June 26, 1999
Veteran television and motion picture director Jack Shea was re-elected to a second two-year term as President of the Directors Guild of America by acclamation at the Guild's biennial national convention held today at DGA National Headquarters in Los Angeles.
In addition to electing Shea, one hundred and thirteen delegates representing approximately 11,000 members of the DGA also elected a new slate of officers and National Board of Directors at the convention.
Ed Sherin was re-elected National Vice President (the Guild's second highest post), former DGA President Gilbert Cates was re-elected Secretary-Treasurer, and Martha Coolidge was re-elected First Vice President, all by acclamation.
Also elected were Second Vice President Larry Auerbach, Third Vice President Paris Barclay, Fourth Vice President Max A. Schindler, Fifth Vice President John Frankenheimer, Sixth Vice President William Brady, and Assistant Secretary-Treasurer Scott Berger.
(A complete list of the new officers and board members concludes this release.)
"I am extremely honored that the Guild's membership has seen fit to re-elect me to the office of the Presidency," Shea said. "I'm looking forward to the opportunity to take the DGA into the next millennium. While I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish in my first term, I believe that we can always do better, and I will continue to work hard for the members of the Guild. The DGA has always been, and will always be, the champion of creative and economic rights for all filmmakers. I am committed to representing the interests of all DGA members as we tackle the many challenges that face our Guild and our industry in the coming years.
Shea said there are several areas in which he would like to see the Guild make significant achievements during his next term.
"As the Monitor Company study we just released in conjunction with SAG clearly proves, runaway production is an enormous problem for the entertainment community," Shea said. "The DGA must do everything in its power to bring our members' jobs back to the United States.
"In addition, the level of employment for women and minorities in our industry is nowhere near where it should be," he said. "We must find a way to convince producers and showrunners that diversification is of vital importance."
Shea is proud of what the DGA has done in his first term to attract independent filmmakers to its ranks. "Since I was first elected, we've revamped our low budget agreements to the point where virtually any film can be done under a Guild contract," he noted. "And the work of our recently-formed Independent Directors Committee has gone a long way towards showing filmmakers who operate outside of the studio system that the Guild is their home, too."
"In the wake of the tragedy in Littleton, the Guild will take a leading role in educating our members and the public about the social responsibility of filmmakers," Shea continued. "However, we are also taking proactive measures to ensure that the First Amendment does not get trampled in the Congressional stampede to pass legislation, and we will vigorously defend and protect our director-members from any potential government subpoenas or unwarranted intrusion into the filmmaking process."
Shea began his career as a stage manager at NBC in New York, working on shows such as "Philco Playhouse," directed by another eventual DGA president, Delbert Mann. While at NBC, he was instrumental in organizing for the Radio Television Directors Guild (RTDG). After serving as a motion picture officer during the Korean War, he moved to Los Angeles and began working his way through the production ranks at NBC in Burbank. Shea became president of the Hollywood local of the RTDG in 1958, and held that post in 1960 when the RTDG and the Screen Directors Guild (SDG) merged to form the DGA. He has served on the DGA Directors Council and the National Board in various capacities for 36 years, including three terms as vice president.
While at NBC in Burbank, Shea made the leap from stage manager to associate director on "The Bob Hope Show." His first directing job came at the age of 27, when he was asked to fill in for an ailing director of the prime-time game show "Truth or Consequences." As a director at NBC, Shea helmed episodes of "Jerry Lewis Specials," "Death Valley Days" and "The Bob Hope Show." He directed ten of Hope's overseas Christmas specials, flying with Hope to locations such as Vietnam, Korea, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Japan, Turkey, Greece, Spain and Italy, receiving an Emmy nomination along the way.
After leaving NBC, Shea directed numerous episodes of shows such as "Hawaii 5-0," "The Waltons," "Paper Moon," "The Disney Sunday Night Movies," "Apple's Way" and "Kate McShane."
He produced and directed many episodes of "Sanford and Son" and the "Glen Cambpell Goodtime Hour," was series director of "Silver Spoons," "We'll Get By" and "The Ropers," and directed over 100 episodes of "The Jeffersons." He has also directed "Sunday Dinner," "Growing Pains," "704 Hauser Street," "Royal Family," "Designing Women" (for which he received a second Emmy nomination), and "Goode Behavior." He has also directed the motion picture features Dayton's Devils and The Monitors.
Shea's wife, Patt, is a screen writer whose credits include story editor on "All in the Family," "Archie Bunker's Place," and "Lou Grant." They have five children, three of whom are DGA members.
NOTE: A COMPLETE LIST OF OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS FOLLOWS.
DGA OFFICERS AND NATIONAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 1999-2001
PRESIDENT
Jack Shea
NATIONAL VICE-PRESIDENT
Ed Sherin
SECRETARY-TREASURER
Gilbert Cates
ASSISTANT SECRETARY-TREASURER
Scott Berger
FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT
Martha Coolidge
SECOND VICE PRESIDENT
Larry Auerbach
THIRD VICE-PRESIDENT
Paris Barclay
FOURTH VICE-PRESIDENT
Max A. Schindler
FIFTH VICE-PRESIDENT
John Frankenheimer
SIXTH VICE-PRESIDENT
William Brady
BOARD MEMBERS
John Badham
Yudi Bennett
Burt Bluestein
Anita Cooper-Avrick
Cheryl Downey
Alex Hapsas
Jeremy Kagan
Donald Petrie
John Rich
Michael Ritchie
Elliot Silverstein
ASSOCIATE BOARD MEMBERS
Herb Adelman
Katy Garretson
Esperanza Martinez
Sean Mulcahy
Jane Schimel
ALTERNATE BOARD MEMBERS
Levar Burton
Robert Butler
Taylor Hackford
Victoria Hochberg
Paul Mazursky
Arthur Penn
Daniel Petrie, Sr.
Karen Prindle
David Saperstein
Howard Storm
Betty Thomas
Eames Yates
SECOND ALTERNATE BOARD MEMBERS
Marilyn Jacobs-Furey
Bob Jeffords
Tom Joyner
C.J. Rapp Pittman
Peter Runfolo
Rose Riggins