The Writers Guild of America West prohibits its members from working with producer Steve Small and his company Fifty Feet Movie, LLC.
The union told members Wednesday that it had fired Small, a former Paradigm agent and executive at Emmett/Furla Films, which produced the independent films. The Hangover Games (2014), Payment (2024) and the upcoming Armoredand his company Fifty Feet Movie, LLC on its strike/unfair list. Union rules prohibit members from working with any person or company on the list or face a fine. Until this decision, Fifty Feet Movie, LLC was a signatory to the union’s main contract, the so-called Minimum Basic Agreement.
The union gave several reasons for the move, claiming it concluded that Fifty Feet Movie, LLC “was not financially responsible and is unlikely to meet its MBA (Minimum Basic Agreement) obligations” on several titles, including Payment and the upcoming alarm And The revelationand therefore demanded a deposit. “To date, Fifty Feet has failed to post the deposit required by Article 42,” the union said.
John Travolta and Kristin Davis play the leading roles in Paymentwhile Sylvester Stallone and Scott Eastwood are at the top alarmStallone also plays in The Revelation.
A spokesperson for Fifty Feet wrote in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter“Fifty Feet Movie, LLC has never defaulted on its payments to the writers – those who worked on its three films, alarm, Payment And The Revelationwere all paid. The WGA’s allegations make it clear that this is not a dispute with Fifty Feet, but a dispute with a company that does business with Fifty Feet. The WGA has unsuccessfully attempted to extort a “security” from Fifty Feet because of a dispute WGA has with a third-party company – unrelated to any project developed by Fifty Feet – and is now attempting to entangle Fifty Feet in an illegal secondary boycott by attempting to become involved in this unrelated dispute.”
THR asked Small for comment.
Another factor was that Goddess And Be silent Producer Randall Emmett is a managing member of Small’s Convergence Entertainment Group, the corporate guarantor for Fifty Feet, according to the union. Emmett, co-founder of Emmett/Furla Films and a longtime producer of low-budget action films featuring aging Hollywood stars, was placed on the union’s strike list in 2020 along with producer and business partner George Furla. The union says Emmett was put on the list at the time because the companies he oversaw owed four writers on the television series nearly $712,000 in wages, pension and health insurance contributions, and interest pump.
Two years later, The Los Angeles Times reported that Emmett faced allegations of inappropriate interactions with women, in one case he allegedly offered to trade work on a project for a sexual favor, and that he abused assistants. (Emmett denied these allegations.) Small told the Just at the time that he had “never seen unprofessional behavior” during his time with Emmett. In April Just reported that Emmett directed Payment under the pseudonym “Ives”, which is his middle name.
In its message Wednesday, the union urged any members approached by Small, Emmett, Fifty Feet Movie, LLC or Convergence Entertainment Group with employment inquiries to contact the union’s legal department.
Convergence Entertainment Group was launched in 2023 with the goal of being a “filmmaker and talent friendly studio,” Small told Deadline at the time. The article noted that Small is a member of the California State Bar and previously worked as president of production and development at Emmett/Furla Films.
