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UPDATES EMAILS TELL THE STORY: A-List Board & Foundation Members Hiding From MPTF
Kevin Spacey has responded with this letter to me after I posted that email exchange between his London PR and an Independent UK journalist about the Motion Picture & Television Fund:
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Well, fair play to Spacey for responding and outlining both his role and position in the matter. Thank you for posting the letter in full, Nikki.
Since the home is obviously now looking for a billionaire, Nikki, would you mind directing some barbs across Spielberg’s bow? He’s probably got a few bucks floating about in the coffers.
Kevin Spacey is a mensch. I would have reacted to those postings with bile and lawyers.
“The committee I serve on is honorary…and we have never met for a meeting.”
This is Hollywood at its most telling. Place a lot of known names on things and that will do the trick. No need for real consultation with members; just the names, folks, just the names. Who cares what members think? Sounds like the AMPAS way of doing things has spread.
“I don’t want it to close and I am devastated for all the families that are being affected”
“I would love to find a solution to the problem…”
“If I had a billion I would have saved the facility and would have done it months ago…”
Kevin, you don’t need a billion. You can help us save the facility by standing with the residents and family members.
This is a great start. Now, please go to http://www.savingthelivesofourown.org
We share your view that it should continue as always. Please stand with us and demand that a solution be found – for the residents who are still there and for the future of motion picture and television industry healthcare.
Maybe if Mr. Spacey had been more involved, we wouldn’t be in this situation.
His response is like those teenagers who stood around and did nothing while that young girl was gang raped in Chicago.
Oh, I didn’t do anything, I just watched…….
STILL GUILTY AS HELL.
You want to stay on the Board, then CHANGE THEIR MIND AND THEIR MURDEROUS DECISION!
Or stay on the Board and suffer the SHAME.
Kevin,
It sounds like you know where the Home is and the vital role it plays that cannot be duplicated anywhere else. But something’s wrong with what you’re saying.
Don’t you wonder why the Board leadership refuses to accept donations to keep the Home open? Don’t you wonder why they will not undertake fund raising activities to keep the Home open? It’s obviously not about money, they want to get rid of the Home because they don’t want to use resources to take care of old sick and handicapped people who can’t help themselves. They have other plans.
So what are you fund raising for? Another JK Health Clinic that is a business operation and has nothing to do with charity and “Taking Care Of Our Own.”
You know better, why ask people to give money if there is no Home? To pay David Tillman’s $750,000 package that is his reward for closing the Home?
Doesn’t it bother you that the COO said words like “nobody wants to see sickness on the [Motion Picture Fund] Campus?
It’s time for the A- Listers and other stars and celebrities to do something to stop this horrendous situation instead of hiding.
Bravo Kevin!
Your forthright response to the situation is, not only refreshing but welcome and greatly appreciated. Your understanding of the importance of the motion picture home and the fund itself should serve to demonstrate your commitment to “taking care of our own”.
Your presence is important, and needed, if just for an example to others who sit near, or on, top of the pyramid of our profession to represent, and appreciate the foundation of that pyramid. It is, after all, OUR Fund. The donors, the patients, the families and the professionals that made that fund through the years. God Bless Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, et, al.
I will promise (as National Chair of the SAG Sr. Performers Committee) to work toward a resolution, and in the process keep shining the light of truth and transparency of the problems.
You have been clear, and compassionate, Kevin. Now we need both sides of this dispute to do the same.
Best wishes to all,
Bill Smitrovich
smells like flackitus.
Epic response letter, and an epic comment thread.
Mr. Spacey is feeling his way gingerly through the bushes with this letter. Diplomacy in this issue may be key, so let’s not be too harsh in our criticism. I tend to go along with Mr. Smitrovich’s take on the letter that it does show compassion to the residents while decrying the decision to close the LTC.
Mr. Spacey has earned my respect as an actor and representative of the craft. I’ve heard that he is very supportive of his fellow actors as well. I don’t believe he has any ulterior motives other than to be a possible catalyst for a resolution to this problem.
Clearly this letter is not enough. Now that Mr. Spacey has put his foot in the door, he should step through. Using Mr. Smitrovich’s example, I’m hoping that Mr. Spacey takes a very public stand as someone who can facilitate change, instead of merely paying lip service to the problem.
Even if it letter from his PR flak I like that he responded. He’s a talented actor who’s lent his notoriety to an organization he believes. It’s not the focus of his existence and it would be far easier for him to have never been involved.
