Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs directed portrait of author of "Where the Wild Things Are"
As Elderly Are Displaced, MPTF CEO Makes $600,000
TheWrap Investigates, Part II: The head of the troubled motion picture home took a 20% pay raise.
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It’s perhaps the most anticipated head-to-head competition in Oscar history.
Kathryn Bigelow’s low-budget indie war film, “The Hurt Locker,” and James Cameron’s 3D mega-blockbuster “Avatar,” both nominated for nine Oscars Tuesday, are going directly against one another for Director and Best Picture, among other categories.
Oh, and of course, Bigelow and Cameron used to be married.
Which film is going to win the big Best Picture prize on March 7?
TheWrap breaks down the competition.
PART TWO OF TWO | READ PART ONE
The administrator of the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s troubled retirement home in Woodland Hills commands a salary well in excess of half a million dollars a year, including a 20 per cent pay raise he was awarded shortly before the home announced that in order to avert bankruptcy, it was kicking out more than 100 infirm residents.
The salary figures for Dr. David Tillman, the MPTF’s chief executive, and other top officials are not widely known among the health-care workers and residents’ families now protesting the decision to shutter the MPTF’s long-term care facility and hospital before the end of the 2009.
They are, however, publicly available via the MPTF’s tax filings, and reveal numbers several times higher than is normal in the world of non-profit retirement homes – not to mention higher than the cap President Obama placed last week on the salaries of corporate chief executives receiving federal bailout money.
Tillman earned $502,200 in 2006 – when, according to MPTF officials, if not according to their own audited accounts, the home was already aware of a looming financial crisis. That salary figure then ballooned to $596,957 in 2007, the last year for which figures are available.
The MPTF’s chief financial officer, Frank Guarrera, saw his pay jump from $359,162 in 2006 to $411,153 in 2007. Taken together, the two men earned well over $1 million.
“That’s absolutely exorbitant,” said nursing-home expert Betsy Hite of the California Association of Health Facilities. “The average nursing home administrator makes maybe $100,000. This is clearly out of the norm. People who typically care for the elderly do it because of a calling in their heart, not a calling to the bank.”
The MPTF’s own audited accounts show that total salaries and related expenses came to a staggering $60.7 million in 2007, up from $58.9 million in 2006. Although exact employee numbers are not available – the fund did not respond to requests for the figures – the United Healthcare Workers union represents 573 full- and part-time workers at the home. Assuming the fund employs another 100-200 people, that means the average annual income comes to somewhere in the $80-$90,000 range.
That kind of money is not going to licensed nurses, who earn about $25.50 an hour plus another $9 an hour in benefits, according to California HealthCare Foundation figures. Nursing assistants earn around $17.50 an hour.
One financial expert unconnected to the home, who did not wish to be named, commented: “How on earth can they justify $60 million per year in salaries? That’s insanely high. They’re not an investment bank, they’re a retirement home.”
The executive salary figures have provoked astonishment among residents’ families now campaigning to keep the long-term care facility open, and among United Healthcare Workers officials worried about the announced lay-off of an estimated 240 staff at the home.
The figures are also likely to raise eyebrows in the wider Hollywood community, since they represent a signficant portion of the charity funds raised, say, at Jeffrey Katzenberg’s annual pre-Oscar Night Before gala, which hauled in more than $6 million in each of the past two years, or at any of the other benefits held for the home and its residents.
“I think it’s obscene when highly paid administrators are crying the blues about lack of funding to keep infirm, elderly residents in place,” said Richard Stellar, an activist whose 91-year-old mother is one of the long-term care patient targeted for eviction.
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Ubuntu Says
The MPTF’s chief financial officer, Frank Guarrera, saw his pay jump from $359,162 in 2006 to $411,153 in 2007. Taken together, the two men earned well over $1 million.games
Anonymous Says
The families of the residents have posted a PSA video on YouTube addressing the appalling situation going on at the MP Home. I urge everyone to watch it - they've done a terrific job!
The video is titled "Saving the Home".
PLEASE WATCH!!!!
Carter Says
Names of the people responsible for what will happen, "an irreversible decision"...
