WGA Board Candidate Statement for Jonathan Fernandez 2014

Standing on a stage in a grand old downtown movie palace in Miami with Andy Garcia and Raymond DeFelitta, the star and the director of my film, in front of a cheering audience, I had an out of body experience.  I had made it to the finish line – my movie got made, I couldn’t believe it.

Just two days before, it looked like I wasn’t going to attend the Miami International Film Festival.  The producers told me there was no money in the budget for my plane ticket.

“But my contract says…”

“We’re so sorry.”

“But the MBA says…”

“Yeah.  Not going to happen.”

The production of Rob the Mob had been a great experience for me.  Every morning, the director and I drove to the set together.  Whatever changes needed to be made in the script, I wrote.  After seven years of fitful starts and stops, I was proud of the final film.

I couldn’t believe I wasn’t going to attend the premiere.

I called my lawyer.  She promised “to get into it.”

Then I called the Guild.  Michael Mitrovic was a pit bull (And yes, I believe in giving credit where credit is due).  He would not stop pushing, negotiating, until finally, two days before the start of the festival, I got an email offering me a plane ticket and a hotel room in Miami.

This is a different election than last year.  We’re not approaching a contract negotiation.  But the stakes are just as high.  Because how we prepare today determines how we will fare in our next negotiation.

This year I served on my second Negotiating Committee. I’m proud of what we accomplished.  Under David Young, Billy Ray, and Chip Johannessen’s leadership, the Committee turned an initial offer that included over $60 million in rollbacks into a contract that puts the guild on solid financial footing and made big gains for all writers.

We ensured the financially solvency of our pension plan by increasing contributions to 8.5%.  We kept our health plan strong.  No one in the private sector has this kind of health care plan or pension anymore.  I joke that it’s only Hollywood writers and NBA players.  But it’s not really a joke.

We solved the Options and Exclusivity problem – an issue there was no precedent for.  Television writers were being held under contract with no pay. Writers were being prevented from earning a living.  What?   How is this possible you ask?  This directly affected our newest and most vulnerable writers – and it was the kind of knotty issue that could have easily been kicked down the road for some future Negotiating Committee.  We solved a big problem before it became a huge problem.

We doubled the Script Publication Fee.  This is something that benefits writers – especially low budget and Indie feature writers – because this money is paid to you as a residual. 

Why do you care how you’re paid?  Because in a world where many writers have agents, managers, and lawyers taking up to twenty-five percent of your income – your residual is NOT commissioned.  That’s twenty-five percent more money that goes directly into your pocket.

When I wrote Rob the Mob, I thought I was writing a studio film.  I dreamed of writing Good Fellas or The Godfather.  But my agent explained, those films would be New York Indies today.  This wasn’t the career I thought I was going to have.

And that’s OK.  Because the WGA has changed with the times.  They will actively help members write for low-budget features.  Lifetime paid me to write Rob the Mob.  (“Take the cash!” my agents urged at the time.  “The Strike is coming!”)  But because of a clause in the MBA, the WGA helped me get the feature rights back to my film for free . 

Over the last two years, I have spoken on WGA panels and explained to other writers how I got the rights back to my film.  Two other writers I know have since done the same thing.  This sharing of information is critical to all of us.  The Guild should be a clearinghouse for ideas, a central way of disseminating information. The Guild is not a Union Hall – it doesn’t offer jobs.  But it can teach you the skills you need to keep you current in the marketplace.

Today, we all must be our own agents, managers, and producers.  And yes, we must occasionally find some time to write.  There are more opportunities than ever.  Amazon and Netflix, basic and premium cable.  I watch my film rise and fall on the iTunes charts (#3 – hooray!  #17 – hmm…)

In the last five years $100 million has been cut out of film development budgets.  Our members went from reporting over $437 million in earnings in screen  in 2009 to $331 million in earnings in 2013.  The proposed merger between 21^st Century Fox and Warner Bros. would cut earnings even further.  And if this merger doesn’t happen, another one will…

In this non-contract negotiating year, what can the Guild do?  Lots.

We need CABLE PARITY.  We took a huge leap forward with the gains we made in one-hour dramatic basic cable.  5%/5%/5% compounded is great for ‘high budget” dramatic series in their second seasons and beyond.  But what about comedies and variety shows?  The way to achieve gains is not by lowering our network rates. It’s by raising our basic cable rates.  We gave the networks a break to get the new medium up and running.  It’s up and running.

We need CONTINUING EDUCATION.  The Guild needs to sponsor and promote a WGA University.  We all need to be re-inventing ourselves.  I am a huge fan of the mini-courses that Billy Ray, Craig Mazin, and so many others have offered through the Guild.  In a rapidly changing world, the Guild can be a powerful clearinghouse for the ideas that are working, a forum to share our experiences.  If you haven’t attended any of these seminars, I urge you to attend one. If you’ve discovered a new way to get your project made – I urge you to lead one!  I have told my story of how I took a dead script at Lifetime and turned it into a feature film that closed the Miami International Film Festival.  Now it’s time for you to share your story.

We need to PROMOTE DIVERSITY.  In a city that is minority majority, we need to be telling everyone’s story. If the job of writer’s assistant is now the path to becoming a staff writer, then we need to make sure that door is open to all.  We’ve had huge success with the showrunner training program.  We even have a staff writer training program.  Why not have a writers’ assistant training program?  Let’s make sure that all qualified applicants have equal access to those career-starting jobs.

The Guild should promote GLOBAL EMPLOYMENT.  Wherever a member works – the Guild should be right there with them.

And while I know I’m supposed to be jumping up and down and saying what’s wrong with the Guild, let’s take a moment to give a shout out to the new Guild Screenings.  If you haven’t been – they’re great!  I love the Q & A’s; I love the films that have been chosen.  And I love the family screenings.  A great example of the Guild changing and moving forward.

I have worked in Hollywood for over twenty years.  I started as Roger Corman’s assistant, answering his telephones and bailing his dog out of the Santa Monica Pound.  The first feature I wrote predicted the downfall of the Soviet Union.  NPR and CNN interviewed me wanting to know how I predicted in a Corman movie something that the CIA had missed.  I’ve produced movies for Dino De Laurentiis and spent many years working as a film executive.  My childhood dream came true when I wrote for Star Trek:  Enterprise.  I am a Harvard graduate who worked in Argentina as a reporter for the Associated Press.

I am not the richest writer in the Guild.  But I am a working writer, who has had many good years and a few horrible ones.  I make 100% of my earnings as a writer.  As so many of us have over the last few years, I have been forced to re-invent myself.  But I am excited about the future because oddly, I feel we have more opportunities for our work than ever before – whether its Indie or Studio films, basic cable or network television or streaming on the Internet – there’s a home for good material. 

I humbly ask for your vote.  In exchange, I promise to fight for all writers.

Jonathan Fernandez

BACKGROUND: Member since 1998.  COMMITTEES: Board Nominating 2012; Contract/Strike Captain 2007-08; MBA Negotiating 2011, 2014; New Member Mentor 2013-14; Officer Nominating 2011.