Peace has broken out -- for now -- among the presidential contenders at the Writers Guild of America West after last week's polarizing verbal volleys over John Wells' role in helping to end the WGA strike.
The opposing WGA West sides made a public showing of unity Wednesday night at the guild's Meet the Candidates Night, attended by about 125 members at WGA West headquarters. Wells and current treasurer Elias Davis are running to succeed Patric Verrone as president of the guild.
"One of the great achievements of the strike and of guild leadership during the strike was that we began and ended with a united guild," Wells said at the event. "I think I can speak for all of the candidates you'll be hearing from tonight when I say we're all committed to carrying that unity forward."
The dispute pitted former WGA president Wells against current prexy Verrone and former negotiating committee chair John Bowman, who back Davis.
The fighting began a week ago when Verrone and Bowman told the 8,000 WGA West members in an email blast that Wells had served a counterproductive and unauthorized role in his efforts to push for a deal that would end the 100-day writers strike; Wells had denied the allegations and sent out a blistering message Monday that disputed Verrone and Bowman's version of events, saying their missive was a "deliberate and not particularly clever attempt to mischaracterize what I was doing to try and help our cause during the strike."
But within two days, both sides had decided they were running the risk of being compared with their endlessly bickering counterparts at the Screen Actors Guild, and that it was better to back off rather than to keep rehashing details about what happened 1½ years ago. Efforts to make peace included removal of the emails from Davis' campaign website.
Bowman told Daily Variety: "There was an honest misunderstanding among the three of us about John's mandate as an emissary of the guild. We all love the guild and decided to bury the hatchet and focus instead on issues in the upcoming election. These are what matter."
At the meeting, Bowman said the differing versions of exactly what happened in the final stages of the strike -- when the WGA agreed to accept new-media terms similar to those in the DGA's deal -- centered on Wells' having agreed to endorse the directors deal if it reached certain thresholds.
"Having talked to John about this in the past few days, I understand that he believes he had communicated this to us and to members of the negotiating committee," Bowman said. "And I believe he acted in what he thought was the best interest of the guild. John and I may disagree as to whether or not that part of his talks was a good thing. But he is still my friend, I still like and respect him, and I hope everyone else can accept that this is an honest misunderstanding between friends that we hope is now behind us."
Multiple sources close to the WGA's negotiating committee told Daily Variety that they were surprised by Bowman's statement that Wells had not been upfront with WGA leaders about his backchannel discussions with DGA toppers. Insiders said Wells' involvement had been much discussed by negotiating committee members during the final weeks of the strike, which ended Feb. 12, 2008.
Wells told the meeting that he understood the source of the misunderstanding and concurred with the statement Bowman had made.
"I understand now that we have differing interpretations as to what my mandate was, and I appreciate John's affirmation of my good intentions," Wells said. "I, too, have nothing but friendship and respect for him and Patric. They have both provided extraordinary service to the guild, and I sincerely hope they will continue to for many years in the future."
(Cynthia Littleton contributed to this report.)http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118008130.html?categoryid=18&cs=1&nid=2562