“No good deed goes unpunished.”
Doesn’t sound like much of a committee if it never meets and its members have no idea what is going on… I’m sure Spacey’s heart is in the right place, but if you’re going to get involved, GET INVOLVED.
class act mr. spacey… too bad no one else speaks up and defends their position for remaining on the board. and if you are gonna raise money, tell the MPTF that you ONLY want it to go to the home…oh yeah that’s right, they said “No amount of money will change this decision.” that’s just gross and wrong, shame on the board.
“Maybe if Mr. Spacey had been more involved, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Wow. Someone famous tries to do something good for something he believes in and he gets kicked in the teeth for it. It’s never enough, is it? Instead of being grateful for their interest and involvement, we always think they could have done more. It’s sad.
Let me say this, if there was anyone on that list, no matter whether you call it a committee or a board, that I thought would be fully informed and aware of what was going on at the LTC, it would be Mr. Kevin Spacey. THAT is what is so shocking to me. Regardless of what is going on right now and the stance he has taken, I still respect the man. As for other members of the Board or Committee, I can not say the same.
We have to my understanding, sixteen confirmed deaths since this has begun. Yes, we are talking about the elderly and this group is at the last stage of their lives. Having said that, to have THAT many deaths is horrific. The evidence of “transfer trauma” is right there before everyone’s eyes. And that includes potential Los Angeles jurors. A decision was made in a room, by a group of people, and with the swipe of a pen, lives became irrelevant. Money became the ruling factor, not humanity.
Kicked in the teeth. No he wasn’t kicked in the teeth. He was just brought up to date.
i’m surprised that, with names on the list like Diller, Geffen, and Spielberg, why the home is in such financial trouble. I totally buy that Spacey isn’t in the financial position to wave a wand and make it go away. But those three guys aforementioned totally totally TOTALLY can. And like, not even feel it. So, what’s the deal? Its gross is what it is.
The Fund has over $200 million is assets according to recently filed reports, even after investment losses that have probably now recovered. Currently MPTF management is choosing, intentionally, to lose over one million dollars a month by leaving nursing home beds unoccupied. Why is this okay with the remaining board?
Bravo Nikki. The email exchange that prompted Mr. Spacey’s reply is likely only one of many that hopefully will find your inbox. Follow the leaks.
Don’t worry, Kev-Baby! Once this gets on page 2 of DH this’ll be over and you and the rest on the list can go about your silent “Honorary” business…
IT IS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY!!! It never has been and no smoke screen can cover it up. Read the trembling lips of Dr. David Tillman 11 months ago, “No amount of money can save the home”. THE MPTF DOES NOT WANT TO KEEP THE HOME OPEN. If they did, they would have brought up that the LTC home was in trouble years ago and mounted a fundraising drive to keep it open. They did not and pulled the plug long before the public and most likely the rest of the board ever knew.
This has always been and will always be about one thing…
KATZENBERGLAND… THE HEALTHIEST PLACE ON EARTH
Since no one ever talks to you from the MPTF I thought I could educate you a bit about what Board, Foundation, Committee you are actually on and how as of today that came to be.
Kevin Spacey WAS listed on the MPTF website as a member of the charity – the Motion Picture & Television Fund Foundation. But that was a few months ago.
This 501c3 charity -the MPTF Foundation – was legally dissolved in April 2007, in a document signed by Dr.David Tillman, CEO, and member of both the Board of Directors and and the Fund Board of Trustees, Frank Mancuso, Chairman of the Corporate Board of Directors, and Roger Mayer, member of the Fund Board of Trustees . In 2008, what was called the Foundation was a division or department of the MPTF Corporation which Frank Mancuso headed. Confused yet?
So are donors. Not to worry though, when reporters started asking questions a few weeks ago, the Motion Picture and Television Fund revised history before our very eyes again, and sanitized it’s MPTF website, Wikipedia, and anywhere else they found reference to the FOUNDATION. The MPTF Foundation is now a Committee of which Jeffrey Katzenberg is the Chairman.
Now did Kevin Spacey or any of the actors and actresses listed on the website as Foundation members know that they had been demoted to a Committee member just a few weeks ago when word got out that the Foundation was dissolved in 2007? – Probably not but like Guy Adams says above – “And those board members – all thirty of them – together with anyone else who allows their name to be attached to the MPTF, must now accept responsibility for the organisation’s actions.”
