Ryan Murphy, in a letter from his attorney to the leadership of the Writers Guild of America, threatened litigation against Warren Leight, an East Coast strike captain and Strike Rules Compliance Committee member who has subsequently forfeited those positions.
The flap started June 21, when Leight, a former Law & Order: SVU showrunner and playwright, alleged in a tweet that crew members on Murphy’s American Horror Story had told him that “they’ll be blackballed in Murphy-land” if they don’t cross the Writers Guild’s picket lines. At the time, a spokesperson for Murphy called Leight’s tweet “absolute nonsense” and “categorically false.”
After Murphy’s attorney Craig Emanuel sent the letter to the WGA, union leadership met with Leight, who deleted the tweet and issued an apology and retraction in which he called his initial tweet “unsubstantiated” and “completely false and inaccurate.” Reps for Murphy declined further comment on the letter sent to the WGA.
Following its meeting with Leight, the WGA East officers sent a memo about the threatened litigation to its strike captains, which The Hollywood Reporter has obtained (full transcript below). According to the memo, Leight has stepped back from his duties as co-chair of the Strike Rules Compliance Committee and as a captain.
Sources say the WGA’s letter followed a regularly scheduled strategy meeting with WGA East leadership, including Michael Winship, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen and Chris Kyle, and strike captains that turned contentious. “We were talking about themed pickets. Nobody discussed Warren and everyone was like, ‘When is someone going to talk about Ryan Murphy?’” says one East Coast strike captain. “People were pissed. We wanted an explanation and answer about why Warren lost his captain’s hat and what happened. He was our leader.”
Leight, an outspoken New York-based WGA member had been dubbed as the East Coast’s “Air Traffic Controller” for his efforts leading the so-called Rapid Response Team that directs striking writers to filming locations. Leight declined comment for this story.
Multiple sources tell THR that only four scripted TV series remain in production on the East Coast — with three of them produced by Murphy: American Horror Story, American Sports Story and the episodic anthology American Horror Stories (the fourth is Lionsgate/Starz’s Power Book 2: Ghost). In addition to being a member of the WGA West, Murphy is a producer and director and is permitted to continue working provided he is not rendering services performed by writers. Multiple sources say Murphy was spotted twice last week in New York crossing WGA picket lines. Sources close to Murphy say he has not been in New York for the past month.
“He is following the letter of the law and going to set as a producer/showrunner/director and says he’s not doing writing — and no guild can convict somebody of conjecture,” says another East Coast captain. “A million of us would love to see it, but there’s no proof that he’s scabbing; he’s doing scripts that were done before strike started.”
The WGA, meanwhile, said in its memo that we will “continue to picket [Murphy’s] shows,” and that the Strike Rules Compliance Committee will investigate all leads concerning potential violations. (If Murphy is found in violation of the strike rules, he can be suspended or expelled from membership, hit with monetary fines or censured. After the 2007-08 writers strike, the WGA brought members alleged to have violated strike rules before a trial committee, as in the case of Jay Leno, who was cleared of wrongdoing).
The internal squabbling comes as news leaked June 20 that Murphy, one of the industry’s most powerful showrunners, has been negotiating with Disney to return to the studio with a rich overall deal after his $300 million Netflix pact expired. In the memo to captains, the WGA officers implored them to stay focused on the fight at hand, noting, “Our foe in this fight is not other members, it is the AMPTP. If we turn on each other, the AMPTP wins.”
The WGA had planned a meeting with East Coast captains for Thursday to discuss morale with guild leaders including WGA negotiating committee co-chairs Chris Keyser and David Goodman but sources say that Zoom has now been canceled.
Reps for the WGA did not immediately respond to THR‘s request for comment.
Here’s the WGA memo sent to East Coast strike captains:
Dear WGAE Captains,
Thank you all for attending the captains’ meeting this week. As promised, WGAE General Counsel Ann Burdick spoke with Warren’s attorney to see if we can share more information with you about what happened. The attorney’s comment was as follows: “Ryan Murphy sent a letter threatening litigation against Warren Leight. Warren Leight will not be saying anything further than his last tweet related to Ryan Murphy.” In that last tweet posted on June 27, Warren acknowledged that the claims he made had not been verified, and thus should not have been posted.
We can add that after receiving the letter from Murphy, we met with Warren immediately to address the situation. The Guild provided legal representation, and as part of that process it was agreed that as both co-chair of the Strike Rules Compliance Committee and as a strike captain, it made sense for Warren to step back from official duties related to the strike.
Losing Warren as a strike captain is the last thing any of us wanted, but he understood that his actions on this particular issue exposed the Guild to potential liability, especially as co-chair of the very committee investigating Murphy. His tweet was also in direct contradiction with instructions he had received multiple times from WGAE and WGAW leadership and staff about his use of social media.
We also want you to know that officers reached out to West leadership yesterday to let them know just how upset and frustrated we remain about this situation (please know we share and have expressed these sentiments throughout). WGA Negotiating Committee co-chairs David Goodman and Chris Keyser offered to speak to you so that they may better explain our strike strategy and take your questions. We will forward details soon on a captains’ meeting with NegCom co-chairs on July 5 or 6.
Going forward, please let’s focus on the following:
• Our foe in this fight is not other members, it is the AMPTP.
• If we turn on each other, the AMPTP wins.
• We will not quit on Ryan Murphy. We continue to picket his shows, and the Strike Rules Compliance Committee continues to investigate all leads. Send. Us. Leads. (In particular we need evidence of writing post-strike. Reach out to Lisa [email redacted] with questions.)
• That said, we ask that you do not freelance your venting. As captains, you represent your Guild. We ask that you do not speak to press without comms director Jason Gordon’s knowledge or post accusations against members of your Guild on social media. If you’re not sure, ask yourself: would this help the WGA, or the AMPTP?
If you’d like to discuss further, we are here and available to you. Please reach out.
Your officers,
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July 07, 2023 at 03:25AM
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Ryan Murphy, With 3 Shows in Production, Threatens to Sue Writers Guild Strike Captain (Exclusive) - Hollywood Reporter
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