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Why I'm Running 2.0

The short answer is; I was asked to. That, and a healthy dose of Guilt.
As it turns out, I have quite a few friends on the nominating committee. They kept saying: “We need people like you on the Board”.
I’m not sure what “like me” means, exactly. Outspoken? Blunt? I’m not interested in “slates” and I think there has been far too much divisiveness in the Guild as of late.

I began my campaign in a rather naïve fashion. I’d never run a campaign before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to do. But I hate doing things half-assed. If I say I’m going to do something, I do it. I met with our executive director. I met with both candidates running for President. I lurked and ultimately began posting on some of the message boards. I endlessly badgered Billy Ray and other board members about the issues.

I read on Ari Rubin’s site that only about 15% of Guild members actually take an active part in the WGA. The other 85% merely collect health & pension benefits, etc. To be honest, since joining the Guild in ‘89, I have been part of that 85%. Aside from picketing, I have never served on any committees. I have, in fact, never done squat except complain about the various issues that bothered me.

So I can’t run on my history of Guild service, because I have zero to stand behind.

What I do have is over twenty years of experience working in the trenches. In that time, I have had 19 features produced. I have worked in network and cable television on shows I developed and created. I have worked in transmedia. I have written comic books and novels (and adapted both). I have worked as story consultant on an extremely successful videogame franchise. I am currently developing a non-scripted science show. I am also a member of the DGA, having directed my own scripts and those written by others.
In short, there aren’t many areas under Guild jurisdiction that I haven’t worked in (and a number that I wish the Guild did). I say this merely to point out that I have a broad range of real-world experience, having been both a writer-for-hire and an employer of other writers.

I also have great respect for unions. I grew up in Michigan. My mother was a contract negotiator for the UAW. Over the last twenty years, I’ve watched various forces slowly pick our unions apart. I believe unions are good for America. And I believe a healthy WGA is good for the entertainment industry. Having said that, most of us don’t treat our Guild like a union. And we should. We’d probably make better gains.

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About Me

I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan and am the product of a single, working-class mom. I credit my mid-west upbringing for giving me the ability to keep my head on straight throughout my long exposure to Hollywood.

I had originally intended on becoming a homicide detective and was set to get a degree in police administration when I happened to hear Lawrence Kasdan speak at the University of Michigan. Kasdan’s stories inspired me and I decided to ditch police work in favor of Hollywood.

With the help of some hefty grants, I was able to attend the USC School of Cinema and graduated in 1988 with a degree in screenwriting. I became a gopher for the now defunct MTM Studios and suffered heaps of indignity at the hands of callous and capricious executives. (I once had bagels thrown at me for being foolhardy enough to include raisin-cinnamon ones in the mix.)

A few months later, I sold my first screenplay, Death Warrant, to MGM. A few months after that, the script was turned into a vehicle for Jean-Claude Van Damme and I was on the set of my first film. Not a masterpiece, but profitable and enough to get my career going.

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