The union representing striking Hollywood writers spent lavishly on meals, travel to European cities and donations to Democrats while begging the public to contribute to a fund to help struggling writers, The Post has learned.
It splurged $25,634 at a sushi-restaurant which offers gold-flaked rolls, $5,806 on an executive’s five-star Paris hotel, and $6,600 on photographs — and paid its top executive more than $1m in salary.
The Writers’ Guild of America West also spent more on lobbying and political contributions, mostly to progressive Democrats including Sen. John Fetterman (PA) and Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), than it did on welfare loans to some of its striking 25,120 members, its public filings reveal.
Between 2021 and 2023 it provided $107,000 to Democratic campaigns and committees.
Its spending was revealed amid speculation of an imminent deal to end the strike, with union negotiators and bosses from broadcasters, streamers and studios including Disney, Netflix and WarnerBros meeting in Los Angeles Thursday.
But when it went on strike on May 2, the union pleaded for public help and thanked stars who had donated to its hardship fund, including J.J. Abrams and Shonda Rhimes.
It continues to crowdfund for help for its members, who have now been out of work for five months. Some of its lavish spending was first reported by theblackdc.com, an investigative news website.
On the eve of a strike in May, union leadership spent tens of thousands on meals at swanky Hollywood eateries, such as Tesse, a French bistro in West Hollywood where the guild shelled out $19,148 in undated “hospitality service,” according to its most recent filings with the Department of Labor.
In December, the guild hosted a $25,634 “staff event” at sushi restaurant Yamashiro Hollywood. On the menu there is a $56 specialty house roll featuring caviar and gold flakes and a $210 “surf and turf” tomahawk steak and octopus tail. Diners at private events can choose the $725 “sushi yacht.”
Its own awards show in March was a chance to spend, with $6,600 for photographs going to picture agency WireImage.
And the union spent nearly $53,000 at Second Home US, a high-end co-working space in Los Angeles where it hosted two events in November, 2022 and in March of this year. It offers co-working spaces in a garden setting and holds events for members with celebrities, including John Legend.
Not all the spending was in and around Hollywood. Last September, filings show that the union spent $6,067 to fly an unnamed executive to Paris, and $5,806 for a stay at the Hotel Madame Rêve.
The five-star hotel, which features a Michelin-starred restaurant, is close to the Louvre museum. Rooms start at $480 a night.
And it paid $18,090 on three flights to unknown destinations in August, September and October 2022 for International Affiliation of Writers’ Guild meetings.
The group spent $17,814 at the Sixty SoHo Hotel in Manhattan for “a national conference” last year. The bohemian-themed boutique hotel has long been a celebrity haunt, boasting Kirsten Dunst, Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal among those spotted there.
Since striking, the union has made hardship loans available to members. It declared $280,000 in strike loans — but also said it spent $369,463 on “political activities and lobbying.”
Through its political action committee, the union doled out $5,000 to Pennsylvania Democrat Fetterman’s Senate campaign last year, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
It also supported the congressional campaigns of Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler in New York, Jamie Raskin in Maryland and Schiff in California, those filings show.
To help its members, the guild established the Entertainment Community Fund, with pledges from TV producer Shonda Rhimes and filmmaker J.J. Abrams, among others, totaling $1.7 million in May.
But the filings show its own salaries were high.
WGA West’s executive director David Young took in $1,098,907 in compensation, according to the union’s latest filings to the IRS. He went on medical leave in February, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Assistant executive director Charles Slocum took in $524,936.
In addition to meals and travel, the union, which owns its own building in Los Angeles and has assets of nearly $100 million, according to public filings, spent tens of thousands on consultants, including for anti-discrimination training.
The union paid Carole Kirschner, a “Homeland” executive producer-turned-Hollywood coach who runs the CBS Diversity Institute Writers Mentoring Program, $91,925 for consulting and doled out $5,304 to Trailant, LLC in March for “preventing discrimination and harassment” training.
Jeff Melvoin, a Hollywood writer and producer best known for his work on Netflix’s 2018 series “Killing Eve” and “Remington Steele,” which starred Pierce Brosnan before he played James Bond, took in $20,000 in consulting fees last year.
Writer and producer Yvette Lee Bowser also took in $15,000 in consulting fees from the union.
And high-end hotels have also benefited from the union’s spending. In February, the group ran a one-day “showrunner agency meeting” at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows in Santa Monica, paying $26,783, according to filings.
The union also shelled out $223,121 for three membership meetings at the Sheraton Universal Hotel in Los Angeles earlier this year and $18,352 for two events, in October and December last year, at the Loews Hollywood Hotel, according to filings.
The Post has requested comment from the WGA.
