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January 06, 2010
The WriGAms
ADD: 11:17p - An e-mail landed at 5:44p from a publicist - "You're probably already aware but just in case you're not, wanted to bring to your attention that Disney/Pixar's UP is unfortunately ineligible for DGA and WGA Awards because the filmmakers are not signatory members of either guild."
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Nice job by Steve Pond in pointing out the real story on why The Weinsteins didn't chase WGA noms for three of their awards season films. The films just weren't eligible.
Add to that An Education, which was DQed because its WGA member, Nick Hornby, is not a member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain and did not write the Brit-made, non-Sony-funded film under their CBA. To wit;
To be eligible, a theatrical motion picture must have been written under the WGA MBA or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the Australian Writers Guild, Writers Guild of Canada, Writers Guild of Great Britain, Irish Playwrights & Screenwriters Guild or the New Zealand Writers Guild (collectively, “affiliate Guilds”).
I have to say... first instinct is that this kinda stinks. On the other hand, I actually honor the WGA for giving their award to their members and affiliate members and not bending over backwards (morally) to match Oscar noms as closely as possible like, uh, PGA did. It's not a dumb game, like the way AMPAS handles docs and foreign language. It's just, "if you are in our club, you can win something... if not, sod off!" Okay. I can roll with that, no matter how much I like Mr. Hornby, love The Road adaptation, and feel that QT deserves props for IB, for writing more than anything else.
Posted by dpoland at January 6, 2010 01:02 PM
Comments
Interesting. Then what was the loophole that allowed QT a WGA nom for his CSI ep? Because the show was written under the WGA MBA? But how was QT as a non-member allowed to write it in the force place without having to join?
Anyone know why QT isn't a guild member?
Posted by: Jerryishere ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.mcnblogs.com/thehotblog/nav-commenters.gif)
at January 6, 2010 02:26 PM
"first" not "force"
Posted by: Jerryishere at January 6, 2010 02:28 PM
District 9 and In the Loop also ineligible:
Posted by: Kristopher Tapley at January 6, 2010 02:53 PM
Yeah, that happened to one of the best scripted movies of the last few years, too, with "Pan's Labyrinth."
Posted by: SJRubinstein at January 6, 2010 04:04 PM
DGA has lots of bs credit rules that you have to abide by or get fined. The reason George Lucas left the DGA is because he didn't want his name credited at the start of Star Wars. So he was fined $10,000 IIRC, and quit. Robert Rodriguez quit the DGA because he wanted to share credit with Frank Miller on Sin City and DGA rules only allowed co-director credits from established directing partnerships, ala The Wachowskis.
Tarantino was able to work on CSI by getting a waiver from the guilds. You can apply for them but they aren't always granted. He also got a waiver for his ER episode from the DGA but was denied one for an X-Files episode, I think.
Posted by: PastePotPete at January 6, 2010 10:01 PM
I remember Todd Field was ineligible for In the Bedroom, as was Nolan for Memento. Although the Education one seems awfully pedantic.
Tarantino has never been a WGA or DGA member (although DGA allows non-members to be nominated for their prize for whatever reason). I think its the indie upstart in him, as if saying "you don't need to be a member of these clubs to make movies" etc.
Posted by: KamikazeCamelV2.0 at January 6, 2010 11:37 PM
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