In light of the Parkland, Florida killings, as well as other recent mass shootings such as Las Vegas, 129 concerned members (of which I am one) of the Writers Guild of America West and East have signed a letter sent to the guild’s board of directors urging that it divest from gun companies and any companies that support the NRA.
The letter, sent to the Writers Guild board Tuesday urges, “… the WGA and the WGA Pension Plan to divest of all stocks of any gun or ammunition manufacturer, and any company that provides material support to the gun industry lobbying organization called The National Rifle Association…”
Screenwriter and director, Douglas Eboch, (Sweet Home Alabama “story by”) told Reel Chicago what motivated him to craft the letter, “I was inspired by the Parkland students activism, but didn’t just want to resort to Twitter posts of support. I remembered the divestment campaign against apartheid, and tried to mimic that.” You can read the letter in full below:
April 4, 2018
To WGA Board of Directors:
Gun violence, enabled by the ready availability of military grade weapons, has become one of the biggest threats to the safety and security of the American people. We urge the WGA and the WGA Pension Plan to divest of all stocks of any gun or ammunition manufacturer, and any company that provides material support to the gun industry lobbying organization called The National Rifle Association, whether through donations, deductions or other means (e.g. Federal Express), until such time as sensible national gun reform legislation is passed.
Sincerely,
Douglas J. Eboch
Megan Abbott
Valerie Alexander
Nick Antosca
Simran Baidwan
Jack Bernstein
Jim Bernsein
Joy Blake
Ken Blankstein
Matteo Borghese
Justin Boyd
V. J. Boyd
Steven Brandon
Corinne Brinkerhoff
William H. Brown
Linda Burstyn
Dana Calvo
Frank Cardea
Daniel Cerone
Hank Chilton
Steve Chivers
Danny Chun
Brendan Clifford
Alan R. Cohen
Colin Costello
Carter Covington
Charlie Craig
Cindy Davis
Timothy Dowling
James Eagan*
Matthew Federman
J. Michael Feldman
Joshua Fialkov
Graham Flashner
Jeff Forsyth
Kay Foster
Emily Fox
Kate Gersten
Lee Goldberg
Sarah Goldfinger
Clifford J. Green
Lyn Greene
Javier Grillo-Marxuach
Madeline Hendricks
Emily Hirshey
David Hoselton
Sam Humphrey
Sandi Johnson
Richard Kahan
Aubrey Karr
Joy Kecken
Matt Kirsch*
Curtis Kheel
Rebecca Kirsch
Marshall A. Knight
Lisa Kors
Ken Kristensen
P. Carter Kristensen
Dennis Lehane
Carol Leifer
Ken Levine
Matthew Lieberman
Stephanie Liss
Christopher Lovick
Chris Luccy
Marcos Luevanos
Corinne Marrinan
Shauna McGarry
Mike Metz
Nicole Mirante
Michael Mohan
Jose Molina
Doug Molitor
Laura Moran
Karen Bloch Morse
Patrick Moss
Aisha Muharrar
Jessica O’Toole
Katrina Cabrera Ortega
Ron Osborn
Hollie Overton
Sophie Owens-Bender
Will Pascoe
Harley Peyton
Jesse Peyronel
Julie Plec
Jeff Poliquin
Ivan Raimi*
Amy Rardin
Dara Resnik
John Rogers
Jenni Ross
Kristen SaBerre
Barry Schkolnick
Jennifer Schuur
Mehar Sethi
Deirdre Shaw
John Sherman
Matthew Shire
Spiro Skentzos
Kat Smith
Jared Stern
Adam Stein
Karen Stillman
Karen Struck
Tatiana Suarez-Pico
Phoef Sutton
Beth Szymkowski
Carol Tenney
Liz Tigelaar
Arthur Tiersky
Danny Tolli
Theo Travers
Rob Turbovsky
Hayley Tyler
Jennie Snyder Urman
Laura Valdivia
Noelle Valdivia
Flint Wainess
Laurence Walsh-Hodson
David Weddle
Ben Wexler
Matthew White
John Whittington
Mark Wilding
Rob Wright
Jordan Young
Moises Zamora
*WGA East
Contact Colin Costello at colin@reelchicago.com or follow him on Twitter @colincostello10.