If you choose to continue as a member of “the Committee” I would also like you to know that If you do any fundraising for the MPTF in the future please find out if the funds raised will go toward the Long Term Care Hospital???? You will discover that since January 14th – they will not accept any donations specified to help LTC and they have cut off the Hospital from getting any of the new money raised at this year’s events. We were told at the very first meeting “No amount of money will change this decision.” by Dr David Tillman, CEO MPTF Board. I have been at meetings where people have offered large sums of money to help and were told again they would not accept any donations directed to the Home – It would be great if you could pass this information on to your fellow Committee actors and actresses.
It’s pretty amazing to me that the powers that be have absolutely no communication with the very stars who believe in the Fund and help them raise the money to keep it going.
I do applaud you, Mr. Spacey, for being the first and only MPTF Committee member to speak out publicly about your frustration, anger and shock at the disturbing issues connected to the attempted closure of the Motion Picture Home. I hope from this day forward you will be more aware of where the funding is directed at any MPTF event you are a part of.
Dear Mr. Spacey,
You – like most of the members of the various MPTF committees and Boards, lent your name to an organization because you believed in its objectives. You believed the Administrators could be trusted to do what was right.
Unfortunately, you – like the scared, sick elderly who are in danger of being thrown out of a home they were promised would be theirs for life – have been betrayed by an Administration intent on pursuing an agenda that differs significantly from the Fund’s mission and purpose. The Administrators counted on the fact that their decision would be rubber-stamped and never questioned or scrutinized.
YOU CAN DO SOMETHING. You don’t have to be a billionaire to do it. Contact the other ‘honorary’ committee and Board members. Question Dr. Tillman’s reprehensible actions. Ask why, if money really is an issue, the MPTF refuses to accept contributions to keep LTC open. Ask why, if money is an issue, there are grandiose expansion plans just waiting to be implemented as soon as the sickest are kicked aside.
Please, Mr. Spacey, use your influence and stature. SPEAK OUT. It is NOT TOO LATE to make a difference. You are a decent man. You know in your heart this is not right.
Thank you.
This committee that’s meant to help raise money, yet they’ve never held a meeting… why is that? And how are they doing at raising said money? What events have they held? How many of their “billionaire” friends and associates have they approached, trying to raise money? You’d think they would have been in high-gear, pulling out all the stops to raise money.
I’m glad Spacey vocally supports the home. Too bad no one is actually doing anything to help save it.
Didn’t Katzenberg raise money for the MPTF at his annual shindig? Both this year and last year and the year before?! If the Foundation was (secretly) disbanded and now will not accept donations…Where did the money go?! Where’s the accounting? Any laws broken here?
Mr. Spacey visited residents on our wing years ago.He was so nice and his interest in the hospital was good. Thank you for still caring Mr. Spacey. You said you just serve on an honorary committee but wasn’t it the Foundation board of directors before it was a committee? Did that board have meetings before dr.Tillman got rid of it?
I like Spacey. Deep down a good guy. I knew him personally. He started being even a better and smarter person once he left WMA and his jerk of an agent John Fogelman. Good for SPacey. Yes he has a responsibility since he is on the board, but this shouldn’t stop his whole life so he could focus on this issue. I agree that maybe he should start getting on the horn to call other board member and celebrities to brainstorm the problem, but at the same time not cease everything else in his life. Let the man breathe for god sake. If he can help then he an help. If he doesn’t…then ok let’s call him some names if we need to vent, but the guy deep down is a good guy and he cant save the world. Let Speilberg and Geffen do that. They have the money.
As other posters have already mentioned, why isn’t there more ire directed at Speilberg, Geffen, and Diller? Because it’s easy to kick Spacey when he’s down? We all know what side of the bread is buttered, Nikki- if you are THAT concerned about the plight of the residents, maybe focus some of your attention on the big guns who actually CAN make a difference financially.
It’s the ongoing national health care debate fireworks on a very intimate scale here.
So true Screenmancer. What is missing from the national ‘greater good’ argument are ethics, morality, and personal responsibility.
See the open letter penned to Jeff Katzenberg. I find it fascinating that he is willing to alter the legacy of the Home while acting as the chief fundraiser for a national administration that is pushing its healthcare reform agenda. Is there a journalist ready to explore a connection between the two? Any connection to why Spielberg and Geffen are complicitly silent?
Politics and Hollywood make powerful, scandalous bedfellows. Whether or not one supports the current version of healthcare reform, few deadlinehollywood readers support the actions of MPTF Board leaders.