When the Writers Guild of American (WGA) went on the 2023 strike in response to the film industry’s insufficient compensation, streaming residuals, and the rise of AI, its members were fully expected, under WGA guideline, to stand in solidarity with one another and join the picket lines with fellow writers. To continue working during this period would not only represent a betrayal of fellow members, but also draw the ire of the WGA itself, and that is exactly what happened last week when the guild announced the expulsions of Don McKellar and Park Chan-wook.
McKellar, a Member of the Order of Canada, was an important figure in the Toronto New Wave movement of filmmakers. He has frequently worked with Bruce McDonald in particular, for whom McKellar has written scripts which McDonald directed, such as 1989’s Roadkill (McKeller’s feature debut) and Highway 61 (1991), with McKellar also playing prominent acting roles in each of these films. McKellar is also an accomplished director in his own right, having helmed multiple productions throughout his career, most notable of which is his acclaimed apocalyptic black comedy-drama Last Night (1998). He has also acted in multiple films for legendary Canadian directors David Cronenberg and Atom Egoyan.
Park Chan-wook, then, is one of South Korea’s most prominent and influential filmmakers. Renowned for his versatility and use of striking cinematography and dark humour, Park is best known for his action-thriller Oldboy (2003), which features one of the most famous single shot sequences in cinema, in addition to being considered one of the greatest films ever made. While his work can also be polarizing, he has nonetheless made some of the most acclaimed South Korean films of the past decade, including The Handmaiden (2016) and Decision to Leave (2022).
McKellar and Park have become unlikely creative partners in recent years, with their first collaboration being as writers, producers, and showrunners of HBO’s 2024 show, The Sympathizer, an adaptation of the 2015 novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The show went on to receive very positive reviews and earned actor and fellow producer Robert Downey Jr. an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or movie, who played multiple characters in The Sympathizer to great acclaim. McKeller and Park received no nominations, but what The Sympathizer did earn them was their expulsion from the WGA, as they had “crossed the picket lines”, so to speak, by continuing to write the show during the 2023 strike.
The duo are not the first members to be sanctioned for such actions – there were seven others disciplined in April – but they are the last, and the biggest names of the bunch no less. There has been a great deal of speculation and consequent misinformation online as to what this means for McKellar and Park, other than the public and professional embarrassment their expulsions bring.
Ultimately, the gesture is rather toothless and more of an inconvenience than anything else. They of course can’t vote on guild matters, and they also can’t just outright work with any production company that is a signatory of the WGA’s collective bargaining agreement, such as Disney and HBO. Instead, from what I can gather, they would require either reinstatement into the guild or a guild-issued waiver permitting them to work with these companies, but this seems to be more of a formality than anything else, as the guild ultimately cannot block expelled writers from working with signatories since it would violate US federal law. There might, however, be hesitancy from others in the industry to work with the likes of McKellar and Park in the future given their actions, which is no insignificant matter in an industry often swayed by one’s reputation.
Whatever the case, this expulsion will not affect their next upcoming project, the South Korean black comedy No Other Choice, which is set to screen at the Venice International Film Festival on August 29th. McKellar co-wrote the screenplay with Park, who also serves as the sole producer and director.