SAG Executive Survives Foes’ Bid to Oust Him

The top executive of the Screen Actors Guild survived a dissident group’s efforts to fire him Saturday, receiving a 58% vote of confidence from the union’s board of directors.

SAG Chief Executive A. Robert Pisano was supported by a faction led by President Melissa Gilbert.

A dissident group, including former union President William Daniels, had argued that Pisano had a conflict of interest in negotiating better DVD payments for actors because he serves as a director of the online DVD rental firm Netflix Inc.

Pisano’s supporters argued that outside legal opinions had determined he has no conflict, in part because he answers to a negotiating committee made up of members.

The vote came after Pisano defended his record and said he had been hindered by a culture in which “arrogant, belligerent and obstructive conduct” has been the norm.

Pisano is a former Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer executive.