Plot Thickens at Writers Guild

The president of the union representing more than 9,000 Hollywood film and TV writers wasn’t eligible to hold office when she was reelected in September, an investigator told the Writers Guild of America board Monday.

Victoria Riskin’s active membership in the WGA’s Western division lapsed because she failed to write enough to maintain it under WGA rules, Stanford University Law School professor William B. Gould IV said in his report.

Gould recommended that Riskin be removed today and be replaced by Vice President Charles Holland. It was unclear late Monday what Riskin planned to do, although a source close to her said it appeared her departure was all but unavoidable.

Riskin’s tenuous status comes as the union is about to start contract talks with Hollywood studios. The controversy also underscores increasingly contentious union politics in Hollywood, where infighting at such organizations as the Screen Actors Guild has become commonplace.

People familiar with the situation said the guild board was meeting late Monday to debate what it should do.

Riskin’s lawyer, Larry Feldman, addressed the board Monday night.

“Obviously, we don’t accept this,” Feldman said in an interview. “The testimony was totally inconsistent with this decision.”

The board hired Gould, chairman of the National Labor Relations Board during the Clinton administration, after a complaint was filed by writer Ronald Parker, who was an advisor to Riskin challenger Eric Hughes in the September election.

Parker vowed to go to the Department of Labor if the guild board didn’t unseat Riskin. Agency investigators “will have the benefit of the transcripts and all the evidence that’s been gathered,” Parker said. An angry Hughes also vowed to “exhaust every remedy” to see that Riskin was ousted.

A Labor Department spokesman said that a union member could file a protest and that the department might conduct its own investigation and recommend remedies, including a new election.

At issue is whether Riskin did enough writing to qualify as a current member. To run for office, a member must maintain that status for the year leading up to the election, Feldman said.

Feldman said Riskin received a writing assignment from writer and producer Barry Kemp before her status as a current member expired June 30. Feldman said guild officials told members of the nominating committee that Riskin met all the requirements.

Last month, a guild lawyer told Gould in a letter that a member also would have to show earnings from a project and pay dues on them. That prompted Riskin to hire Feldman, who maintained that Riskin followed the rules as explained to her and that she abided by the way the guild had long enforced them.

A turning point in the hearings came when it was revealed that Riskin scrambled for work to prevent her active membership from lapsing June 30, arranging with friend Kemp to option a film treatment. Feldman said Gould found the Kemp deal to be legitimate. But Hughes called the last-minute deal “a fraud.”

The challenge to Riskin’s election is the second major one among Hollywood talent guilds in the last three years. In late 2001, Melissa Gilbert’s election as president of the Screen Actors Guild over Valerie Harper was successfully overturned after Harper supporters argued that voting snafus should invalidate it. Gilbert easily defeated Harper in a rematch in early 2002.

Riskin has been expected to lead the WGA into talks with studios in the coming weeks. The guild contract with studios expires May 2.

“It’s bad timing for the guild and bad timing for producers. It’s disruptive and not helpful to either side with negotiations on the horizon,” said Alan Brunswick, an entertainment labor lawyer with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips in Los Angeles.

The guild and producers already are bickering after the guild indicated it would seek a share of revenue from the DVD boom and a bolstered health-care plan, among other demands. In a letter to members, Riskin said studios were enjoying a prosperity “we helped create and whose benefits we deserve to share.”

That prompted studio chief negotiator J. Nicholas Counter to say that the union’s tentative plan “looks like a disaster waiting to happen,” calling it “the most excessive package of demands we have ever seen.”

Riskin was elected president in 2001 shortly after the conclusion of tense contract negotiations with studios, succeeding writer and producer John Wells. She was reelected in September, defeating Hughes by nearly 2 to 1. Since then, she has been especially outspoken in opposing the loosening of Federal Communications Commission regulations on media conglomerates.

Writer Ron Bass, a board member, praised Riskin for her work for the guild.

“The board and staff have enormous respect and affection for Vicki,” Bass said. “There is nothing but goodwill personally toward her and a lot of respect for the work she’s put in.”

Riskin, 58, is the daughter of the late Oscar-winning screenwriter Robert Riskin, who wrote a number of classic films for director Frank Capra, including “It Happened One Night.” Riskin’s mother is actress Fay Wray, best-known for starring in the 1933 film “King Kong.”

Riskin’s husband, Emmy-winning television writer David Rintels, is a former guild president and a current board member. He is a veteran of numerous guild battles, frequently taking a hard line in negotiations with studios.