Ethics In Hollywood

Linda called me yesterday and dropped a bomb.

Five of our classmates had put together a newsletter announcing "the USC Elite Screenwriters" and listing their projects and loglines. She had been told that it was on USC letterhead and purported to be from the Graduate Screenwriting Program. It was mailed through the USC mailing system.

I later found out that actually six of our classmates were behind it. The newsletter wasn't on letterhead, but evidently it was either sent in USC envelopes or in some way indicated that it was from USC, because the newsletter got returned to the GSP office. And despite saying "unofficial" it certainly bore all the hallmarks of being from USC.

I found this out because Linda and I divided up the class in terms of who to call about this stunt, and one of the people I called turned out to be one of the Six. He told me what had happened, and I said, "I think everyone can understand your frustration with what USC's done for us [that is, nothing], but you went about it in a really bad way."

The reason this has pissed all of us off so badly is that one of the big things that USC offers us is the Script List, which is an official USC publication. It's a list of all the writers graduating from the graduate and undergraduate writing programs, with the loglines and genres of our projects listed. This is a Big Deal. This gets looked at in the Industry.

The Script List doesn't come out until late June, when all of the scripts have been approved for inclusion. Many, many people in the Industry want this list now.

Also, producers and agents frequently call the GSP office and ask for a list of the "top people." Everyone who's worked in the office or talked to someone who's worked in the office knows about these phone calls. The standard reply is, "There ain't no such list." Which there isn't. All of USC's writers are considered the top writers. We went to USC; therefore, we're the best. End of story.

But our classmates sent out a list of the "top people." Glenn, one of the Six I talked to, said that they didn't mean it that way: they meant it as a list of some of the USC's Elite Writers (as in, all USC's writers are elite). I said, "Glenn, that isn't how it comes off. You've got to know this."

The cover sheet of this newsletter mentions the "Elite Screenwriters" and the "Top Film and TV Writers." True, it doesn't say, "We are the only ones." But the way it's phrased it's meant to convey that message, and writers ought to know how their words are going to be construed.

Glenn said they did this newsletter in order to generate some interest in themselves, rather than each individually send out query letters. After all, USC has not and will not do jack for us--Feature Night has fallen through, TV Night was a bust, the Script List comes out in the middle of summer (when the Industry is on hiatus)...we have to do for ourselves.

I said, "No one is going to argue with your frustration or with your wanting to make some publicity for yourself. Everyone can argue with the way you did it." And we're going to. Every single student I've talked to wants the Six expelled. Now. End of discussion. The Six can argue all they like that this doesn't affect the cachet of the Script List; we all know better.

I feel like I've been stolen from. I also feel that the knives are really out now--we owe absolutely nothing to one another. And future classes? If the Six get away with this, every class from now on will be pulling this stunt, and USC's reputation will mean nothing.

Sending it through the USC mailing system is probably the straw that will break them. As Linda put it, "Tax evasion brought Al Capone down." I honestly believe that John Furia, head of the GSP, does not care one whit that these students sent out their own mock Script List--I don't think he cares about the GSP program, frankly. The University is going to care deeply that students ripped them off this way, sending out 100 or 150 or whatever (number unknown) newsletters through their system. If they don't punish the students, it's open season on the University's resources.

Did I mention that the Thesis Committee meets tomorrow? That graduation isn't until Friday?

The thing that I can't get over--besides the fact that the party line is, "This doesn't affect the Script List at all"--is that all they had to do was wait one lousy week and no one would ever have known. That, or use one of their apartments as the return address (and use their own goddamn postage).

The real thing I can't get over? If I had to pick any members of the class who would have done this, there are a few others who would have come to mind much more easily.

I can't wait to see what happens as a result.

I played Devil's Advocate with both Darin and Linda about this situation.

1. Why is this so different from the common situation of sending out mail through your company? I did that all the time at Apple. True, I sent individual letters, not mass mailings, but I still abused the privilege. And I admit to stealing a pen or two.

2. Why is this so different from copying your resume at work and sending it out, which people do all the time?

It's different because they represented themselves as something they weren't. True, if you looked hard enough you'd know that it wasn't an official USC publication--but most people aren't going to look hard enough.

They also said on the newsletter that they were graduates of the USC GSP program. Not quite true yet. And it might not be true at all. Of course, no one in Hollywood cares if you've got a Film degree--there are some schools of thought (pun intended) that say it's better not to mention it. But lying on one's resume is always declasse.

I'm also annoyed because my tuition dollars--I paid full price, kids--were used to do this. (I guess I could say that my profit sharing dollars were used at Apple to send my mail.) Glenn repeated to me what someone at his internship had said to him, "This business is all about larceny and greed." I noted, but did not say, that he had not sent the newsletters out at the expense of his internship production company.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Are you kidding? It's RAINING out there. Hard. Actual cats and dogs are dropping screaming from the skies.