Randall Emmett has been released from writers-union jail.
The Writers Guild of America West first sentenced the film producer to its strike/unfair list in 2020, following a dispute over payments to writers on the television series Pump. The union claimed that Emmett and business partner George Furla still owed more than $477,000 in arbitration awards to writers on the series, which never saw the light of day but at one point was set to star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The roughly 14,000 members of the Writers Guild of America West are prohibited from working with producers or companies on the strike/unfair list.
After sending over a payment of $630,000 to the WGA West on Friday, Emmett has been removed from the list, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Deadline was the first to report the story.
The move doesn’t mean that the union’s scribes can suddenly start working with Emmett again, as the producer and his companies still aren’t signatories with the WGA West. But the removal from its list does allow Emmett to apply to sign a contract with the union in the future and access its talent.
Emmett’s business partner Steve Small, through their Convergence Media Group, remains on the list.
THR has reached out to Emmett and a business associate for comment.
Emmett is perhaps best known for his role producing so-called “geezer teasers,” or action flicks starring old-school film stars like John Travolta and Sylvester Stallone. But he’s also collaborated with Martin Scorsese over the years on films including Silence and The Irishman. He’s also reportedly working with the legendary New York filmmaker on a narrative feature adaptation of the deadly 1982 avalanche that struck the Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, near Lake Tahoe.
The WGA West warned members not to be taken in by Scorsese’s involvement on the film, called Wall of White, as a producer earlier this year, citing Emmett’s position on the Strike/Unfair list. Members were prohibited from working on the film, the group stated.
As of today, WGA West writers looking for a potential future Scorsese collab will continue to have to look elsewhere. Like Emmett himself, the project’s production company and financier Convergence Media Group still isn’t a union signatory.
