan Rosenberg is still fuming about the deal, which he vows to oppose during an upcoming ratification vote.

“This is a bad contract,” Rosenberg said. “Some of the things that we agreed to are just going to kill actors.”

In most other unions, the president and executive director would be on the same page when it comes to ratifying a contract. Not in the topsy-turvy world of the Screen Actors Guild, where White finds himself in the unusual position of having to fight for a contract recommended by a board majority -- but opposed by the union’s top elected officer.

Although member approval of the new contract is expected, the situation underscores how divided Hollywood’s largest labor union remains on the eve of ratification, which follows a nine-month stalemate with the studios.

White stands apart from his predecessor, the hard-charging Doug Allen, who was dismissed this year after a moderate faction gained control of SAG’s 71-member board.

The 40-year-old attorney, who was given a one-year $400,000 contract, says he’s been too busy to think about his future and whether he wants the post full time. But White, who grew up in Kansas City, Mo., has been navigating conflicting agendas since early in his career when he worked as the executive director of a nonprofit group in his hometown that supported programs for troubled youth. He learned that success frequently depended on getting competing agencies to work together.

“I embrace the challenge of helping people focus on areas of common ground,” White said. “That comes naturally to me.”

White’s conflict-resolution skills will be tested in the coming weeks when he and Rosenberg will carry different messages at meetings with guild members in Hollywood, New York and by video conference to discuss the contract. This week the union’s 120,000 members will begin receiving their ballots in the mail along with “pro” and “con” statements.

There have been a few awkward moments, such as the time recently when Rosenberg complained about not being invited to a meeting with agents. White said it was an oversight, and Rosenberg was included.

Nonetheless, the two are hardly best friends. “We don’t strategize together because we’re on opposite sides,” said Rosenberg, who said he was mulling over whether to run for reelection in the fall.

The two-year contract -- modeled on similar agreements established by other talent unions last year -- includes an immediate pay increase of 3% and establishes residual payments to actors for shows streamed free on the Web. “Given the economic circumstances that this country finds itself in, the fact that we were able to get parity with the other unions is nothing to scoff at,” said SAG board member and “Chicago Hope” actor Adam Arkin.

Among other things, critics complain, the agreement fails to secure the union’s jurisdiction over most low-budget shows made for the Internet. The studios “want to create a vast pool of nonunion labor,” said SAG First Vice President Anne-Marie Johnson.

SAG’s previous negotiating team led by Allen tried to win better terms, but feuding with a sister union and the deteriorating economy severely weakened his bargaining leverage.

The board, under the control of a group of dissident actors elected last fall, disbanded the union’s negotiating team, fired Allen and replaced him with veteran negotiator John McGuire and White, the union’s former general counsel.

The agreement negotiated by McGuire followed weeks of back-channel talks between White and top media executives, principally Walt Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger and Warner Bros. Chairman Barry Meyer. They met with White on several occasions to resolve a key sticking point over the length of the union’s contract.

“He inserted himself into a very difficult situation to resolve an issue that could have permanently weakened SAG’s bargaining position,” said Ned Vaughn, spokesman for the Unite for Strength faction, which had backed White’s hiring.

Rosenberg and his supporters, however, remain livid over Allen’s firing and are suspicious of White, given his ties to former Executive Director Bob Pisano, who had hired him. Pisano, now a senior executive at the Motion Picture Assn. of America, resigned in 2005 after clashing with the camp now aligned with Rosenberg.

The SAG president and three other directors sought a court order to block White’s appointment, arguing that the board’s action by “written assent” vote was improper. A judge rejected the request.

Allen’s supporters also complained that White had been improperly vetted, and they raised questions on matters including his former business clients and the principal investor in his consulting firm, Manhattan lawyer Marc Dreier, who recently pleaded guilty to committing securities and wire fraud. White said he was forced to close his company once Dreier’s assets were frozen.

“Dreier’s action’s hurt a lot of people, and I hope that his guilty plea can bring the ordeal to a closure,” White said.

Board members involved in White’s hiring said he had fully disclosed Dreier’s investment in his firm and said White’s industry contracts were invaluable.

“This is a business that is built on relationships, and the idea that you don’t want somebody on the job who has solid relationships and commands respect from the industry executives is ridiculous,” Vaughn said.

During his first Hollywood board meeting after he was hired, White was grilled by members for nearly two hours about his business clients, his association with Pisano and his handling of lawsuits, among other issues. White, known for his unflappable style, calmly answered each question.

Even those who disagree with White on policy say they respect him because he tolerates dissenting views.

“It would be so much easier if we didn’t like him, but that’s not the case,” SAG’s Johnson said.

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richard.verrier@latimes.com