The Directors Guild of America has retained the Washington, DC-based Washington Counsel, P.C., one of the nation's leading tax policy related lobbying firms, to serve the Guild in a lobbying capacity on the issue of runaway production, DGA National Executive Director Jay D. Roth announced today. Washington Counsel will assist the DGA in its efforts to combat runaway production by working with the Guild's leadership in developing legislative and other strategies for addressing this issue on a national level.
"Runaway production is a serious problem that impacts the livelihood of all of our members," Roth commented. "Some foreign governments have instituted subsidies and other programs that make it economically attractive for producers to take their films out of the US. We must do everything possible to protect our essential American industry from this dangerous trend, which threatens to erode both the quantity and the quality of film and television production in the United States. The DGA has been, and will continue to be, a ready and willing partner with other groups impacted by this issue, in the endeavor to strengthen the position of America's film and television industries. We are confident that the addition of Washington Counsel will allow us to move forward with our efforts to ensure our members' financial well-being."
Washington Counsel, P.C., was organized in 1996. Each of the firm's principals has extensive experience in government; many served in senior positions in the Executive and Legislative branches, while others served in various administrative agencies within the Executive branch. The firm, which specializes in lobbying, is best known for its expertise on budget and tax issues, including corporate and international tax and trade. Among the principals of the firm are Doug Badger, former Chief of Staff to Senate Assistant Majority Leader Don Nickles; LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, former Legislative Counsel to the Joint Committee on Taxation; Gary J. Gasper, former Senior Tax Advisor at the Department of Treasury; Robert J. Leonard, former Chief Counsel and Staff Director for the House Ways and Means Committee;
Richard Meltzer, former Chief Minority Counsel for the US House Select Committee on US Technology Transfers to China; Robert Rozen, former Legislative Counsel to Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell; Mark Weinberger, former Chief of Staff and Counsel to the President's 1994 Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform; and George Weise, former Commissioner for the US Customs Service and Staff Director for the Subcommittee on Trade of the Ways and Means Committee.
In an effort to provide more facts and figures that will lead to a better understanding of the issue of runaway production, the DGA and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) are jointly funding a study to analyze in detail the issue of runaway production. The two Guilds intend to use this study, which is being conducted by an independent consulting firm, as a tool for developing a range of appropriate solutions to this serious problem.
