Union orders writers to turn over scripts
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Striking Hollywood screenwriters must turn in their unfinished projects by Friday so that union officials can ensure they don't secretly work for studios during the walkout, which is expected to be lengthy.
Their counterparts on the East Coast must also turn in their work, although a deadline has not been set.
The Writers Guild of America, which went out on strike against the studios on Monday, has used such script-validation programs on at least three other occasions. But as a practical matter, there's little guild officials can do to enforce participation in the program.
On the TV side, an enforcement committee will attempt to correlate the number of scripts turned in and the number of episodes going before the cameras during the strike.
But WGA West general counsel Tony Segall acknowledged Wednesday that participation by screenwriters is "kind of an honor system."
The Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP), the bargaining arm of the studios, sent a letter to the West and East Coast branches of the WGA on October 19, ordering officials to cease and desist all efforts connected to their script-validation programs.
Segall said the guild will ignore that demand.
"They sent the same letter back in 1988 (the last time the guild went on strike)" he said. "We didn't comply then, and we won't now."
Separately, several AMPTP member companies sent letters to WGA members urging them to disregard the script-validation mandate in situations where the materials were written under a studio contract. That caused the guild to file an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, contending the letters attempted to intimidate guild members.
"These are our properties, and for competitive reasons we don't want them circulated, especially if they say unfinished scripts," AMPTP spokeswoman Barbara Brogliatti said. "You don't want unfinished scripts in third-party hands -- I don't care how trustworthy you think those people are."
Segall said the security concerns are overstated.
"We offered to talk to them about any security concerns," he said. "But we're not going to let works that are proprietary get out there and circulate. They will be kept in envelopes and locked up and then will be destroyed after the strike."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
