Additional reporting by Lauren Horwitch.
The civil war at the Screen Actors Guild continued to rage on Tuesday.
SAG president Alan Rosenberg and his vice president Anne-Marie Johnson attempted to file a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court, with the aim of blocking new talks with the studios and reinstating their ousted negotiator, Doug Allen.
But Superior Court Judge James Chalfant rejected the suit on technical grounds, and ordered Rosenberg and his supporters to refile the suit on Thursday.
The judge ordered Rosenberg to refile the complaint on Thursday. Rosenberg and other plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order to block the ouster of negotiator Doug Allen and his replacement by David White. [Read the complaint.]
As a result, talks scheduled with the Hollywood producer companies have been suspended, and a seven-month stalemate slowing down production in the entertainment industry continues.
White protested the action by Rosenberg in a letter to the membership, and wrote that when the complaint is refiled on Thursday, "The Guild will present a vigorous defense."
And the anti-Rosenberg went into high gear to express outrage that the president of the guild and the hardline faction Membership First would continue to embroil the organization in controversy.
"This action is just one more irresponsible mis-step by the Hollywood Membership First faction," said New York's Sam Freed, SAG 2nd National Vice President. "They are so desperate to hold onto their power that they are willing to burn
down their own house."
The meeting scheduled for Tuesday was to be the first face-to-face between the two sides since late November, when talks broke off after two days of federal mediation.
The main issue of contention for the guild has been division of future profits from distribution of movies and television shows over the Internet. The studios have resisted promising to share revenues off the Internet, which is as yet an unproven business proposition even as it becomes a dominant pillar in the distribution of entertainment.
The studios gave up little in deals struck with other Hollywood unions last year, and have insisted they will not yield more on that front beyond a $250 million deal that remains on the table.
Since the ouster last week of his hand-picked national executive director Doug Allen, Rosenberg has loudly protested the move by a majority of his board as undemocratic. In an interview with TheWrap last week, he continued to defend his hand-picked lieutenant, even as he seemed resigned to the fact that he’d been stripped of power.
Apparently that view changed over the weekend. While it’s still unclear for the legal basis of the lawsuit, Rosenberg and Johnson notified the guild on Monday of their intention to file the legal claim, which would also reinstate their negotiating committee.
The studios represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture andTelevision Producers had no official comment yesterday. But throughout the executive suites in Hollywood, there was unadulterated wonder at the continuing chaos at SAG.
Of Rosenberg, one mogul said, “The band has played. The music has come up.
