I won't join the writer's strike...Director Park Chan-wook expelled the writers' association → What should I do about Hollywood activities
Aug 10, 2025
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According to U.S. entertainment media Variety and other foreign media on the 8th (local time), the WGA announced on the same day that it would suspend the membership of director Park Chan-wook and actor and director Don McKellar, who wrote the script for the HBO series 'Co-worker', and expel the two from the union. The WGA did not say whether it violated specific strike regulations, citing the script of 'Co-worker' written during the writer's strike in 2023 for expelling director Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar.
Based on the novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American author who drew worldwide attention for winning the Pulitzer Prize, 『Co-worker" is a series about the struggles of a Vietnamese youth exiled to the United States between two civilizations and two ideologies in the 1970s when Free Vietnam was defeated. Director Park Chan-wook directed from the 1st to the 3rd, Fernando Meirelles directed from the 4th, and Mark Munden directed from the 5th to the 7th.
Above all, 'Co-worker' attracted much attention as a global series directed by Park Chan-wook after winning the 75th Cannes International Film Festival Director Award for his 2022 film 'Decision to Break Up', and the second after the BBC series 'Little Drummer Girl' which aired in 2018. Director Park Chan-wook was well received for his participation as a co-showrunner and executive producer of 'Co-Showrunner', as well as leading the entire process from production, writing, and directing.
Director Park Chan-wook, who once again showed his presence as a Korean director who is drawing attention from all over the world through "Co-worker", has given a red light to Hollywood activities with the news of WGA's unexpected expulsion.
The WGA is an American trade union founded in 1954, representing screenwriters for film, television, radio, and online media. Director Park Chan-wook was also a member of the WGA as a large-scale labor union with 11,500 active writers in the United States.
However, WGA went on strike for 148 days from May to September 2023 to reform the remuneration system, including wage hikes suitable for the streaming era, and improvement of the working environment, causing delays or suspension of production of all U.S. series and movies. In the end, the strike was suspended and the work resumed again after agreeing on measures such as raising basic salaries, streaming re-screening distribution, and protecting writers' rights following the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) from the Association of Film and TV Producers (AMPTP) such as Universal and Netflix.
Earlier, the WGA announced that it had disciplined seven writers for violating various regulations during the 2023 writers' strike, drawing a lot of attention from around the world. Four of them were named during the process of raising objections, and three were not identified until the announcement of the statement, raising questions, and one of them was found to be director Park Chan-wook. Director Park Chan-wook and Don McKellar did not appeal the decision to expel the WGA.
The problem is that if you are expelled from the WGA, you cannot officially participate in the project of a large production company that has a collective agreement with the WGA. In addition, the WGA guaranteed minimum wage, profit distribution, welfare benefits, etc. will not be legally guaranteed. The industry speculates that Park Chan-wook, who is receiving a love call as the No. 1 player in Hollywood with Bong Joon-ho, will be heavily restricted in Hollywood activities due to the expulsion of the WGA.
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