Dr. David Tillman, President, Chief Executive Officer
MPTF Corp @ Saban Center Office
23388 Mulholland Drive, Mailstop 200
Woodland Hills, 91364
David.Tillman@mptvfund.org
(818) 876-1767-office
(818) 876-1371-fax
Seth Ellis, Vice President, Chief Operating Officer
address-same as above, specify Mailstop 63 for Seth Ellis
Seth.Ellis@mptvfund.org
(818) 876-1043-office
(818) 876-1079-fax
Jan Zlotowicz, Vice President, Human Resources
address-same as above, specify Mailstop 24 for Jan Zlotowicz
Jan.Zlotowicz@mptvfund.org
(818) 876-1549-office
(818) 876-1399-fax
A special thanks to THEWRAP.COM for joining us in the fight to save the home and get some answers for those who deserve to know the truth...
Anonymous Says
The Camden report supposedly makes suggestions for cost saving possibilities. Have those ideas been put in place? NO! Have any cost cutting measures taken place? NO! We still have way too many Captains of the ship, who are making these big dollars, adding to the drain on the fund. The Board members do not know the patients, or staff. They know what they are told By Dr. Tillman, etc. Make that report public.
As for the capital costs of updates to the building, yes it is needed. But some of that money is paid for by the state. It is partly earthquake retro-fitting required by the State.
The support to the patients by "team memebers"? Non-existant. Sounds good though huh?
Why hasn't anything been heard from the the secondary board? The "Next Generation Council"? They have not made a comment at all.
This whole change is based on a vision change, nothing more. The board wants to change it over to a condo based community. The wellness center, Saban building, etc funds could have been used for the hospital. Those donors would STILL have donated. Ask Jodi Foster if she would have changed her mind...a pool or a nursing home fix? She still would have given her donation. The Sabans? I'm sure they would agree, lets ask them!
Anonymous Says
Frank Mancuso and David Tillman are greedy...as is the rest of Hollywood. Why not just float these folks out to sea on an ice raft? That would be even more money in your pockets.
Carter Says
I am directly affected by the closure of the Long-term care units and of the hospital itself... I am a nurse in charge of approx. 20 residents who are sick, fragile, and in need of 24/7 nursing care. Since the announcement, nothing has been the same. I constantly worry for them in hopes that someone can save them (our voices and requests to somehow help with donations and fund-raising have continously gone unheard, Tillman says It's not necessary!)-most residents don't have families, they depend on us to help them just get through the day-at that age, they want to know that everything will be out of routine, they want to feel safe and secure... we hear them cry and withdraw from what they stand to lose... a HOME!!! What the hell is on this man's mind to think he can initiate this with what was started by the people for the people of THE INDUSTRY! He hasn't told the media/board members/big-time contributors what they really need to know-the STAFF and those families know what has happened here-THE BOTTOM IS LINE IS PROFIT!!! They said that On Jan.14 when the announcement was made that there wouldn't be any changes for approx. 60 days-residents and staff have til March 14th- YEAH RIGHT- Changes are being made, slowly but surely, he is turning the HOME into his very own Profit.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
If you ever donated into the fund, your check should have been made out directly to DR. DAVID TILLMAN and ADMINSTRATORS!!! We see where all of JODIE FOSTER's millions went to - The new Saban Swimming Center. By the way JODIE, when they cashed your check, did they tell you that it might actually benefit the residentsby replacing beds that actually work or equipement that wasn't made in the freaking 70's, or maybe by getting Tillman out of the office and bringing in someone with a beating heart and warm red blood running through him/her- at least some sign that would indicate that they are HUMAN!!! The next time around with all the new and improve ideas that Dr. Tillman has for the FUTURE OF MOTION PICTURE he should have included to walk right along with us (140+ residents who are expected to be rolled out while still in their beds and 290+ employees who may be pushing them [by Doctor's Orders-BY DR. TILLMAN'S ORDERS that is] to other facilities to ensure a safe and worry-free transition... With the involvement of resident's families and their LAYWERS-I hope that if the worst does happen, we will walk and see David Tillman following us with SHAME knowing he could have done more and taken less!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!
Anonymous Says
Both the MPTF Boards were presented a dilemma to which all members voted unanimously yes. There were informed that the MPTF faced a $20 million annual drain annually and if they did not vote in favor of discontinuing services in the Acute care hospital and long-term care units the Fund itself would cease to exist. There was a report from the Camden Group mentioned at several of the public meetings held for residents in other areas of the campus. Perhaps that needs to be made public? So who is steering the ship?