Legendary filmmaker Park Chan-wook and his The Sympathizer co-creator are expelled from the Writer’s Guild

The Sympathizer's Park Chan-wook has been ousted from the Writers Guild of America West, one of the most high-profile disciplinary measures resulting from the 2023 writers' strike! With box office smashes such as Oldboy, The Handmaiden, and Decision to Leave under his belt, Park Chan-wook has established a career marked by quirky storytelling and stylistically flashy panache.

But his name is now on WGAW's list of members who have been kicked out of the union for walking across the picket line. He was joined by Canadian writer-director Don McKellar, co-creator of the HBO miniseries The Sympathizer, in being expelled for writing while all union writing was prohibited. The guild notice was short, but the warning was clear: strike rules apply to all, regardless of reputation or status.

Firmly grounded in fact, Park Chan-wook's suspension is due to continuing to write and labor on The Sympathizer during the official work stoppage, which is specifically prohibited under WGA strike rules. The 148-day 2023 walkout was a watershed moment for the union, which was calling for improved compensation, residuals, and protection against AI in scriptwriting.

In taking action against Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar, the WGAW emphatically stated that it will enforce these rules, despite the celebrity status of the person. While there's no discussion of motive on the guild's part, the outcome leaves both artists outside the protection and the benefits of union membership.

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In-depth review about The Sympathizer

Park Chan-wook's career spans decades, and his name is widely recognized globally for pushing the art limit in film. For television, his collaboration with Don McKellar on The Sympathizer was considered a major step, uniting literary adaptation with political statement. However, during the 2023 WGA strike, the two further advanced the series in clear defiance of union rules and were expelled from the WGA West as a result.

This was not an isolated punishment; in official guild reports, they were among seven members disciplined for breaking strike rules. This places Park Chan-wook's expulsion within the context of a broader enforcement campaign rather than as a standalone event.

The Writers Guild had previously indicated that four other members, Julie Bush, Tim Doyle, Edward Drake, and Roma Roth, were also sanctioned last month after their appeal was rejected earlier this year. Park Chan-wook and McKellar were not reported until later, and writer Anthony Cipriano had been suspended rather than expelled. Whereas the guild was not giving extensive comments on particular cases, its use of such names in the public notice does conform to its policy of full disclosure of strike enforcement.

The intention, within union procedure, is to have a definite record of violations so members will know the seriousness of adherence in work stoppages.

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What does expulsion mean in The Sympathizer?

To Park Chan-wook, his ouster from the Writers Guild of America West has professional implications that could affect his capacity to work on union-covered shows. The WGA's collective bargaining agreements with large networks and studios, HBO, Netflix, Disney, and Warner Bros., for example, are based on hiring WGA members as writers.

Expelled, however, a director such as Park Chan-wook cannot be employed by these productions as a writer unless he comes back, i.e., until he undergoes formal reinstatement. This effectively shuts off access to a good deal of the mainstream Hollywood pipeline.

It should be emphasized that being expelled does not shut off writing for Park Chan-wook entirely. He can still work on non-union, independent projects or productions outside the WGA's jurisdiction. The shift for someone with recent production being a high-profile HBO series is dramatic. Don McKellar is also under the same constraints. So, both writers will have to adjust their professional priorities, either by pursuing work in markets outside the jurisdiction of the WGA or waiting until they can reapply for membership later.

In professional circles, this is normally termed as a massive professional setback, but this is all dependent on the types of projects they choose to engage in subsequently.

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Background of The Sympathizer

The TV series in the middle of this disciplinary case, The Sympathizer, was adapted from Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title. Park Chan-wook served as co-showrunner, executive producer, and director, alongside Don McKellar, who co-created and co-wrote the production. The show follows a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist agent during the Vietnam War and post-war, filling political satire into historical fiction.

HBO's version of the seven-part miniseries gained much buzz for its A-list cast, which includes Hoa Xuande and Robert Downey Jr., as well as its A-list creative team. Working on union-covered productions like The Sympathizer was strictly prohibited during the 2023 strike. The prohibition did not only extend to full scripts but also to revisions, rewrites, or any written work related to production.

By reporting for duty, Park Chan-wook and McKellar were found guilty of violating the strike rules. The WGA's stance in these instances is unanimous: any form of writing for a signatory studio during a strike goes against the collective bargaining endeavor. In this instance, the guild's ousting of the pair shows the gravity with which it approached maintaining strike solidarity on every project and individual.

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