SAG Agree to Provide Crucial Waiver to Strengthen Health Services For Its Members

Los Angeles (July 7, 2004) – Screen Actors Guild (SAG) today granted a waiver to the Motion Picture & Television Fund (MTPF) – which provides tens of thousands of SAG members in the Los Angeles area with critical health and human services – that will directly strengthen the MPTF’s core services to members of the entertainment community.

Today’s action by SAG will result in entertainment product company, Hasbro, providing a $1 million advance to the MPTF as part of Hasbro’s development of a new DVD game, the proceeds from which will also be shared with the Fund for the expansion of their services. The rare waiver granted by SAG will allow for the use of its members’ voices and likenesses in the game, though normally such uses would involve consent of the individual members. Additionally, the Fund will create a royalty pool for the benefit of individual SAG members whose performance appears in the game. These SAG members will have the option of collecting their royalties or contributing their royalties back to the Fund.

“We granted this waiver to take care of our own,” said SAG President Melissa Gilbert. “Each year, tens of thousands of SAG members are cared for by the services provided by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. In the long tradition of SAG support for its community, this waiver will ensure that the Fund can continue to provide the best services possible for our members, while also ensuring that our members whose likenesses are used in the game have a stake in the proceeds. This is about actors doing what they can to strengthen the Motion Picture & Television Fund.”

Each year, the Motion Picture & Television Fund serves tens of thousands of SAG members:

· This year, the Fund expects 120,000 visits to its patient health centers in the Los Angeles area. An estimated 20 percent of those patients are SAG members – over 24,000 people – who will receive full outpatient care.

· Of the roughly 4,000 people that took advantage on the Fund’s free counseling services last year, an estimated 35 percent were members of SAG.

· The Fund works with the SAG Foundation to provide cash payments to SAG members who are without health coverage in order to ensure they have access to health care.

“The MTPF Foundation must raise approximately $16 million to serve the growing needs of the community,” said Ken Scherer, CEO of Motion Picture & Television Foundation. “This act by Screen Actors Guild is in the long tradition of SAG support for the Fund, which has allowed it to grow and serve literally hundreds of thousands of members of this community from both in front of and behind the camera.”

Those wishing to contribute to the Motion Picture & Television Fund can do so by calling 818-876-1900 or through www.mptvfund.org

About the Motion Picture & Television Fund

The non-profit Motion Picture & Television Fund, headquartered in Woodland Hills, CA, was founded in 1921 to provide "relief" for those in the film industry who had fallen on hard times. Today, 83 years later, MPTF is a major service provider supporting the health and well being of the entertainment community. Health care, childcare, retirement living, and social/charitable services are offered with compassion and respect for the dignity of the whole person. Care is offered through the MPTF 256-bed hospital, five outpatient health centers, charitable financial assistance and community outreach programs, a full-scale retirement community, and a children's day care center. Visit us at www.mptvfund.org

About SAG

Screen Actors Guild is the nation’s premier labor union representing working actors. Established in 1933, SAG has a rich history in the American labor movement, from standing up to studios to break long-term engagement contracts in the 1940s to fighting for artists’ rights amid the digital revolution sweeping the entertainment industry in the 21st century. With 20 branches nationwide, SAG represents nearly 120,000 working actors in film, television, industrials, commercials and music videos. The Guild exists to enhance actors’ working conditions, compensation and benefits and to be a powerful, unified voice on behalf of artists’ rights. SAG is a proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Headquartered in Los Angeles, you can visit SAG on-line at www.sag.org