The Writers Guild Of America has advised members not to work on an upcoming drama about a deadly 1982 California avalanche that Martin Scorsese will produce because of the involvement of fellow producer Randall Emmett.
Emmet is the founder and managing member of Convergence Entertainment Group, which has been on the WGA Strike/Unfair List since 2020 and is not a signatory to the Guild’s collective bargaining agreement or MBA.
As such the Guild has reminded members not to write on the feature, Wall Of White, which was announced last month. The project is based on the 2021 documentary Buried: The 1982 Alpine Meadows Avalanche that recounted thow seven out of eight people died when they were engulfed by an avalanche at the Lake Tahoe ski resort.
According to the WGA, “Emmett has a long history of refusing to honor obligations to writers and the Guild has filed numerous arbitration claims against companies owned by Emmett over the last decade.”
Emmett was put on the Guild’s Strike/Unfair List “because two companies that he founded and co-owned, Emmett Furla Oasis Films, LLC and Pumped, LLC, failed to pay over $700,000 in compensation, pension & health contributions and interest due to four writers on the television series Pump pursuant to a court judgment”.
The Guild added that Convergence guaranteed the MBA obligations of another company that is signatory to the 2023 MBA, Fifty Feet Movie, LLC, adding that on August 14, 2024, it advised members that Fifty Feet was placed on the Strike/Unfair List for failing to post a surety bond under provisions of the MBA.
“The Guild demanded a surety bond from Fifty Feet after determining that it was not financially responsible and was unlikely to meet its MBA obligations in connection with several theatrical motion picture projects, including Cash Out, Alarum, and Epiphany,” the WGA told members. “Emmett produced all three pictures and directed Cash Out under the pseudonym “Ives”.”
Emmett was a producer on Scorsese’s 2016 Japan-set epic Silence and 2019 mob drama The Irishman.
Screen has reached out to Emmett directly and had not heard back at time of writing.
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