Beyond Words - WGA Foundation & HR event

Since this blog is a new venture for me, I'm going to include some things that happened before I started just because I think they are interesting. At the beginning of this month was one such event. I was lucky enough to work a program called Beyond Words which was a panel discussion between all the nominated writers for this year's Oscars and WGA awards. It was sponsored by the WGA Foundation & Hollywood Reporter. For those who don't know, the Hollywood Reporter is one of the two top industry daily newspapers and the WGA is the Writers Guild of America.

The panel guests were Paul Haggis (Crash), Diane Ossana (Brokeback Mountain), Jeffrey Caine (Constant Gardner), Judd Apatow (40-Year Old Virgin), Josh Olson (History of Violence), Grant Heslov (Good Night, and Good Luck), and Stephen Gaghan (Syriana). It was moderated by Josh Friedman (War of the Worlds). Larry McMurtry, the co-writer of Brokeback Mountain, was supposed to be there, but he was sick with the flu.

After the panel, I went up to the stage and talked to Jeffrey Caine because I heard he also did "The Chief" series… Martin Shaw starred in that series and it was really good. He was very surprised that I ever heard of it, let alone saw it, and was pleased. He said, though, he was done with television… that in England they treat the TV writer far worse than the TV writer gets treated here, where the TV writer has so much more say and power. So he's only doing features now.

There's not a lot of time to talk to these people one-on-one after a panel and many people clamoring to get to them, so you usually have to choose who you most want to talk to, knowing that that might be the only person you can talk to. There was a reception later and sometimes they attend and sometimes you can talk to them there, but sometimes they need to call it a night because they might be shooting something the next day.

Paul Haggis had been very playful from the stage, so I was glad I got to talk to him. I told him that I had met him at the BAFTA Tea Party and he said he remembered me. If he didn't, well, he was quick-thinking and gracious about it. He asked me if I had had fun at the panel and I said yes. I then told him he was fun, but he was also very naughty. He laughed at that and said something about his mother in his head making him do it. The gist of his naughtiness: there was a girl signing for the deaf. One of the writers used a swear word, I believe Judd, something about an asshole in his comment about something. When Paul realized there was a signer, he just had to see how she would sign that. So he repeated the statement and watched her signed it. Although I can't tell you what all she signed, the ending was unmistakable -- she ended it with the fingers up in the air circled for asshole. Brought a big laugh. So then he interjected a few more just to see how she'd sign them.

Finally, when Josh called it an evening, Paul said he had to say one more thing. "Motherfucker…" he called out and looked to the signer. Like I said, naughty. He was being a naughty boy. Have to say, she was cool about it, just signed it like she did everything else.

When I repeated this story to a friend, he thought I was telling Paul that what he did was in poor taste, but Paul didn't react that way, nor did I mean it like that. It is kind of a British way of commenting on what he had done and I think he took it that way. At least it seemed like he was laughing with me. And he did tell me that his mother in his head told him to do it.

The evening ended with a reception full of sweets, which are no good for me. But I was naughty, too.