| MUMBAI:
After months of failing to negotiate a fresh contract with the Association of
Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), the Screen Actors Guild (Sag)
national board of directors in the US has terminated the employment of its chief
negotiator Doug Allen. It
has appointed former Guild general counsel David White to replace him as interim
national executive director. The board has further appointed longtime Guild senior
advisor John T McGuire as chief negotiator. The
board has also disbanded the TV/Theatrical negotiating committee and has directed
that it be replaced with a taskforce directed to complete these negotiations on
behalf of the board of directors. Sag was reportedly unhappy at the hardline approach
taken by Allen in trying to negotiate a contract with the AMPTP. White
has assumed his role as interim national executive director and works from the
Guild’s national headquarters office in Los Angeles. He
says, “This is a difficult time for Screen Actors Guild and a particularly
challenging period for working actors. I am deeply committed to the Guild and
its members and I believe that, working with the national board, we can help guide
this transition.” "I
look forward to working closely with this talented and dedicated staff, many of
whom I know well from my years as the Guild’s general counsel." During
his tenure as Sag's general counsel, White directed the organisation’s legal
and governance staff and played a central role in the Guild’s contract negotiations
and strategic planning efforts. He later co-founded and served as the managing
principal of the consulting firm Entertainment Strategies Group (ESG). | 
